But nitpicking it to death is half the fun!

I'll add that if not for this post, I would've spent a lot longer trying to figure out how to play a friend online. The instruction book is useless. I'm probably spoiled by the custom game interface in Halo 3, but it seemed a bit counter-intuitive, and then it dumps you back out right after the last song.

Otherwise, online is awesome... didn't notice any lag at all. Of course, I didn't bother with the combat mode, and I'm sure if I wasn't playing a friend I'd get killed in any ranked match...

I had a ton of fun with multiplayer yesterday. Thanks for the people on here that did some coop with me. I wish people were more on my level for pro face off though. I was either getting double the points as my opponent or losing by a solid 50k or more. Only once did I have a nice competitive game. Only one log off so far though, which is cool.

I must be the only lame person out there, because I tried playing an "easy" match online, but was unable to find another random person playing at that level. Even medium seems absurd to me, but this is my first GH game.

I'm just curious because there's no jack on the guitar (the explorer at least.) Do you have to use the wireless headset?

Theres a jack on my Xplorer.

Weird. Both my xplorers have headset jacks on them.

I'm getting a little tired of all the players who hurry and lower their difficulty after you select yours. Totally lame. I'll stick with the pro face-offs.

And I agree not many on my level either. I either kill the player or get absolutely smoked.

I'll be joining you. I'm probably going to pick it up this weekend, but medium is my max although I can putz my way through a few of the low tier hard ones... at least on GHII. Not sure about III yet.

I must be blind because I couldn't find it yesterday when I looked. I'll have to double check when I get home.

I have to say, as someone who generally only tinkered with Expert because the speed and difficulty seemed to take a lot of the fun away, Expert on GH3 is very enjoyable. I had been playing Hard and ran into the brick wall know as Raining Blood, so I jumped up to get more of a hang of the fast HOPOs.

As soon as I started, I was loving it (the first 4 tiers). I know there have been complaints about the craziness of the charts, but I felt much more comfortable on these than I ever did Expert on 1, 2, or 80's. Granted, I struggled with The Seekers, Paint it Black, and a few other wild ones, but I might not just hide away in Hard like I always have.

Why is it that the bands who have a singer with a very unique voice are always the covers? Paranoid, La Grange, the SRV song, and a couple others I can't think of right now. Seems like the bands with a very ordinary voice leading them are always masters.

Someone give me a quick lesson in HO/PO. I only played GHII for a week and never got higher than medium so never really needed to learn. Quick lesson please.

I got the Wii version yesterday. This is my first foray into Guitar Hero and I am having a blast. My wrist gets so sore after playing, though. Great selection of songs, and for the most part the covers are pretty good.

I suck, though. I played my way through the Easy career and am now working through Medium.

Glad to have you in the Guitar Hero fold!

I completely empathize with you regarding the wrist pain. I put in about 7 hours or so during my first day with the game, and I felt it as time went on. Still, as with the previous games in the series, I was compelled to keep playing to try as many songs as possible. Between GHIII and raking leaves today-- I am a sore dude right now.

I echo your sentiments about the song selection, and a few of the covers are pretty impressive (while others are less than stellar).

The best way to learn is to go into the Advanced Techniques lesson (or whatever it's called). Basically, they are just notes that you don't have to strum. You play a lower note, then "hammer on" a higher note(s) from there, or strum a high note, then "pull off" to a lower note. I know that sounds muddled, but you'll get the idea if you go through the advanced tutorial.

I think there are two different types of xplorers with the headset jacks in different places... but it should have a jack regardless.

So am I the only person who opted for the Wii version?

I would have loved to have bought the Wii version, but I really wanted to play co-op here at home and I already had two guitars here for the PS2. The decision to buy the game/guitar set came on a whim... and the wireless Kramer is really, really nice.

I haven't picked it up yet so I'm just trying to get a feel for it through text. So on a string of notes I could strum the first then, say, hit red, green, blue in a succession without strumming each individually?

Furthermore, HO/PO are identical in method but are different terms merely for whether you are going from high to low or low to high?

Am I in the ballpark?

GHIII shows which notes to HO/PO, they are the glowing white notes. I never knew when to HO/PO in GHII which is why I never could advance in hard.

Yep, that's it exactly.

No, I picked it up for the Wii too. Online play seems to be non-existent, though. I can never find a co-op game going, or anything "Unranked" for that matter.

HO/PO notes looked different in GHII also. Maybe not quite as obvious, but still easily identifiable.

I'm decent, so I'll send you a friend request next time I'm on. I'll also ask my work buddy if he wants someone good to play against as well. He's 5-starred everything on Expert on 2, and is on his way with this one as well. Might give you some decent competition.

only system I have so nope

I frickin' love this game, this was my first time playing any variation of this series so I can't compare it to the others but geezus it's tons of fun, I loves it!

easy is too easy, medium is just right to challenge me, haven't tried hard or expert yet but I'm scared!

slash was my only problem in medium, I beat lou the first time which shocked me. but I didn't five star anything but "one" which is only because I'm a crazy tallica fan and its in my blood!

exited to try hard tomorrow.