One of the Fender guitar controllers I received for review started having the down-strum problems hours after playing. Down-strumming starts to require a harder push, then it starts getting flaky, and finally registers double strums whenever you hit it. On my defective guitar, if I strum ever so lightly, it is fine, but one does not strum lightly when they play a game such as this!
Fear not, EA has been replacing broken and defective instruments through their support site. It is not the end of the world, and not every unit is defective. My original Fender and my replacement Fender are working fine. The problem seems to stem from the housing unit for the strum bar. If you wish to void your warrantee and fix it yourself, people have been successful with tweezers and a screwdriver.
Downloadable Content
On November 20, the day of release, the game had artist packs from The Police, Queens of the Stone Age, and Metallica, each with three songs. There were six single song downloads as well. Still to come are full album downloads including The Who, Metallica, and Nirvana. There is also a Greatfull Dead artist pack with 18 songs that has been announced. All songs can be purchased individually, too, if you wish. This week saw a artist track pack from David Bowie.
Harmonix has stated that every week more songs will become available, so far there is a schedule four weeks out after launch that includes Black Sabbath, a Punk Pack, and other single songs by artists. A large percentage of the downloadable tracks are also master recordings, too.
Ultimate Party Game
Rock Band is built for the masses. It doesn't have a steep difficulty curve, and the extensiveness of its music library has not been realized yet. The Developers are even asking for user feedback on what music you want to play in the game. Some may scoff at you for playing fake instruments, but the rest of us will be having a blast on guitar, bass, drums and vocals.
Harmonix took on a colossal task and fused it all together so effortlessly. The price is justified if you have a bunch of friends to play your fake instruments with. Putting it into perspective, it costs $70 more than Guitar Hero III and also has a drum kit and mic. The Special Edition is being sold through the holidays (the $170 bundle) and you can purchase the game separately now as well. After the New Year individual instruments will be sold.
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