Gaming Guitar Hero III - extra guitar controller

[Warm Woolly Shee]

If the game weren't buggy I would have bought it.

 

[sepinho]

Any updates on unbundled or third-party Wii guitars, especially in Europe?

I've actually talked to the Marketing Director of some Chinese OEM that was displaying a Wii guitar at its booth at this year's Cebit, but they don't have a distributor for Europe yet. The devices are being produced obviously, but where to buy them??

 

[Spikey]

Well, the official first party guitars are out now(for Wii and PS3) in the US, and they cost $70. Kinda insane for the Wii guitar's price considering two things.

The Wii bundle normally costs $90, and the PS3's costs $100. A $10 difference, so you'd think the guitar's price would be cheaper. But there's more! You also use a Wii remote in the Wii's guitar. So that must make it cheaper to produce, no? The remote takes care of the wireless and the tilt sensing so it should be cheaper. What's more is that you NEED the remote for it, which means if you don't have another one for use with the guitar you have to also make a $40 purchase on that. Something you don't have to think about or do with the PS3 one.

The alternative, which I did, was just to buy a third party guitar that's out now. The Nyko Front Man guitar. It comes in $10 cheaper than the official guitar, and works just as well. And because it's third party, there's a possibility that it COULD work on Rock Band for Wii when it comes out. I doubt it'll work, but there's a possibility.

Anyways... [/rant]

 

[Hooya]

I bought a Frontman and kind of regret it.

The buttons are considerably more stiff than the original, so it takes more effort to play especially in higher difficulty levels. It's not terrible, but noticeable.

The frets are really high and sharp. I actually took a Dremel tool with a sanding attachment and ground the frets down just to make it not painful to play.

The neck doesn't come off the body. This can be a good or bad thing.

On the plus side, it was cheaper and while the frets were a real problem once I sanded them down the guitar is responsive and everything. It feels kind of like a Bass guitar in relation to the normal guitar that is the official controller. And it looks like a Telecaster, so that's cool.

One minor gripe, the faceplates are not nearly as convenient to change as on the official guitar. You need to unscrew 7 security bits to remove the face plate. It comes with a little screwdriver that has a storage spot where you put the remote, but still, much more complicated than the official guitar.

 

[Spikey]

I bought a Frontman and kind of regret it.

The buttons are considerably more stiff than the original, so it takes more effort to play especially in higher difficulty levels. It's not terrible, but noticeable.

The frets are really high and sharp. I actually took a Dremel tool with a sanding attachment and ground the frets down just to make it not painful to play.

The neck doesn't come off the body. This can be a good or bad thing.

On the plus side, it was cheaper and while the frets were a real problem once I sanded them down the guitar is responsive and everything. It feels kind of like a Bass guitar in relation to the normal guitar that is the official controller. And it looks like a Telecaster, so that's cool.

One minor gripe, the faceplates are not nearly as convenient to change as on the official guitar. You need to unscrew 7 security bits to remove the face plate. It comes with a little screwdriver that has a storage spot where you put the remote, but still, much more complicated than the official guitar.

The buttons don't feel stiff to me, and the frets are not sharp at all on mine. Must've just been your guitar. One thing I HAVE noticed though, is that you have to press the buttons down kinda hard for it to register. This isn't much of a problem for me as I press them down kinda hard anyways, but for holding notes, if you let up even a smidgen, it counts as you lifted it up. And also for parts where you have to hold green and orange it's hard to apply enough pressure to the buttons for it to count as well. Other than that it functions fine.

 

[sepinho]

Well, the official first party guitars are out now(for Wii and PS3) in the US, and they cost $70.

It seems the guitar is not even out in Europe yet. And once it is, it'll probably be €80 a-piece. Companies seem to not have looked at the dollar-euro exchange rate in recent years. And thus ends my rant.