How to buy Rock Band replacement part?

August 1, 2008 9:44 AM

How can I find replacement parts for the game Rock Band? I can't seem to get any traction on the truly awful, slow EA site.

My younger son lost a part to his Rock Band game. It's a wireless part which connects wirelessly to the guitar controller and plugs in to what looks like a USB hub which, in turn, connects somehow to the Wii. I have never inspected this, so I'm not sure how it connects, but presumably it looks like a game controller at some point. It's white, and I'm told that's important. I'm not a game player, and I didn't spend much time looking at it before the part was misplaced.

I have tried to navigate the EA site, but they (1) don't support Firefox 3, and (2) seem to be devoted to being really hard to navigate anyway. So, I'm wondering if there is any way to buy this hardware from a third party. For all I know these may be some sort of standard part anyway.

Thanks in advance.

posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 comments total)

Red Octane actually makes the game and equipment. EA is just a distributor. Have you tried getting in touch with them?
posted by majick at 9:52 AM on August 1, 2008

Red Octane makes Guitar Hero, not Rock Band.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:07 AM on August 1, 2008

Oh. Yes, that's true. I'm downright wrong, then. Don't waste your time contacting them, please.
posted by majick at 10:16 AM on August 1, 2008

The dongle (what it's called) doesn't look like a controller, for what it's worth...it's a small square box, maybe 2" square, with a small button on it (the size of a pencil eraser) and a flashing blue light. It has a short (maybe 4") cord that ends in a USB plug thingy.
posted by Lucinda at 10:22 AM on August 1, 2008

These three posts on the Rock Band forums are all about the PS3 version, but the consensus seems to be that there's no way to buy a new dongle without buying a new guitar. Here's one for the playstation version for sale on eBay, but it does not look like much of a bargain, and it's the only one like it out there. You may be able to find it from the manufacturer with a lot of phone calls, but they don't seem to be widely available on the market.
posted by Partial Law at 10:33 AM on August 1, 2008

And building on what Lucinda said, in case seeing helps you describe it to others, the part you're looking for appears at 1:06 in this video.
posted by Partial Law at 10:36 AM on August 1, 2008

Is it one of the parts in this picture?
posted by junesix at 10:40 AM on August 1, 2008

On eBay, the dongles are going for $35-40 (PS2 only, sadly). On Amazon, a new guitar with dongle costs $60. Might as well just get a new guitar.
posted by junesix at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2008

Thanks all. This is great. I think the part is the small box on the picture junesix posted.

It looks like they are going to have to spring for a new guitar.

Bummer.
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 11:46 AM on August 1, 2008

FWIW, this is really easy. EA comes through really well in this.

What happens is, you go to their web site, sign up for support and log a trouble ticket. They respond within a few hours telling you to go to the retailer at which you bought Rock Band. You tell them that Game Stop doesn't carry these parts, and they can't order them, and you already tried that. They escalate to a more senior person who, in very correct customer service language, tells you how happy they are to have you as a customer, and that yes, they will stand behind their product 100%. Just call this number. So, you call the number and, after being put on hold for a minute or less, you speak to a person who solves your problem.

It turns out that the solution involves them shipping you a new guitar unit. However, all you have to do is pull the wireless adapter (that's what it's really called to EA) out of the guitar unit box, slap a pre-printed, prepaid shipping label on the box and return it. The label is included in the box, so all we have to do is give them a credit card. They will put a hold on some chunk of our cash until we return the guitar unit (sans wireless adapter).

So, all this is about as painless as it's possible to be. EA has gotten it right. I say kudos to EA for this.
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 4:01 PM on August 9, 2008

The guitar replacement came and went without a hitch. EA was all over it preperly.

I recommend them highly.
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 11:22 AM on August 12, 2008