14 DAY TRIAL // I didn't know there was such an issue with the whammy bar for the GH II 360 controller. Sure, we've heard of problems occurring with the X-Plorer's whammy bar, but I thought they were just isolated cases. Guess not, as Microsoft has released an update to fix the problem. Here's what the official Guitar Hero forum says: "A title update for Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 will be available on Xbox Live at 4:00 am PDT on Saturday, April 14 that should resolve the situation where input from the whammy bar was not always recognized. Downloading the update should resolve this issue for all Activision Guitar Hero branded guitar models."
Then, all of the sudden these messages followed:
- "my game won't work now cause of the update." - "did your xbox freeze up? this happend to my friend he updated and now it freezes after about 5 minutes of playing hte 360 now he is sending it in to m$." - "My 360 just died today as well, after I downloaded the update. I called in the return to MS." - "My 360 is off warranty and after loading the patch it is now bricked. I don't think that's a coincidence. So how come I'm on the hook for $168 replacement charge from Microsoft and not RedOctane?" - "What about people who can't hook up XBL? (Like me)."
It's bad enough that this patch not only doesn't fix the issue but also brings the 360 to its knees, but what about those off warranty machines? Didn't anyone think of these repercussions before releasing the patch? Oh, and what about those not being able to log on to XBLA? What, just buying the console and game doesn't make one worthy of Microsoft's and RedOctane's full attention?
Microsoft already has a bad rep concerning their customer service, warranty policy and stacking shelves with defective Xbox 360s, but I didn't think they'd go as far as charging $168 for one of their own mistakes. Why didn't they give some sort of warranty when releasing the update as well? They can't talk their way out of this one, saying that installing it wrong led to all the mishaps.