Consumers Claim Peripheral Problems With Guitar Hero: World Tour

Just a day after Guitar Hero: World Tour's long-awaited launch, Activision's official support boards for the game are lighting up with posts from many consumers claiming problems with their instrument peripherals. Most issues appear to hinge on the game's drum kit, with complaints ranging from poor sensitivity of the drum pads to issues with the accompanying kick pedal. Users are also reporting problems with the wireless guitar -- consumer site Shacknews reports, for example, that some of its users say the downward strum stops responding after a few hours of play. As the complaints seem to be evenly distributed across all of the platforms on which Guitar Hero: World Tour appears, Activision has set up dedicated threads offering customer support for problems by platform. The posts advise users to check batteries and connections, and redirects them to RedOctane's warranty site or Activision's customer support homepage if those solutions don't work. Notably, although cross-compatibility was promised between Guitar Hero peripherals and Rock Band 2 software, many forum users are reporting that Guitar Hero's drum kit does not work with the PlayStation 3 version of Rock Band 2. The Xbox 360 version appears to have no such compatibility issues. It remains unclear, however, from the forum usage just how widespread these issues are -- after all, a fervent poster of a petition demanding that RedOctane "take free returns, take an extra month or two to fix this crap, and send it back to us so we can enjoy the game we've all been waiting for" goes on to admit that he hasn't yet actually purchased the game.