It's official: the Expert Bass Drum glitch in Guitar Hero 5 will not be patched or fixed.  Drummers will have to either play Hard skill or move up to the brutal Expert+ skill level if they want to avoid the game's bug.

An official post by Guitar Hero developers Neversoft on the GuitarHero.com support forum states:

by Neversoft » Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:12 pm
I have an official statement I can now post about the Expert+ drum glitch:

"Thanks for all the information on the expert+ issue. Unfortunately, it's not something that we will be patching for currently released products. However, we are currently working on solution for future Guitar Hero games."

Thanks,
Neversoft

In reality, Neversoft has actually fixed this problem several months ago, since Band Hero came out in late 2009 containing a fixed Expert skill level.  Thanks to Band Hero's song importing feature, players were able to test the same songs on both GH5 and Band Hero for a back-to-back Expert drum comparison, and in every case, players agreed that songs glitched in GH5 were fixed when imported into Band Hero.

Unsurprisingly, the company's recent decision not to correct the game's malfunction has caused a furor to erupt among Expert Guitar Hero drummers.

This is not the first major Guitar Hero malfunction that Activision/Neversoft have refused to correct

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Nintendo has evidently put an end to free DLC songs for Guitar Hero and Band Hero Wii players.  5Frets.com investigates why, by contacting Nintendo, Neversoft, and Steve Ouimette.

Over the last 5 months, 3 packs totaling 10 free DLC songs have been released.  But one thing remains constant: None of them have been available free for Nintendo Wii players. Why is that?

Free Guitar Hero DLC songs have been a nice bonus for Guitar Hero players since DLC first came to Guitar Hero 3 on Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2007.  I talked about most of them a few months ago in 15 Free Guitar Hero 5 & World Tour DLC Songs: Why Haven't You Downloaded These?

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Have your Guitar Hero World Tour DLC songs disappeared after playing Guitar Hero 5?  Every time you play GH5, it breaks your GHWT SD Card DLC, so next time you load GHWT, you'll get the error message pictured above, which reads:

ERROR: Add-on Content on the SD Card cannot be listed due to a missing or out of date content catalog.  To restore SD Card functionality, please redownload content in the music Store or restore content in the Archive.

It sounds bad, but it's really a 30 second fix.

Just open up the Music Store from the Guitar Hero World Tour main menu, and click the orange Archive button:

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Guitar Hero World Tour is known to have finicky and difficult Star Power activation on drums. Most drummers have experienced it: you hit the yellow & orange cymbals simultaneously to activate Star Power, and instead you get a dull thud and break your streak. Why is this, and what can you do about it?

Worldwide 1st place (career score) Guitar Hero World Tour Wii drummer "Koric" shared with 5Frets.com his excellent tips for mastering the tricky GHWT drum SP activations:

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Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero 5 players will finally get all 11 DLC songs from Metallica's "Death Magnetic" album on November 24, 2009, after a full year of only having 4 of the 11 tracks that Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners have been enjoying since September, 2008.

However, the album will cost $22.00 for Wii owners, compared to $17.99 (1440 MSP) for Xbox and PS3 owners.  And, all signs indicate the Wii DLC will only work with Guitar Hero 5, leaving Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero Metallica owners in the dust.

Metallica's official website announced the long anticipated news:

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Disappointed that Guitar Hero World Tour only exported 35 out of 86 tracks? If additional songs are licensed and become available for disc importing in the future, you'll have to pay another re-licensing fee for those new songs, according to official Guitar Hero Support information.

The same goes for exporting Guitar Hero Smash Hits, which only offered 21 out of 48 on-disc tracks.

The official GuitarHero.com FAQ states:

Will the Disc Import offers available now be updated in the future? Will new songs be added?

No. If new songs become available an additional import will appear in the Import Offers list. There will be a nominal re-licensing fee for any additional offers.

The $3.50 or $2.00 Disc Import Fee for GHWT/GHSH Only Covers the First 35/21 Songs, You'll Pay Again for Future Song Exports

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Update: Wii Finally Getting Full Metallica Death Magnetic Album DLC in November 2009!

The DLC That Never Comes

Over a year after Metallica's thrash metal album "Death Magnetic" was released, Guitar Hero Wii players are still left with only 4 of the tracks to play.  Meanwhile, Xbox 360 and PS3 players have had all 11 Death Magnetic album songs available as Guitar Hero DLC since the album's debut in September, 2008.

Why Didn't the Wii Get All 11 Death Magnetic Songs for Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008?

As usual, Guitar Hero company representatives were extremely tight-lipped when the ugly truth became apparent to angry Wii gamers that in fact, only 4 of the 11 songs would be available.  Everyone wanted to know the reason why, but the company wouldn't talk.  A few months later, Neversoft posted an official statement on the GuitarHero.com Community Forums:

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Some Guitar Hero Players Desperately Miss Standard Controller Compatibility

While reading about the Band Hero 3 song demo, I stumbled upon a passionate complaint from a die hard standard controller Guitar Hero player named "oAssassin Xo":

Guitar Hero sucks after GH3. Why? You can no longer use a controller. Mostly the younger gamers don't understand what the big deal is but music games use to be about having fun. Frequency, Amplitude….etc. Suddenly you can no longer use a controller for music games. It defeats the purpose. Your probably asking if thats the only reason I use a controller. No:

1. These accs. for the GH/Rock Band games are expensive and go often. My controller is not some special thing required for the game.

2. Sure the Guitar is easy to play but frankly it feels and looks stupid. If I want a guitar I'll use the real thing. Anyone that uses this and thinks they are a real guitar god is lame.

3. Music is something that unites everyone. Yet now music games separate people because companies won't allow controllers in the mix anymore.

So overall GH/Rock Band have failed in my opinion. They are at this point just milking the cash cow by constantly releasing new games/DLC/Instrument versions. If they cared anything about gamers as a whole they would include controller use again for music games. LONG LIVE FREQUENCY/AMPLITUDE!

I have to admit, this defense seems both bizarre and absurd.

On one hand, the complaint of a controller being supported up to GH3 but then unsupported in Guitar Hero World Tour and forward, is understandable.

But to me, playing the game's iconic guitar controller is a major part of Guitar Hero.  The game is designed after all, to be somewhat similar to running your hand(s) up and down the neck of a real guitar, while strumming in time with the rhythm.  Playing the Guitar Hero controller is half the fun.

But What Do You Think?  Are There Really Standard Controller Players Jamming Out There ?

If you play with a standard controller, let's hear about it.

You'd be a fool not to download these free Guitar Hero DLC songs right away.

Why?  Because they're free with no catch, and it adds to your song setlist choices when you play with others online.  All you need is some free space on your hard drive (Xbox 360) or SD Card (Nintendo Wii).

Every time I play someone online, I check to see which of their DLC matches mine. (Since it's rare for a random player to purchase the exact same songs as me, I like to seize the opportunity when it knocks.)

But I am always dumbfounded when I see a player with zero DLC.  Why wouldn't you at least download the free ones? I can only guess they simply aren't aware of the Music Store's free DLC.

Downloading these is as simple as clicking "Music Store" from your Guitar Hero World Tour or Guitar Hero 5 main menu.  The same list of songs is available for both games.

5Frets.com Editor's Pick (Most Fun on Expert Guitar):

• "Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits Theme" by S.U.P.R.A.H.U.M.A.N. – ProtoShredanoid
• "Jimi" by Slightly Stoopid
• "Zakk Wylde Boss Battle" by Zakk Wylde

15 Free Guitar Hero World Tour & Guitar Hero 5 DLC Songs for Download:

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Guitar Hero gamers looking to export songs like "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley", "Scream Aim Fire", "Trapped Under Ice" and the 3 Tool songs will have to continue waiting for the chance to import into Guitar Hero 5 or Band Hero. Reports indicate that music licensing deals with Warner Music Group (and possibly others) are what’s holding up the release of the remaining song exports. We will keep you updated as events develop.

5Frets.com is the only site publishing both the list of songs that ARE and ARE NOT available for exporting to Guitar Hero 5.

List of Guitar Hero World Tour songs currently available for Guitar Hero 5 & Band Hero Import:

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