The launch of the Guitar Hero series on the Xbox 360 has been going less than smoothly for RedOctane, with complaints about the functionality of the whammy bar on the guitar peripheral to objections to the cost of downloadable content. A quick timeline of the issues:

• April 3: Guitar Hero II goes on sale for the Xbox 360
• April 3: Complaints surface online about defective whammy bars.
• April 4: RedOctane states that they are “looking into the issue.”
• April 7: RedOctane isolates problems with the controller to two model numbers, offers RMAs for defective guitars, lists workaround on support site.
• April 11: Xbox 360 downloadable content launched at over $2 per song, gamers complain about price gouging
• April 14: Software patch posted to Xbox Live to fix whammy bar problems
• April 14: Reports surface online about Xbox 360 consoles getting “Red Ring of Death” after applying software update.
• April 16: RedOctane investigating console issues with patch

While there has not been a conclusive link found between RedOctane’s update and the Xbox 360 problems, this does mark the latest in what has been a fairly long list of issues with the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to resolve the problems: if there is no link between the update and the Xbox 360 consoles dying, then this just adds a further black eye to Microsoft’s ongoing issues with the 360. If there is a link, then confidence in RedOctane will only drop further and the company may be facing repair bills for dozens of consoles.