I’ve caught quite a bit of flack for my review of GH3. Some of it has come from ps3 owners that haven’t experienced any issues. Good for them. But most seems to come from a segment of ps3 users that automatically disbelieve anything critical relating to the PS3.
I wrote the review two days ago. Since then, I’ve had time to try a few things within the game and to experience the online community over at guitarhero.com.
First off, the controller related issues persist. I still experience dropped notes and ghost frets. Many have attributed these behaviors to poor contacts between the neck and body of the guitar. I’ve made sure that my contacts are clean and the neck is seated properly. I don’t know what the root cause is, and if this issue is a design flaw or a flaw in my particular unit. I really don’t want to go back to EB Games to try to swap out the guitar.
I’ve also noticed that the controller seems to require more force to correctly register fret invocations. This isn’t a huge deal, but it makes sliding very difficult.
On the timing front, I read a post over on ps3forums that claims if you are using optical out, the disabling of everything but two-channel PCM would largely correct timing issues. I tried this out, and it helped immensely. It’s not perfect, but now it’s close enough that I can attribute the remaining delta to built-in design. While I’m not a fan, I can get used to it. However, there remains one drawback. Audio is not leveled properly when using PCM 2 channel. The guitar effects are so strong that they overpower most other sounds. It’s very similar to what a song sounds like in Practice mode; the vocals and other instruments are barely there, just below the surface. I have not tried adjusting the levels in the sound options yet.
Seriously, did any one at Activision/RedOctane/Neversoft perform any kind of user/configuration/environment/acceptance testing on actual production PS3 units? If so, what were the configuration scenarios? Were the standard a/v cables used? How about component or HDMI? Optical? What sound options were enabled? Did they test the guitar/dongle for RF interference with the SIXAXIS?
The longer I’m exposed to this product, the more it seems like this entire product and it’s launch is a rookie effort. Are you listening Activision/RedOctane/Neversoft?
My Blahg 
You’re not the only one with dropped notes. I’ve heard the some complaint by a lot of other people with the new controller where the contacts between the neck and body disconnect just enough to be an issue. Personally, I’m cheap so I’m still using my Guitar Hero 2 wired controller. I was thinking of getting the wireless, but now I’m thinking I might wait a while and see how this plays out.
Comment by Jigsaw hc — October 31, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
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Pingback by Learn Guitar » Follow-up to Guitar Hero 3 review — November 15, 2007 @ 10:00 am
I’ve also noticed timing issues on the PS3 that are simply not present on the other consoles. The video calibration doesn’t help as I believe that the problem lies between the audio and when the game registers your strum. I can’t even safely double strum to the rhythm like I have in previous games and it also makes HOs & POs very challenging (Hello Slayer). As an expert 100%er kind of plastic guitarist in GH2, I am very irritated with the PS3 version of GH3 that I purchased my PS3 for. AU$860 is no small fee for a student. Fingers crossed for a fix.
Comment by Aussie Guitar Hero — November 18, 2007 @ 8:10 am