Activision opens pre-registration for Guitar Hero Wii replacement discs
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jan 4th 2008 at 11:00AM }
The pre-registration is available for North American customers only, and the site claims new discs will be available in "early 2008." If you don't feel like pre-registering at this time, there is also a notification by email option for receiving updates on the situation. Guitar Hero Wii's mono sound should find a nice place in "How'd the heck that happen?" History, right next to Dead Rising's teenie tiny text.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ShortFuse @ Jan 4th 2008 11:10AM
Guys, you keep getting this information wrong. The game outputs in Mono and Stereo. When you set it to surround sound, Dolby ProLogic II doesn't work right. Dolby PLII is basically a technology to output 5.1 over stereo. When set to ProLogic II, you only get it in center speaker, front L+R and Rear L+R not working, aka Mono. If you set it to stereo, it works fine.
LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 11:23AM
Yea I too have noticed sounds coming from both left and right channels indepently.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 4th 2008 11:32AM
Yeah, thats a big difference from "only works in mono".
Who's the fact checker at joystiq?
Trev @ Jan 4th 2008 11:35AM
The problem is the Dolby logo on the box. Wow, wouldn't that be a dirty way to fix it? Just reprint the discs and case inserts without the logo...
It doesn't matter what it outputs. If you set it to "not mono" and get mono, there's a problem.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 4th 2008 1:03PM
No one says its "Not a problem". Its just not nearly the problem the entire internet was making it out to be. Especially since the master tracks for all those songs, at the most, are in stereo.
baby sea tuna @ Jan 4th 2008 1:52PM
"It's just not nearly the problem the entire internet was making it out to be."
Yeah, that could basically apply to...well, everything really. I mean: http://www.classactionconnect.com/?q=node/682
darklink (NDF - PlayStation ring) @ Jan 4th 2008 11:33AM
Anyone know if ShortFuse is right? I'e been holding out on GH3 until they had the good discs IN the stores. But if what ShortFuse says is right, I'll get the game right away, since I don't have surround sound :(
Shad0wguy @ Jan 4th 2008 11:41AM
No, Shortfuse is wrong. No matter what you set it to it outputs only in mono.
I just called in for my pre-reg and Activision wants us to send in our original discs before they send out the new ones. Kinda stupid if you ask me.
LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 4:19PM
The songs? Yes. Every other audio bit in the game? Stereo.
loof @ Jan 4th 2008 11:49AM
I hope they're planning on fixing some of the other bugs in the game as well. Perhaps even including the free DLC from the other versions on the discs.
Jeff @ Jan 4th 2008 12:03PM
I pre-registered and the support rep said they expect the discs later this month or early January.
Sparkle @ Jan 4th 2008 12:11PM
I want a new disc, but I hate having to give away my current disc and wait for a new one to come in the mail for who knows how long it'll take.
Chris @ Jan 4th 2008 12:30PM
I just called activision about getting a replacement disc, and they siad the problem is only that the game is not outputting surround sound. According to them, the stereo in the game is not broken, only the surround sound is.
Revray @ Jan 4th 2008 12:39PM
I got to tell you, I just called Activision, and the fact that I have to send them my old game, when THEY are the ones who messed up and put out a bad product knowingly is really frustrating. I know they dont want a bunch of people selling the game off or something like that, but come on. Ahh well, I can hope Rock Band is coming out soon for the wii and abandon GH3 all together.
Wiitard @ Jan 4th 2008 12:43PM
Offer only seems to incluse the US.
I ive in the UK. When will we get them?
Alex @ Jan 4th 2008 1:23PM
Really at this point I don't care about being forced to play in Mono, I'm just gonna deal with it. Since well being able to play in mono is better then not being able to play at all, and you can barely even tell any difference in Mono and Stereo.
baby sea tuna @ Jan 4th 2008 1:53PM
Wait...the Wii supports surround sound?!
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 4th 2008 2:01PM
Dolby PL2. Makes a huge difference than pure stereo, trust me.
ShortFuse @ Jan 4th 2008 4:29PM
As did the N64 and GameCube. Look it up Dolby ProLogic II
AirIntake @ Jan 4th 2008 2:15PM
You know, as much as people complain about console games needing patches like PC games, it's still a whole lot better than having to ship out new discs.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 4th 2008 3:09PM
I can only hope that the upside of new discs having to be printed means a larger focus on QA, which was lost when developers realized "OMFG WE CAN PATCH IT".
LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 4:21PM
And Crono, never is this more evident than in MoH:Heroes 2 multiplayer. I hear those Nazi bastards creepin up from my back right and left every time!
Ward @ Jan 4th 2008 7:01PM
To those of you saying that it works in stereo, where is the setting to have it output stereo instead of the alleged ProLogic II/mono?
Eric @ Jan 4th 2008 7:16PM
She asked me if I had surround sound, and I said no, and she seemed to think that I didn't need to replace mine... I convinced her otherwise, since I could always install surround sound.
greggbert @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:31PM
WHOAH Shortfuse and others! You have bad information here.
Let’s do a quick education. Stereophonic sound is more than just “sound coming out of more than one speaker”. Stereophonic sound has two separate and slightly different channels that go to the right and left speaker. Your ear detects these differences and that creates the cool sounding “stereo effect”. In Guitar Hero III, for Wii, no matter how you configure the sound, you only get IDENTICAL SOUND CHANNELS in the right and left speaker. A good example is your car stereo. On FM, you get stereophonic sound, switch to AM, and you get monaural sound coming from both speakers. The music in Guitar Hero III for the Wii is like AM radio, monaural. There are articles on the internet that prove this, and you can try yourself by setting your receiver to stereo mode.
Activision through their carefully worded statements has made it seem like stereo sound works just fine unless you have dolby prologic. INCORRECT. First off they never explicitly state that anyone is getting stereo sound, and in fact nobody is. Why did they do this? Well because the only claim they make on the outside of the box is that it outputs in Dolby prologic surround. That is why they are being sued, and that is why they are doing the replacement.
Activision had a choice to make, they could include EVERYONE WITH STEREO in the replacement or just the people who want prologic, they chose to only include those who want prologic, because that particular group is the only one they are worried will sue, because that’s the only claim they make on the box. I personally think that’s extremely lame and I encourage Activision to fix this problem for ALL PURCHASERS and not just the ones they think might be able to join a lawsuit.