Two Different Guitar Hero 360 Controllers Released, And Whammy Bar Issues

My love of the new Guitar Hero X-plorer controller for the Xbox 360 was short-lived, and it's only getting worse. While I originally thought that my whammy bar was unresponsive because it just needed to be broke in, reports are coming in that many users are having this problem. I didn't notice it as much with mine because I was barely using it anyway. Due to the positioning of the extra buttons I just kept bumping them and chinking.

Here's a shot of my X-plorer. Note the placement of the RJ-11 jack. If your controller looks like this, chances are you'll have whammy bar issues. Hit the jump for a pic of the other controller that was released.

What is interesting is that apparently Microsoft released two different versions of the same controller, but didn't bother telling anyone about it. Luckily, only one of the two controllers is affected by this. I've got pictures of the two different controllers and as you can see, you can tell the difference by where the RJ-11 port is located. If it is located next to the headset jack, chances are that you're fine. But if it is next to the cord that plugs into the Xbox, you've probably got a bad whammy bar.

Here is a picture of an X-plorer with a working whammy bar. Thanks Chester!

The problem appears to be that the whammy bar is being registered as activated at all times. This causes a delay when you actually try to use it. The good news is that this could likely be fixed by a software update to compensate for the positioning of the whammy bar. Unfortunately, we don't know how long it will take them to address the issue. We'll be sure to keep you posted.