Activision admits World Tour's drums are faulty [update]
by Dustin Burg 
{ Oct 28th 2008 at 1:15PM }
Update: According to the official World Tour forum post, a Neversoft spokesperson confirmed that the drum tuning kit will be Windows PC downloadable software (sorry Mac fanboys) that'll allow you to calibrate your drums.
After numerous angry reports made their way online in regards to Guitar Hero World Tour's peripherals not working correctly, Activision has fessed up, acknowledging that some of World Tour's drum kits are flawed.
After numerous angry reports made their way online in regards to Guitar Hero World Tour's peripherals not working correctly, Activision has fessed up, acknowledging that some of World Tour's drum kits are flawed.
"We have learned that certain drum kit controllers manufactured for Guitar Hero World Tour have sensitivity issues" starts the Activision statement claiming that it's an "isolated manufacturing issue" that occurred in the early manufacturing stages of production. Acti promises to further look into the borked drum kit problem and has plans to release a drum tuning kit that should optimize the drums and fix the sensitivity issues. For those of you who demand drum kit answers or some sort of alternative fix, you can contact Acti's online support or give them a call (U.S.) at 310-255-2050. Complete (apologetic) Activision statement after the break.
"We have learned that certain drum kit controllers manufactured for Guitar Hero World Tour have sensitivity issues. We believe that these controllers are limited to ones in the earlier manufacturing stages. While we believe that this was an isolated manufacturing issue, we are stepping our efforts to randomly test our drum kit controllers so customers can be assured they work properly. In the event any consumers do experience problems with their drum kit controllers associated with sensitivity issues, Activision will soon be offering a drum tuning kit that will enable players to fully optimize their drums.
Our goal would be to immediately address any hardware issues Guitar Hero World Tour players have with the game. Consumers should visit the Activision Publishing customer support website at www.activision.com/support website or call 310 255-2050 in the U.S. where a customer care representative will assist them. Activision is fully committed to the highest quality manufacturing standards, and to satisfying every Guitar Hero World Tour fan so they can enjoy the best musical gaming experience ever created."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
joeybeast @ Oct 28th 2008 1:28PM
wow, Guitar Hero copied Rockband so well, it even copied the faulty instruments just to be on the safe side.
Guy4 @ Oct 28th 2008 1:52PM
ahaha
Cal @ Oct 28th 2008 1:38PM
I already ordered my drum calibration kit. They said it should be here by next week. Lets hope this fixes my red drum issues and crosstalk with other drums.
MDJ2010 @ Nov 27th 2008 9:00AM
Your definately an asshole, no denying that.
Deezul @ Oct 28th 2008 1:54PM
Also, Activision is following MS's lead - release a product we know is faulty from day one, and deal with the fall out later. Release date is more important than a quality product. But I think this will do more damage to Activision since they are second out with a complete kit. Why even mess with a broken kit when you can get the 2nd generation drum set with an RB2 kit!
ScottishPrik @ Oct 28th 2008 2:50PM
Don't be an idiot. And by the way. PS3 fanboy is thataway>>
Deezul @ Oct 28th 2008 2:53PM
Cool. They gonna give me a PS3 to go with my 2 360s? Maybe a launch PS3 to along with my launch 360. Douche...
carnage rules @ Oct 28th 2008 8:12PM
What is this faulty MS product that you speak of? My 360's are all working fine. I've never had a problem. What faulty product?
Deezul @ Oct 28th 2008 10:59PM
That the three 360s I've had, among other 360s. Gone through two premiums and an elite. Yeah, THAT MS product. Oh, and my Zune that periodically crashes. Oh wait, and the Windows OS that requires the occasional reboot. But MS products are perfect... Still using Microsoft BOB, are you?
carnage rules @ Oct 28th 2008 11:29PM
Sounds to me like user error. Are you sure you're capable of handling electronics. Some people just aren't you know. Maybe it's time to give up and read a book.
Deezul @ Oct 29th 2008 10:06AM
Yep, you nailed it. I've been faking my computer knowledge for 30+ years. I don't know how these new fangled flat TVs work or why every time i type on my typewriter, I don't have to load paper! Must be a problem with my series of tubes. The internets are the bee's knees!
decapit8 @ Oct 28th 2008 2:27PM
owned.
Helvetica Scenario @ Oct 28th 2008 2:04PM
D.O.A. might be the more appropriate acronym in this case.
Ben @ Oct 28th 2008 3:29PM
Rock Band 2 is way better than this shitty copy anyways.
Ian Murray @ Oct 28th 2008 6:47PM
I don't have GHWT, but I find it unsettling that the "tuning kit" will only be released for Windows...way to piss off more people in the process.
kastonie @ Oct 29th 2008 10:52AM
way to piss off the 3% of people in the world that use a mac....
Nietha @ Oct 28th 2008 10:00PM
My friend and I both got complete sets at the same store and our cymbals have a different texture and the orange isn't the same colour. One colour doesn't work on his set and THREE don't work on mine. What a joke. What's the point in buying on the day of release if you're just going to be punished for it. Should have waited a month for them to figure out how to make farking drums.
Jedimonkey @ Oct 29th 2008 12:29AM
Any idea how this is going to work being that these drums are wireless? I personally have the MS dongle to use the 360 controllers on my PC, so I may be covered, but what about the other folks?
kastonie @ Oct 29th 2008 10:51AM
I picked up a full band kit (360) from target on sunday morning, and everything works perfectly on it. I think a lot of these people complaining about their drums and guitar not working correctly are not that good at the game. I read on the forums that some people even broke their drumsticks because they were hitting the drum so hard. Maybe thats why its broke because some people are just going apeshit nutz on their drums when you dont need to...its fake drums not real drums...and if you beat real drums that hard you'd bust the heads...
Bslashingu @ Oct 30th 2008 1:34AM
The people that are having problems getting the drums to register are having problems straight out of the box. They don't even get a chance to go "apeshit nutz" on them, because they never worked in the first place.
mikemaj82 @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:09PM
Haha good. all the people that HAD to be the first on the block to have this game are suffering. People don't learn. I'm waiting a few months to buy it, there are plenty of other games that will keep me busy until they fix this issue completely.
devilen @ Nov 21st 2008 10:29AM
i just got ghwt the other day and i had sencitivity issues with the red and orange but i downloaded the tunning kit that you can download from microsoft for free, because the drums are controlled by how hard you hit them(sencitivity/motion detectors) it would be hard to tune every last one of there products and highly costly, so some1 said microsoft knew about this flaw since day 1? well maybe thats so that we an tune the drum kits ourselfs to the way that we want them to work(some people might hit the drums softer or harder than others) it took me about 20 mins to tune my drums just the way i want them to be and there fine.
Mike @ Dec 25th 2008 7:47PM
If you are unfortunate enough to experience "Red drum problems" like a lot of people who bought Guitar Hero World Tour, then fear not... there is an easy fix at lookatbowen.com - red drum fix.
If you open your drum kit up as described in the article, then you will see what a poor job they (the manufacturers) did on the wiring and it's no surprise that the drums are not working. But it can be fixed easily and there is no need to send back to the shop.