Wii Guitar Hero 3 only outputs in mono sound. (Link with replacement form added)

[diskoboy]

EDIT BY GAC: Get your replacement disc here: http://www.activisiongameexchange.com/


Wow. That's just plain sad....

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/11/wi...ly-mono-sound/

[joshnickerson]

Makes me kind of glad I can't afford it this year... hopefully they'll have the kinks worked out by the time I actually buy it.

[Chuplayer]

This is just bullshit. It's one thing that they made the game look like a PS1 game. At least the graphics aren't important in this sort of game. Making the game output in mono only has got to make this the biggest load of crap on the Wii. This edges out Far Cry in terms of carelessness.

The Wii is not getting any fucking respect from developers. They treat it like a joke, but it's probably the biggest avenue for profits for them. The Wii is selling like hotcakes, and all they do is half-ass their games for their biggest userbase. Even the Gamecube got more respect! This is a slap in the face of gamers everywhere.

[RadiantSvgun]

I really can't tell a difference.

[Chuplayer]

I really can't tell a difference.

You haven't lived. I played games in mono for years and years, and then I got that GXTV thing. Its sound system is kinda average, but the sound it provided blew me away at the time. All of a sudden playing Star Wars Rogue Squadron was a feast for the ears. I didn't even notice the supposed tinniness of the sound in the game. I sometimes just left the sound test running and listened to the music!

When I got a Saturn a couple months later, I underwent a religious experience. I thought cart audio was good. CD quality music and sound was the best! Again, I would just sit there and listen. I listened to the Sonic R soundtrack dozens of times, and it was good.

I'm not even an audiophile. The GXTV is still the best sound system I've got, but I can tell the difference.

[Melf]

The Wii is not getting any fucking respect from developers. They treat it like a joke, but it's probably the biggest avenue for profits for them. The Wii is selling like hotcakes, and all they do is half-ass their games for their biggest userbase. Even the Gamecube got more respect! This is a slap in the face of gamers everywhere.

Why does this surprise you? The majority of Wii owners are casual gamers who buy 1 or 2 games a year. Why would developers put the bulk of their development resources into a console whose user base doesn't even notice that a game like Guitar Hero III only has mono sound? Casual gamers aren't going to really care. As long as the Wii's user base is made up of these types of gamers, don't expect the majority of 3rd party games to be anything other than cash runs.

The Wii version of GH3 really should only be the option of those without another console. No online play, leaderboards, or DLC make it the weakest version by far, and if it doesn't even have stereo sound...

[Chuplayer]

Why does this surprise you? The majority of Wii owners are casual gamers who buy 1 or 2 games a year. Why would developers put the bulk of their development resources into a console whose user base doesn't even notice that a game like Guitar Hero III only has mono sound? Casual gamers aren't going to really care. As long as the Wii's user base is made up of these types of gamers, don't expect the majority of 3rd party games to be anything other than cash runs.

The Wii version of GH3 really should only be the option of those without another console. No online play, leaderboards, or DLC make it the weakest version by far, and if it doesn't even have stereo sound...

Well, somebody did notice that the Wii version has mono sound. Otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it right now. And they should put some resources into the game because they're asking people to spend money on it! I'm not saying it has to be a masterpiece. I don't even care that the graphics look horrible! I have a problem when a developer craps out a half-assed port on a system that is more than capable of doing at least stereo sound. It's bullshit! It's as embarrassing as Superman 64.

[boatofcar]

Well, somebody did notice that the Wii version has mono sound. Otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it right now. And they should put some resources into the game because they're asking people to spend money on it! I'm not saying it has to be a masterpiece. I don't even care that the graphics look horrible! I have a problem when a developer craps out a half-assed port on a system that is more than capable of doing at least stereo sound. It's bullshit! It's as embarrassing as Superman 64.

Seriously. When was the last time you heard of a console game that had mono sound after the 8 bit generation?

[Melf]

Guitar Hero 3 on the Wii.

[RadiantSvgun]

You haven't lived. I played games in mono for years and years, and then I got that GXTV thing. Its sound system is kinda average, but the sound it provided blew me away at the time. All of a sudden playing Star Wars Rogue Squadron was a feast for the ears. I didn't even notice the supposed tinniness of the sound in the game. I sometimes just left the sound test running and listened to the music!

When I got a Saturn a couple months later, I underwent a religious experience. I thought cart audio was good. CD quality music and sound was the best! Again, I would just sit there and listen. I listened to the Sonic R soundtrack dozens of times, and it was good.

I'm not even an audiophile. The GXTV is still the best sound system I've got, but I can tell the difference.

I probably haven't noticed because I haven't been playing GHIII much... I actually have everything running through my surround sound stereo. And if you want a religious experience, it was when I played Super Castlevania IV through the stereo. But back to the topic at hand, more than likey we will get screwed. GHIII will get the bug fixes when the hard cover comes out and I'll probably be a sucker enough to pay for it.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

The Wii version of GH3 really should only be the option of those without another console. No online play, leaderboards, or DLC make it the weakest version by far, and if it doesn't even have stereo sound...

The Wii version has online, and leaderboards. The way they have online set up is actually better than the PS3 version. I went for it because I already had 2 PS2 controllers and figured that at some point the PS2 would lose support due to it's age.

[djbeatmongrel]

Melf, without going on a rant i'll just say that you are ignorant.

(Has a Wii as his only next gen console and wouldnt have it any other way)

I did notice a flatness to the Guitar Hero 3 audio but it didnt dawn on me to check out my audio settings (just wanted to play the game and figured its coming out of both speakers so its no biggie). I makes perfect sense that its been mono.

Activision really slipped up on some stuff in making the game, like no offline quickplay co-op and the exclusion of the best character ever, Eddie Knox. This detail doesn't surprise me.

[Icarus Moonsight]

So what is happening is a single (same) channel of audio is sent over both the left and right? That's not as bad as I originally thought, if true. Though it is nice to have pan variants between the two stereo channels for a more realistic sound, having a sort of Hi-Fi mono won't kill the game. Most probably wouldn't even notice. If I had a surround system... then I'd be pissed. Especially since it claims to support it and only gives you 2-5 (redundant) channels of mono with decent bass. lol

[Rob2600]

According to this thread on the Gameplanet forums, the sound effects in the Wii version are in stereo, but the guitar and the band are not. Activision claims to be looking into this technical blunder.

I played games in mono for years and years, and then I got that GXTV thing. ... All of a sudden playing Star Wars Rogue Squadron was a feast for the ears. I didn't even notice the supposed tinniness of the sound in the game.

That's weird...I've never read any reviews that stated the music in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron sounded tinny. If anything, critics have written about how great it was.

Seriously. When was the last time you heard of a console game that had mono sound after the 8 bit generation?

The TurboGrafx-16 and the first model Sega Genesis.

if you want a religious experience, it was when I played Super Castlevania IV through the stereo.

Yes, that was great. It still is!

[Neil Koch]

IIRC, you could get stereo sound from the 1st model Genesis by running a cord between the headphone jack and your stereo system. And I think the Turbobooster allowed for stereo sound from the TG16.

Back to the main topic, this is just a bad bad move. Who the hell was play-testing this game? This is some more ammo for the "GH is becoming the new Tony Hawk" camp (ie, putting out sequels far too quickly).

[Chuplayer]

That's weird...I've never read any reviews that stated the music in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron sounded tinny. If anything, critics have written about how great it was.

I read about it in Game Informer back in the day. Maybe they got a proto cart with bad sound, but they mentioned it again in their review for that Episode 1 game that was like Rogue Squadron 1.5.

The TurboGrafx-16 and the first model Sega Genesis.

The Genesis definitely had stereo sound from its headphone jack.

[Rob2600]

IIRC, you could get stereo sound from the 1st model Genesis by running a cord between the headphone jack and your stereo system. And I think the Turbobooster allowed for stereo sound from the TG16.

The Genesis definitely had stereo sound from its headphone jack.

Yes, of course. I meant without special accessories or workarounds. Straight out of the box, following the instruction manual, the TurboGrafx-16 and the first model Genesis output mono sound to a TV.

Anyway, back to the topic...part of me feels like as long as Guitar Hero III is fun, then who cares if the music is output in mono? On the other hand, part of me feels like Activision, RedOctane, Neversoft Entertainment, Vicarious Visions, and/or whoever else was involved should have caught this oversight.

UPDATE: According to page 2, page 3, and page 9 of a thread on the Guitar Hero forums, the game's instruction booklet mentions sound options that aren't in the Wii version!

"Looking at the GH3 manual seems to suggest that we are missing the option for turning stereo on and off."

"I am only getting Mono Sound! There is no place to change the settings in the Sound options menu, or any other menu for that matter."

"'Did I miss anything?' 'How about a sound menu like it says in the instruction booklet?'"

This is strange. Maybe the sound options menu was accidentally left out of the Wii version. Who knows? Keep in mind, some of the sound effects are in stereo, but still, this is ridiculous.

[rbudrick]

Wow, I hope they add that menu option to the next revision of the game! Maybe even through a downloadable patch...

-Rob

[Icarus Moonsight]

With the small internal storage of the Wii I would rather swap the gimped disk for a fixed one. Plus, it should be there to begin with so I'd expect them to do right and eat it. Maybe they'll be more careful next time.

[Lerxstnj]

The Wii is slowly becoming LAST GEN!

When is the Revolution coming out?