edstein

I just bought an extra guitar at BB this weekend but, they were sold out of the game itself. My wife and I played GHII together last night for about 2 hours. That's the most time on a video game for her that I can remember.

tidwell

While I brace myself for the inevitable beating that should ensue....anybody have any word on when the next batch of songs will hit Marketplace? I never played GH1 and would love to get my hands on "Take Me Out" and the like.

Shagrath

I heard they plan on bringing out a batch monthly, so I'm estimating the first the middle of May for the next batch.

Mordred

Well I finally got a chance to play the 360 version at Best Buy. I've got to say that I really hate the controller. The strum bar feels nicer (not as loose as my PS2 one) but everything else is worse. The shorter neck, stiffer buttons, crazy SP activation and that horrible awful whammy bar. Seems pretty useless except on super long holds. On the PS2 I can whammy just about every hold longer than an 8th note, but there's no way to do that on the Xplorer. I also use the select button to activate SP, and that little tiny button is worthless for me on the 360. On the plus side, the graphics were sweet, and I'm sure the extra songs are cool. Unfortunately the BB kiosk only had the demo, so I only got to play the Pearl Jam song. I'm dying to try out the Trooper on Expert. Looks like tons of fun.

I came home tonight and decided I was going to 5* Six. After an hour of messing with it, I've decided I'm an idiot for wanting to do this. I did manage to come within 8k of the 5* cutoff (and would have had it if I didn't miss a SP I almost always get) but couldn't duplicate the run. I feel like I'm getting it, but every part of that song is just a pain in the ass and I can't put a solid run together. It will happen sooner or later... hopefully sooner because my arm is going to fall off otherwise.

bee_01

The X-plorer whammy bar is fine (as connecting it to a Windows PC and doing the calibration proves). There was an update for GH2 available last week that fixed the anti-cheating code in the game that was making the whammy bar unresponsive.

Shagrath

I'm glad they made the select button so small and out of the way on the 360 version. I can't stand it when I'm playing someone and they activate the star power with a button. It's much cooler to just tilt the guitar. Just a little peeve of mine.

Canis Firebrand

Yeah, but in my case, the tilting doesn't work 99% of the time and I have to resort to using the select button to activate star power. It is so out of the way that I have to wait until there are breaks in the song or long held notes so that I can move my hand to press it. If I try in the middle of notes, I drop whatever combo I had going.

I haven't been able to exchange my game yet because all the circuit city stores near me are still sold out.

Shagrath

I guess I just got lucky, in that both of mine work fine. I'm a lefty, so the tilt sensor is a little more sensitive when flipped in that position, but my wife hasn't had any problems tilting hers up on the right side either.

Ghym

When I first tried the demo at Best Buy a while back, I wasn't sure I liked the controller either. Since playing it at home for a while, though, I've gotten used to it. I even prefer it over the old SG controller now. I haven't really had any trouble with the whammy bar and I've never used the button to activate star power. I just have to flick the controller up quickly and it will activate.

Of course, my old PS2 SG controller was getting worn out. The strum bar squeaked all the time, the paint was coming off, and the buttons seemed loose. So, any new guitar would probably seem better to me.

Mordred

My main complaint with the whammy was the extreme stiffness of it. There was way too much resistance in the physical bar. It wasn't something I felt I could use effectively with just a few fingers while keeping my thumb on the strum bar. Maybe the update fixed that but I don't see how. Maybe it was just the guitar. The other problem almost certainly was the guitar: the whammy hung straight down when released. It wouldn't stay in the "ready" position parallel to the neck. Maybe that being broken was the cause of the super stiffness too though.

Mordred

Unresponsive (or super responsive) tilters suck the fun out of it. My Cherry SG (not from GH2) needs to be held straight up and shaken to activate. My wife uses the standard PS2 controller and it works better than mine, but she still misses the occasional note trying to get the tilt to work. I want my SP to come on exactly when I tell it to, no guess work

Ghym

Which Best Buy were you at? I was at the Best Buy at Gateway, and the whammy bar on that one was a lot more stiff than the one I got with the game. After I played the demo unit I wasn't too happy with the controller. Luckily the one I got with the game, and the extra one I bought, both work much better.

Mordred

I went over to the Gateway Best Buy last week, but it was on the 360 menu and something appeared to be messed up because I couldn't even get to the demo It seemed to be stuck in the XBL menus or something. Even rebooted the machine and it didn't help. I actually played it at the Lakeline Mall BB last night. I'm not an idiot because I got through the menus and launched the demo there no sweat

flair

I agree that tilting just doesn't work well. I do it when I'm playing with friends, but when I am trying to beat my scores I use select. I just think of it as palm muting, which is just as metal

edstein

I finally 5*d a couple of songs on hard. Damn that felt good. I only need three more 5*s on medium to finish that set.

Canis Firebrand

I still can't get my last 3 in Medium at 5*.

I have, however, made it further in Hard then I thought I would. Freya is giving me problems. But as soon as I can pass it, I unlock the encore and the next set of songs.

I made it to about 85% in Freya before failing. So, I'm getting better. My first time I made it about 30%.

tbird2340

YES! I landed this today after work at Wal Mart. Called Worst Buy twice today and they still didn't have it in stock and it was sold out everywhere else I called / went.

I used needing milk as an excuse to go to Wally World and they had like 5 of em.. I asked the lady if she could open the glass and she says "Let me guess. Guitar Hero."

She said they get like 75 calls a day for it and that it would be OOS again by the end of the night..

YEE HAW!!! Time to suck it up big time!

edstein

Rock On Tbird

LivingINClip

Havent had much time to play since I went back to work. Need to get back in the groove, for sure.

tidwell

Damn. My COSTCO has probably 50 copies of GHII in stock and they aren't going anywhere.

I mean where else can you get GHII for 80 bones and sweet-ass chicken bake?

Ghym

Finally beat Freya on expert. The part that was killing me was the repetitive part toward the end, where the song sounds like a broken record. My hands just had trouble doing it. Finally got enough star power to get through. Made it through the next tier pretty easily, until Psychbilly Freakout. Now I'm stuck there, but I think I can beat it.

SuperBatMan

So, in the last week, I've gotten through 'Freebird' on hard twice. Never done it before. It makes you feel good when you get through it.

xVladx

There's some tricks to making two of the patterns in the "broken record" section a bit easier.

First is the one that goes G-RB-YB. Instead of keeping your hand in one place the whole time, try (and this is a bit tricky to explain) hitting Green with your index finger, but keep your ring finger over blue. After you hit the green note, slide it up to red and put your ring finger on blue for the next chord, then just switch your index and ring finger for the YB chord. This works rather well since you don't have to lift your index finger up while putting your pinky and middle down at the same time.

The other section that has a "trick" to it is the part that goes G, O, YB. Hit green normally, but when you play the orange note, play it as a YBO chord. then just release orange to play the last chord. It's easier to slam all three fingers down on the second note than have to try and alternate from orange to YB.

Ghym

Thanks. I'll try those if I ever play the song again. On the G, O, YB part, I kind of did what you are saying. I would hit B and O at the same time, then release O, keeping B down, and hitting Y. Hitting all three would probably be easier. Sometimes when I play that song, I hit those sections fairly well for a bit, but as it keeps going, I start thinking about it and mess up. Then, if I don't have enough star power, I fail.

Mordred

Congrats! I'm terrible at that song because it makes my wrist hurt badly so I rarely play it.

For Psychobilly my one trick for the alternating OY-RB chords is to play it through a few times so you have the basic idea of how it goes, then stop looking at the screen during that portion. It's 10x easier closing your eyes during that section.