EA replacing borked Rock Band guitars

by Ross Miller { Nov 28th 2007 at 10:00PM }

Is your Rock Band axe hindering your rise to Heavy Metal Rock God? Developer Harmonix (via forum post) has acknowledged there was an "imperfection with the strum bar in an early production run of guitars that were shipped at launch ... we have have since identified and fixed the issue in all subsequent production runs of the guitars."

Those who have a broken Rock Band stratocaster can visit Electronic Arts' customer support website and they "will send a replacement immediately." We have yet to get the site to work for us (curse you, "Diagnostic code: page WWN, 2:") but hopefully that will be cleared up soon. The impatient and handy people out there can also try a more DIY fix (thanks, Oxide99).

The post also tackled the subject of PlayStation 3's guitar compatibility woes. Though not mentioning the Guitar Hero III Les Paul by name, they do say that they read everything in the forums posts and that they are "committed to providing the best play experience possible and working hard to ensure that we solve these problems as soon as possible."

[Via GameDaily]

Read - Rockband [sic] Support
Read - PS3 Guitar Compatibility; strum bars

Tags: ea, electronic-arts, harmonix, rock-band

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Trent Elliott @ Nov 28th 2007 10:17PM

is it just random guitars or is there affected serial numbers?

Wonderflex @ Nov 29th 2007 10:53AM

I'm pretty sure it's every launch guitar. So often I get strums missed on the downstroke. Switch to upstrokes (or be naturally wrong-handed) and you get know problems.

All I know is that they better patch the game fast seeing how you can buy standalone versions of the game and there is currently know way to play them.

plyx @ Nov 28th 2007 10:18PM

I agree with South Park.

ThomStarBoy @ Nov 28th 2007 10:28PM

Does this mean the Canadian shipments will be drawn from non-"early production run" guitars?

Tone @ Nov 28th 2007 10:34PM

I ordered my replacement guitar on thanksgiving, tracking still says 'billing information received' almost a week later. Must be a lot of people who've ordered this/last week then.

GoldenS1104 @ Nov 28th 2007 10:37PM

I'm probably getting this for christmas, which means my mom may have already picked it up for me. Hopefully, if she did, I don't get a broken one, and if it is broken hopefully the warranty thing is still available.

Tim Dorr @ Nov 28th 2007 11:24PM

It's always available. You have a 60 day warranty on hardware from when you purchase it.

I just got my replacement one today. They shipped out the same day I requested a replacement, so the turnaround time on this stuff is awesome! It's just like the 360 replacement, just faster. They send you a working one and you just send the broken one back. No downtime (unless your guitar is totally inoperable, I suppose) and it cost me nothing :)

ill trooper @ Nov 29th 2007 12:27AM

"It's just like the 360 replacement, just faster. They send you a working one and you just send the broken one back. "

Which magical country are you in? That's not what happened when my 360 died... I ordered a coffin, it arrived 10 days later, I sent in my 360 and waited several weeks... THEN a replacement arrived.

plyx @ Nov 29th 2007 12:55AM

That's how Nintendo handles their defect warranty. I had a GB Micro that wouldn't take a charge, called Nintendo, got a new Micro in the mail a few days later. I had to send the broken one to them within 60 days or I would have been charged the full price of the new unit, but I did send it on time and had no more problems.

colin @ Nov 28th 2007 10:37PM

"imperfection with the strum bar in an early production run of guitars that were shipped at launch ... we have have since identified and fixed the issue in all subsequent production runs of the guitars."

wouldn't that mean that they knew of the problem after the first production run (because they fixed it subsequently) and still shipped falty merchandise? maybe they hoped no one would notice?

ColossalHat @ Nov 28th 2007 10:46PM

I'm pretty sure it means just what it says, that being that they found the problem AFTER they had shipped out the first production run.

colin @ Nov 29th 2007 12:07AM

if that's the case, that would mean that ALL launch guitars are faulty. its obvious that they recognized and fixed the problem before launch without taking any actions to recall them.

ColossalHat @ Nov 28th 2007 10:44PM

Call me back when you and the other PS3 guitar can play nice Rock Band. Til then, I'm going to play it at a friend's house.

Maci @ Nov 28th 2007 10:47PM

Dear Colossal,
We don't care cuz we'll be sold out by Christmas.

Sincerely,
Rock Band

Maci @ Nov 28th 2007 10:48PM

My guitar broke after I played 4 or so hours of hard. Now it only works when pushed up, not down.

brandon_r87 @ Nov 28th 2007 11:05PM

How about drum pedals? Mine already has a crack in it, although it is still functional for now. The thing isn't enforced well enough around the spring. I know at some point I'll need a replacement, and I hope they make a sturdier version, because I'm really not that hard on it and it's already cracked.

gonk @ Nov 28th 2007 11:07PM

if only activision would follow suit...

TXSkeets @ Nov 28th 2007 11:22PM

If EA's definition of "will send a replacement immediately." means that you'll get it at somepoint eventually then fine. I've been waiting for for over a week and still have no replacement (and yes, I used the option where I gave them a credit card). So yeah, dont hold your breath about a quick replacement.

Tim Dorr @ Nov 28th 2007 11:27PM

I ordered mine on Saturday and got it today. Assuming they don't work on weekends, that means they sent it out the same day I requested it. Did you do the express option?

Skeeter @ Nov 28th 2007 11:34PM

Yes, I used the express option and yet, still nothing.

DarkGhost1 @ Nov 28th 2007 11:23PM

I have rockband for the 360, and both up and down strumming doesnt work, so i just use the d pad

onewingedkefka @ Nov 28th 2007 11:36PM

They've been really efficient with the replacements, at least in my case. I filled out the form for my replacement guitar on Saturday the 24th and the replacement arrived today, Wednesday the 28th, and works perfectly.

booticon @ Nov 29th 2007 12:00AM

I just submitted an RMA with EA. Rent's coming up, so I can't afford them to put a $125 hold on my account for any real length of time, so they're sending me a box to stuff my guitar in.

Tiger of PTS @ Nov 29th 2007 12:05AM

Ordered Saturday.

Used the quick option because I'm an adult and I have an income.

It came today.

ThornedVenom @ Nov 29th 2007 1:27AM

Do they check if your previous guitar is broken? Otherwise, free extra guitar ftw.

Nate @ Nov 29th 2007 9:12AM

Not free. They put a $125 hold on your credit card until you send in the broken one.

ThornedVenom @ Nov 29th 2007 4:16PM

Thanks!

NyghtcrawleR @ Nov 29th 2007 1:52AM

The question is will Activision do the same thing with all the complaints about the GH3 guitars.

Kangstarr @ Nov 29th 2007 4:52AM

""imperfection with the strum bar in an early production run of guitars that were shipped at launch ..."

Considering all the guitars were manufactured MONTHS before release I find it hard to believe this imperfection was found now. (I work in the toy industry so I understand long lead-times) Here's my theory:

A. EA/Harmonix knew about the defect prior to shipping the product.
B. Offering a free replacement shipped guitar in the packaging is unheard of ESPECIALLY from EA unless they knew the product was already defective. This was all about CYA Cover Your(there) Asses...
C. They didn't care since they had a launch date to take care of and they would have stuck in a GH3 guitar in order make the Black Friday launch date
D. Again they couldn't miss BF!

Simple economics :)

Corey B. @ Nov 29th 2007 4:59AM

I also have to wait till I get a box to send back the defective unit...frustrating since my guitar had a bad tilt sensor and the strum bar works perfectly.

BTW,Tiger of PTS, I'm also an adult and have income...I just don't have an actual credit card and I don't have $125 to spare on hold since I just went Christmas shopping. It is nice though for EA to have that express option...maybe Microsoft should add that for the 360 replacements since it is an inevitability that your 360 will break down if you use it a lot.

Imadogg @ Nov 29th 2007 7:39AM

If it ain't broke, it ain't next-gen

baby sea tuna @ Nov 29th 2007 8:42AM

I agree with this statement.

baby sea tuna @ Nov 29th 2007 8:43AM

However, I do NOT agree with the borked comment system.

John @ Nov 29th 2007 8:58AM

I am in the same boat as Tone -- "Billing information received" is all I'm seeing with UPS tracking.

JJ Rooster @ Nov 29th 2007 9:25AM

Oh they knew about it. They just didn't know it would be this widespread. And the GH3 guitars not working on PS3? Come on, they were surprised at that too? I can't believe they shipped the standalone game on PS3 when nothing can used to play it. Greedy cheats. They just wanted to launch before christmas. Well here's your goodwill!

mgunner @ Nov 29th 2007 9:31AM

I didn't have a broken strum bar (yet), but I do have a non functional high blue button that is not working.

Ryan Henson Creighton @ Nov 29th 2007 10:55PM

Non-functional AND not working? Rough.

Kris @ Nov 29th 2007 10:11AM

Mine broke the day i got it. Filled out the replacement on saturday and got my replacement on wednesday. 3 days aint bad. Ef yea!!

rk @ Jan 8th 2008 11:44AM

Got rockband just prior to Xmas... within hours the orange fret key started sticking.. I could turn it off with a bit of tapping... so at least I could play on the high solo keys... but then it started sticking without me even being near the orange fret key..

so I contact EA and get a replacement... 6 days later (amazed because this was right around Xmas day) I get the new guitar... then WITHIN 2 DAYS of using the new one, the down stroke stopped working...

I contacted EA again, who in return appologizes and tells me the new production run guitars are fixed and to request another replacement... (hard to believe since i JUST got a gutiar I would expect to be of this 'new' run)...

So now I'm sitting, with no playable guitar, a total of $250 held in my checking account from EA (that doesn't even include the 160 I paid for the game), and I'm mad as heck.

Honestly, if I get another guitar that breaks within 10 days, I'm requesting a full refund of my money. If refused, I'll gladly work on a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT with the primary offense being that they knew of the problems before launch. I've read so many threads and talked to so many people (players and game shop owners) who knew of the problems well before launch. And yet they insist on releasing faulty hardware.. not just once.. but multiple times... do they think we are stupid? (don't answer that, hehe).

If anyone else is interested in looking into legel response, please email me at rknepp79@gmail.com

Thanks,
Rk