Guitar Hero III for Wii: "Bulls on Parade" and in Mono

Photo courtesy of Flickr user danoxster

I already knew that Guitar Hero III lacked Dolby Pro Logic II support, although it was advertised as having it. But now to find out from a Joystiq article today that the music is in monophonic? That's ridiculous.

My sister and brother-in-law have the original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II and play it pretty regularly on their PlayStation 3. When I heard that Guitar Hero III was coming out for the Nintendo Wii, I was pretty pumped.

I have not bought a game on release day since Super Mario Brothers 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1990. Usually I try to rent the games first, read reviews, or wait until friends buy the game first before I invest the money. In the case of Guitar Hero III for the Wii it appears to have paid off.

I don't have a surround system hooked up, but I have stereo on my television (who doesn't) and listen to digital music in stereo through Comcast quite often. If I popped this game in my Wii and started playing with monophonic sound I would notice the difference right away and I would not be pleased at all.

Activision is aware of the problem with the monophonic sound and say that a fix is in the works, but no timetable has been set.

I wouldn't be complaining about this if Activision had not advertised Dolby Pro Logic II support for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III. But to go from no Dolby Pro Logic II support to no stereo support at all? Unacceptable.

People paid for the product, got lied to, and now it appears they got hosed even more. Activision owes it to these customers to fix this problem quickly, and let consumers know when they can expect a fix. In the meantime, I'll be spending my money on Super Mario Galaxy.