Activision cranks up Wii Guitar Hero III disc replacement program

Select owners of Guitar Hero III for Wii have been moshing uncontrollably as best they can in mono for months on end, but it seems as if Activision has finally got its interconnects sorted and will start issuing replacement discs. According to direct end-user reports and the (admittedly blurry) shots in the gallery below, the firm is now dishing out pre-paid envelopes in which customers have to ship back their faulty GH III disc and wait "3 to 4 weeks" before getting a new, stereo-enabled one free of charge. Live sans your favorite game for a month, or keep rockin' in the monaural world? Tough call, indeed.

[Thanks, Sam K. and Michael S.]

Gallery: Activision cranks up Wii Guitar Hero III disc replacement program

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[mattclarkie @ Feb 16th 2008 11:55AM]

I know someon who needs a new disc, but they haven't setup a replacement programme for Europe. Does anyone know if they are planning to.

[jsz @ Feb 16th 2008 11:57AM]

I got my envelope pretty early in the week and mailed it right back the next day. Hopefully I get it back in short order.

[Mike @ Feb 16th 2008 5:56PM]

i dont understand what the big deal is most music sounds just fine when its played in Mono

[bondsbw @ Feb 16th 2008 1:14PM]

Sure, that's what you and I hear, but my TV is mono. I don't have a $700 stereo system hooked up to my tube. My guess is that you don't either. But the people who pay well for a good system want to be able to use it, so it is a big deal to them.

Besides, it is a music game, and people expect high quality music even if they only have a run-of-the-mill stereo CRT. I mean, would you ask "what's the big deal" if Halo 3 only displayed in 640p resolution? Oh... wait... it did. And people got pissed because of it. But, using two frame buffers for better lighting saved the game for many. In the case of GH3, this was purely a mistake and not part of a feature, like Halo 3.

[jimmy @ Feb 16th 2008 12:32PM]

i couldn't believe how bad the audio on GH3 for Wii is compared to, say, rock band for xbox360. mono aside, it starts distorting when my stereo is past -30. rockband sounds great even up to -10 (which is ridiculously loud).

[Satoshi109 @ Feb 16th 2008 3:10PM]

Yes, but does it sound good when turned to -11?

[Andrew @ Feb 16th 2008 12:33PM]

What the?
They should do the right thing and send you the new disc FIRST, why disrupt the customers experience like this?

I had my 20" Dell LCD warrantied, and they sent me the replacement first, I put the defective one back in the same box and shipped it out the next day. No disruption of product enjoyment.

[MattK @ Feb 16th 2008 12:46PM]

Oddly enough, I just had a 20" dell LCD warrantied a couple weeks ago. It would be much nicer if they'd handle it like rock band guitars - get CC info, replace disc, charge CC if original disc isn't returned within X days. It's stuff like this that makes me glad I modded my wii; I can keep playing while I wait on the replacement.

[mike @ Feb 16th 2008 12:36PM]

I'll be shipping mine out for replacement. I won't mind not having it for a while, it'll give me a chance to play Mario Galaxy more and to stop wrongly ignoring Metroid.

[raptorspike @ Feb 16th 2008 12:41PM]

Andrew, that would be the logical thing. But then they would have to have proof you ever purchased the game. Otherwise, they would have to collect the credit card numbers from everyone, so if you don't return the defective copy they charge you for the new one

[CaptCaveman @ Feb 16th 2008 5:00PM]

I know they don't trust anyone. That I've become use to.
But why not just have the owner mail in the UPC code and they send back the replacement disc.
Yeah, I know, lots of room for abuse there. But in defense of the consumer, the game isn't worth much without the guitar. So giving the old copy to your friend doesn't net them much. Why punish the consumer for Activision's mistake?

[Mark McClure @ Feb 16th 2008 12:43PM]

Why should I have to wait 3-4 weeks? They're the ones that suck.

[Paul @ Feb 16th 2008 12:53PM]

Why don't they do a replacement program like EA is doing? Put a 50 dollar holding charge on your credit card, send you a disc and return envelope, and when they get your old disc in, they take the charge off. No month-long wait.

[Greg @ Feb 16th 2008 12:57PM]

Why let those a**holes have your game and not be able to do anything about it? If it is going to take 3-4 weeks, return the ENTIRE game and get $132 towards a brand new copy of GH3 (with a ~$25 profit depending on state) or...after seeing this BS for customer support, wait for Rockband. Or just get $132 back.

http://www.activisiongameexchange.com/configurations/ACTIVI/refundoffer.pdf

[Jinxt @ Feb 18th 2008 9:18AM]

This is the point I was trying to get across in my blog post here: http://www.sumthingstoopid.com/hey-activision-wtf/

If your WD hard drive goes bad, western digital will drop ship you a replacement if you give them your credit card number. OCZ does this as well. Why wouldn't Activision?

[Scott Nagle @ May 11th 2008 9:32PM]

This is the best idea. I will do this and just re-buy it at Best Buy and make $25.

Thanks.

[JWilk @ Feb 16th 2008 1:01PM]

They should have outsourced this to Netflix and we could have had our disks in 2 days.

[Ghen @ Feb 16th 2008 7:45PM]

That makes me think, I wonder if the Gamefly versions are non-dolby. I could bait and switch them :P

[kojo87 @ Feb 16th 2008 2:46PM]

im sending it back asap. i wants my stereos!

[David @ Feb 16th 2008 3:15PM]

yea i got mine early last week and sent in the disc on wednesday. but why do we have to wait 3 to 4 weeks?

[Ryan Berman @ Feb 16th 2008 3:25PM]

I traded my xbox 360 hd dvd player into gamestop about a week ago. Thank god i did it because they probably stopped taking them. Hey at least i got some money by trading my 5 free hd dvds with the player.

[David W. @ Feb 16th 2008 3:28PM]

That's so stupid and handled poorly, makes me respect how rock band handled it even more

[Kris S. @ Feb 16th 2008 3:28PM]

Comment test.

[AwlAmericanDawg @ Feb 16th 2008 5:05PM]

Is that the only thing the new disks will do? just play stereo? or will it have like bug fixes or something

[Bouncyboingy @ Feb 16th 2008 5:25PM]

Does anyone know how you can tell if what you see on the self is before or after the fix ? I wouldn't mind picking up one, but hearing about this monaural issue initially was a turn off.

[Jason @ Feb 16th 2008 11:08PM]

I too would like to know how to tell if my copy of GH suffers from the mono only sound. I purchased it today.

[Charlie Calhoun @ Feb 16th 2008 4:25PM]

Anybody else notice that it's a 'disc' replacement, like CD or DVD type spinning plastic 'disc'? But on the envelope in the picture is says 'disk' meaning... hard drive?

[Nathan @ Feb 16th 2008 6:29PM]

I'm going to do the replacement, but not because of mono sound. My copy freezes constantly. Every time I start it up, it lock sup for 30 seconds - 2 minutes. Furthermore, the system freezes altogether about 1 in every 5 songs. It's immensely frustrating.

[XDragon @ Feb 16th 2008 6:41PM]

Activision should be ashamed of themselves for the poor way of handling this nevermind that they sold it like this in the 1st place.

[Joe H @ Feb 16th 2008 7:37PM]

Already sent mine in, but my Wii has a chip in it anyway so I'm happily still playing the backup in the meantime.

If Activision wanted to do this the right way for how they've screwed us over they'd give all of us a free spare guitar to make up for the trouble for all the early adopters who still can't buy one anyway. Obviously that'll never happen, but the next best step would be to at least include all of the DLC for the other consoles on this new disc. I have a feeling that won't happen either.

[Ghen @ Feb 16th 2008 7:47PM]

lucky LOL.

[Xerloq @ Feb 19th 2008 12:39PM]

The thing I can see happening is tons of these disc replacement envelops getting "stolen" or "lost" on the way to the replacement company. I got my replacement kit today, and I'm sending the disc certified mail, or maybe signature on delivery just to make sure I get mine back.

I agree they should have taken CC#s and done an advance/exchange.

[Serus @ Feb 17th 2008 12:32PM]

I didn't know that they'll give a full refund of the game. I recently picked up Rock Band for the 360. The audio difference in the games is amazing. The Wii is so incredibly weak comparatively. Something that I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet is the fact that the Wii only has Left and Right audio out in the first place. Other consoles have optical audio out. But how do you get Dolby Surround Sound from L/R Composite? My surround sound system can fake it, but it's not the same. If I hadn't heard rock band I would probably be happy with a replacement, but now that I have, I can't go back to GHIII.

Anyhow, I'm returning mine. Even Stereo is going to sound like crap compared to full 5.1.

Thanks for sharing the refund link!

[deafy @ Feb 17th 2008 2:17PM]

I myself am deaf, yet I can tell the music doesn't sound like it should. 3-4 week wait is ridiculous when a direct swap should be done at the store.

[George B. Romero @ Feb 17th 2008 7:37PM]

What? this thing comes in stereo??? You mean all along--no way. You're kidding, right?

[SuperH @ Feb 20th 2008 3:00AM]

Wow...

So this disc will give the Wii Dolby Digital output? Wow, too cool!

Epic fail.

[jwells @ Feb 20th 2008 10:14AM]

I just bought my GH3 on 2/16/08, with no idea that there was a problem with the stereo sound. How can I tell if my disc is a new one or one that needs to be replaced? It sounds fine to me. But if I can get it to sound better I would like to.

[sexyhobo @ Feb 25th 2008 3:39PM]

okay so i was hoping maybe activision will make wii owners happy by adding downloadable content to the wii version of Guitar Hero 3. Has anyone heard about them sneaking this into the new disk along with the audio.

[Timmernator @ Feb 27th 2008 10:10PM]

They received my disc 2/11. Checked the rebate status today; they mailed my replacement WED 2/26 - I expect it by the end of the week.

[Don @ Mar 1st 2008 12:04PM]

I just received an e-mail saying that my claim is denied!!! What should I do??? I did send in everything and haven't been able to play the game for over two weeks!!! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. :(

--------------------

Dear Dxxxx,

The Activision Rebate Center has completed processing your submission for the following promotion:
Department: 101843 - Guitar Hero III Legends of Roc
Submission ID: 100725xxx

Unfortunately, we were unable to honor your request for the following reason: We did not receive an original Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Wii game disc with your request. The original game disc is required.

You will receive an additional notification by mail. You may also access your submission by contacting us at:
Online: http://www.rebatestatus.com/link.aspx?P100725xxx-76341940
Customer Service: 888-788-4931

We appreciate your business. Thank you.

Please do not reply to this message. Because this message has been automatically generated, your reply will not receive attention.

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[John @ Mar 3rd 2008 2:26PM]

Call the number and put in an incorrect address. After it fails, it will let you dial '0' to talk to a real person.
I got the same denial last week and have called twice and emailed twice. They say they're looking into it (it takes forever) but meanwhile I've been without Guitar Hero for nearly a month. It sure makes me want to go get my Wii modded so I don't have to put up with this crap.

[Don @ Mar 3rd 2008 2:42PM]

I called their customer service this morning. The lady who answered the phone was fairly professional and said she can "fix it" for me. She said the usual "internal review" process can take 6-8 weeks sometimes, but I should call them back in two weeks if I don't see anything in the mail. Sounds promising but what a hassle! Good luck to us all!

[chris @ Mar 6th 2008 1:50PM]

Mailed mine out Feb 18, Dolby goodness came back to me March 4. 15 days.

[George @ Mar 6th 2008 2:59PM]

Hey Chris, I actually sent mine on February 18th also. But when I look at the site it doesnt even show that they received it. Did it ever show that they received it for you? Or did you just receive it out of nowhere. I sent mine from NY, so I thought maybe that was the hold up, but it has been almost 3 FULL weeks. I called and some lady told me that it could be up to another 2 week wait.
any ideas?

[Chris @ Mar 6th 2008 3:50PM]

Sent mine out the 2/18 from CT, received an email 2/27 stating they had received the disc, and received another email 3/4 stating they had sent it out 2/29. I received the 2nd email and the disc the same day.

[Miami Heat @ Mar 6th 2008 3:59PM]

Hey Chris, did you receive an email when you first submitted the request for the replacement envelope, or only when they received your original disc back?

Thanks,

John

[Darrell @ Mar 7th 2008 11:55AM]

How do I tell if the GH disc in the store is the one w/stereo or without?

[Mike @ Mar 14th 2008 6:01PM]

I asked Activision tech support how I can tell whether or not the Dolby update is included before I buy a bundle. Their response was that "The updated game disks are not yet available for retail sale. If you are about to purchase the Guitar Hero III title for the Wii, it will not have the updated game disk for the game.".

So I followed up by asking for a time frame when the retail channel will have the updated disc, and their response was empty, devoid of any information. They simply said "We cannot provide to you a definitive timeframe as we do not have this information available. Once additional information regarding when the retail copies of the game are available, it should be posted on our support site.

If you are concerned with your copy of the game having the Mono sound tracks, we recommend that you hold off buying the game until we can tell you with certainty that the updated game disks are available for retail sale.".

[tubbsbright @ Mar 14th 2008 7:26PM]

@ Jon and Don...
I sent in my disc and then got the same postcard saying "the original game disc is required". Rebatestatus.com says the same thing.

I've called twice. The first time the girl wrote an email to her supervisor. The second time, the supervisor told me to call back in a few days to see if it's been resolved.

Did you guys ever get your discs back?

[JuddBrown @ Mar 25th 2008 8:28PM]

Hey tubbsbright, Jon, and Don

I got the same post card as you guys saying they did not receive the disc and to send it in. I know I sent it in!

I called and they said that they do not directly deal with this. The guy said that it is through a warehouse. He took my email and phone number and said they will contact me within a day.

Well, I just got an email back and they said that this never has happened (well it looks like that is not the case). They said that I must have misplaced the disc at home. They recommend searching my house to find it. Well just to please them I did-- no disc. They say not to reply to the email! What a pain in the butt!

Has anyone been able to fix this problem? I am stuck with a guitar and no game to play and it is Activision's fault!