Wii's Guitar Hero III not down with surround sound?

We don't know who thought it'd be smart to mess with the gods of rock, but choosing not to include surround sound support for Guitar Hero III just doesn't sound like an intelligent move. Nevertheless, a assemblage of Wii gamers are reporting that the game is outputting audio in mono, despite the packaging advertising that Dolby Pro Logic II is supported. We've even seen users with Pro Logic II-capable decoders explain that while other Wii titles sound fine, GHIII in particular refuses to cooperate. Supposedly, Activision is busy looking into the problem, but there doesn't seem to be a definitive time frame for when we can expect a fix. So, any of you shredders out there experiencing something similar, or have we only heard one channel, er, side of the story?

[Via Joystiq]

[bigwhitebear18 Posted Nov 13th 2007 2:12PM]

I've actally experienced this too. I don't use a surround system at my home but when I brought the wii with me to a friend who has surround and changed the settings it sounded like crap, 10x worse than my pathetic tv was putting out. I switched back to stereo thinking it was his system but now that i hear this i believe that this is a case of mono *snicker*

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 13th 2007 2:34PM]

I'm selling my Wii and getting Guitar Hero 4 for the PS3 next year. I hope BlueRay wins the HD format war.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 13th 2007 7:18PM]

The stupid sony fanboys are anoyying(Microsoft Zune/Frank or whatever you are called I am talking about you).

This is not about the Wii capabilities. The Wii is fully capable of stereo as well as Dolby Surround sound.

The article is about a bug in the Wii version of Guitar Hero. This is bad for the costumer, the Game has the Dolby surround sound logo and is not delivering surround sound. It is a defective product. And this has nothing to do with Wii vs PS3.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 13th 2007 7:04PM]

Dude... You're talking about yourself. You just changed your name is all.

[pohatu771 Posted Nov 13th 2007 4:19PM]

I realise that it's a serious problem (and I'll be upset if my own copy is only mono when I get it), but real guitar players have been limited to mono for over sixty years, unless they feel like paying for the expensive guitars that have stereo (like the B.B. King signature Lucille).

[FueledByPez Posted Nov 28th 2007 10:10PM]

This is B.S. - my friend has it and it definitely sounds great and is coming through all of his speakers. The problem we had with it was calibrating the guitar - it was a little off at first. I'm not a big fan of the Wii, but I think the design of the guitar with the wiimote was great. I think they did a decent job. I'm glad I'll be getting it for the 360 though.

[SystemsAnalyst Posted Nov 13th 2007 5:14PM]

Maybe you people who have issues with the sound should upgrade your sound setup that the sound isn't coming to the TV but a receiver capable of talking Mono sound sources and converting them to ProLogicII. Ever thought about that?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 13th 2007 8:03PM]

I dont care about the audio, with the exception of the crappy Star power effects... The sounds it makes, to me, sounds more garbled than exceptional.

I just need an extra Wiitar :-C

[cptcrackers Posted Nov 13th 2007 8:39PM]

My son got me this for my Birthday. It's hella fun, but the sound really is bad. When you go into Star Power it is muddy enough to be distracting.

[Cameage Posted Nov 13th 2007 10:52PM]

I have a high-end audio system, and GHIII Wii sounds great over it. If you're having sound problems...what can I tell you, you need a better receiver and a better pair of speakers. I mean, jeez, when was the last time you went to a show and they had a surround sound system? Same with CD's, unless you're really into DVDAudio. Stereo is enough, and on a video game, mono is pretty much the same as stereo unless you're playing an FPS.

Also, I think the sound with star power on sounds great, it sounds like you're at a live show...which is the point.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 16th 2007 9:36AM]

I have had this problem, it's ridiculous, I can play bleach Bleach Shattered Blade with Chad grunting in my ear in surround, but I can't hear paint it black in surround.