Last week, we posted about how absolutely no one on staff here at TouchArcade Towers could get the new Guitar Hero Live (Free) to work once we paired the guitar. What was happening was we’d pair the guitar via Bluetooth, the game would reload itself and switch into its fully unlocked mode, then just sit trying to connect to Game Center for eternity. We originally assumed that maybe we got early pre-release guitars or something else weird, but when members of our community started having the same problem, we figured something was up.
A bunch of emails with Activision later, and we’ve finally come up with a solution, although it’s just as much of a weird workaround as what other people had come up with between toggling WiFi on and off, tethering to an iPhone via Bluetooth, etc. Turns out the problem (at least for us) is a very strange incompatibility between Guitar Hero Live‘s ability to connect to Game Center and UPnP being enabled on our routers (which is why the previously mentioned connection toggling trickery was working).
What’s UPnP anyway? Well, it stands for Universal Plug and Play, and it’s essentially a set of network protocols that makes modern networking so easy. All the zero configuration you need to do these days aside from just entering your WiFi password to make most of your connected devices (and software) talk to one another hinges on UPnP. Additionally, it comes enabled by default on most consumer routers, a good 99% of the time it’s another thing your router does that you just set, forget, and honestly don’t even really need to know about.
Since all routers are different, it’s really difficult to give exact instructions on how to disable it on your home network. On my network, I access my router via http://192.168.1.1, enter my password, then found the toggle for UPnP buried deep inside my WAN settings. YMMV, but it shouldn’t be hard to figure out by just Googling “[Your Router Model] disable UPnP". Anyway, once we disabled UPnP, everything started working in Guitar Hero Live, meaning we’ll have our review of the mobile iteration up very soon.
If you have been having these similar issues with Guitar Hero Live, give disabling UPnP a shot. Just remember to turn it back on when you’re done, as while turning off UPnP might fix Guitar Hero Live, it’ll also potentially break some other things on your home network. Now that Activision has identified this as a problem, it wouldn’t surprise me if the game was updated reasonably quickly, but I’ve yet to hear any solid plans on that.
It’s just nice to finally solve the mystery of the broken Guitar Hero. I suppose it makes sense that it’d be something external that caused these issues, as it was so crazy for so many of us to all be having the same problem across so many different iOS devices running so many different versions of iOS. Extra weird was that some people straight up had no problems with the game. It seems the reason this was only happening once the game restarted into the “full" version is because it uses Game Center to handle cloud saves, whereas the demo didn’t care about saving progress.
Stay tuned for a full review of Guitar Hero Live. (Spoilers: We like it quite a bit, even with this weird bug.)
Sounds fairly underwhelming considering the buildup.
Glad they finally revealed it . Hard to keep trying to explain this game. Not like I was a rep but reliable source I know that I can't say too much when I'm told
Uh huh.
Haha, no seriously man, he's got the inside scoop! He just can't "out his source" or provide details 😄
So... a shittier version of Tomodachi Life?
Lol "surprise"!
Right? It really is typical Nintendo. They blew it.
My god, did they ever. Hopefully these paid titles will be worth the wait, but the disappointment of this "Miitomo" announcement will not do much to build anticipation for what's next.
Sounds like crap. Couldn't be more disappointed. DAMMIT!!!!!
Miitomo....oh, thats it?
Oh thank GOD my 3DS is still safe :)
Are you kidding me? All this hype, the buildup, the suspense, and we get a F2P game called Miitomo? Seriously? *sigh*
Ouch huge disappointment. I kinda of had that reserved in my mind that they wouldn't be releasing major original games ( at least IP wise like super smash bros ) on mobile phones since they have their own mobile device and systems that desperately need sales.
Mii chat is basically the game? LoL
So it's like a chat app with characters basically...
lol
Yeup
Yeah, it's Nintendo Line, more or less.
This is sad. Kinda like watching an old relative at a family reunion trying to be hip with the younger generations and looking pitifully out of touch.
What are you talking about? The first thing you do on any new Nintendo device is create a Mii. This totally makes sense, especially if it's the first app to hook into their new account system.
Next.
The name is a homage to a certain person
It's 'Mii' plus 'friend' in Japanese.
How absolutely clever. Glad they didn't name it iMii, because that would've been unoriginal.
WIGGA PLEASE 💤💤💤
Ok first game is......not a game?
Damn. I set my expectations really, really low to avoid disappointment. It appears I didn't set them low enough, though.
Haha lmao funniest comment for sure...
What's Nintendo's problem? Really
Really nintendo....inwon't bother tondownload that game( is that even a game?)
You kidding me all the hype for this pile of cow manure. And it's taking them how long to develop this crappy game. I don't get why they don't just port their original SNES games like super Mario and make millions over night.
They said to expect the unexpected, and I certainly did not expect this as their first mobile game.
Sometimes I think these companies are by complete incompetent people. They are literally sitting on a gold mine of old games they can port quickly and make some serious revenue then look at doing other new mobile only IP.
Then why would anyone want to buy a Nintendo system if they can get their system sellers on phones or tablets. Probably for half the cost or less to boot
Their systems other then 3ds ain't doing so great. Plus you can continue to have AAA titles on those systems.
Soo tomodatchilife for phone 😶😤😩
Went a simple Pokemon port would've satisfied everyone
Stupid crap, what the hell Nintendo?!
Not one single positive comment on here. Get the message yet Nintendo?
You had one chance, and you freaking blew it.
Nintendo knows their audience about as well as I know how to teach goats how to speak proper English.
Wow - all this buildup and THIS?! The only logical explanation for all this is Ashton Kutcher is hiding around the corner and we've all been Punk'd
Calm down people they said what 5-7 games will be coming out through 2017. This is a stepping stone app to get you to make an account, make a mii, start learning what Nintendo is about. Remember they are trying to gain the attention of non Nintendo fans or gamers. They are working on the My Nintendo account system first and this is their step into the market. Give them a chance before you start holding your pitch forks.
If that were true, this would be a very poor idea even for a "stepping stone app" to get people further engaged for what's coming in the future.
There isn't even much on this yet so you can't judge it yet. It's probably similar to street pass and Tomodachi life which has game components. I wouldn't count it out yet. This is an app to bring together all of their services. They are obviously getting their social infrastructure setup first which is smart. Give them time. If you want to play Nintendo games buy a 3DS and Wii U, which is the purpose of their mobile division to get you to buy their hardware.
I disagree. What they should of done was hook people in with a killer game first than once they have an audience try to push this miimoto crap or whatever its called. At this rate i'm still not going to buy a Nintendo console.
Hmm lets see should we base it on someone with no experience or go with a company that's over 100 years old. I think they know what they are doing. Even with all the complaining going on I can't wait to see the download numbers, it's still going to be huge for them.
Yep, you said it, "a company that's over 100 years old" yet of recent years they continue to lose market share and sales on their latest hardware... Yeah, Nintendo really know what they're doing. Like i said this social friending app isn't going to push me into buying a nintendo console and wasn't that the purpose of Nintendo going into the foray of smartphone games.
I'll pass on this stepping stone thanks
Not everyone fits in the demographic they are aiming with this app so that's fine. Wait till the next app comes out.
I don't want to make a Mii or another stupid account. If this is the stepping stone, I'm not taking that step. It'll be curious to see if they can offer me anything besides hilarious news stories.
If this is a stepping stone, they should at LEAST simultaneously release a good game to play. I really think this is the game. Maybe these Mii character games are all the rage in Japan but not so much here. I'm sure they haven't done this homework as to what is popular here. If they have, they stubbornly ignored the results.
If I on my iPad can interact with my friend on his Wii, that would be pretty neat.
But not a game.
They didn't say it was a game
Gross...
LOL - after all the build up and ideas of what it could be it turns out to be this. Wow
Why is it taking so long?? Doesn't it take like two weeks to make an iPhone game?!
Are you trolling or are you actually serious?
....oh, oh ok.
Hahahahha. And, fail. Disappointed but not surprised.
Dam, the stocks took quite a dive. Is this the cause?
I suspect it was the delay more than anything, but Nintendo's stocks always dive after these meetings, so who knows?
LOL, seriously Nintendo??
In March 2016 I'll be playing Uncharted 4 and Alienation.
More crap games to mobile
Pass. Nintendo really don't know what to do with themselves these days.
There first foray into mobile games is going to be firmly based around a stiff business model and very little in the way of joy to be expected on their consoles.
Somebody here needs to learn Japanese so we can share this feedback with them. I bet teenagers are blowing up the forums over there with joy and anticipation, but this game looks truly pathetic to my Murican eyes
Nintendo being Nintendo. Nothing new on the front.
You mean you guys play real games on Mobile? You figure after the last few years, the mobile market for actual games have nearly crashed by now. The big payers on mobile are not core gamers. They are looking for *clicker* entertainment where they spend money on very little gaming. When I saw what AAA companies were doing on there, I figure they just don't take it seriously. This seems par for the course, but I want to see what more it does as a service. I don't think there is a question on whether Nintendo can make good games. The quality, compared to the competition, has still been good. Complaints are usually based on anything but the games.
We'll probably see some stuff kind of like the FTP Pokemon stuff we saw on 3DS soon enough. This looks like part of the setup to begin sharing between multiple systems. A launchpad for their other games. Not sure where this *hype* came from since mobile gaming has been on my bad-list for a while. FTL and XCom withstanding. 2014 being especially evil for mobile games. For me, I kind of hope more Roguelikes make it on the App Store as those are the best it ever seems to offer.
That's not true Look at the top selling paid games chart and you'll find a ton of great hardcore games, both brand new and years-old. There's a huge market for console quality games on the app store.
Not really the App Store is drying up big time. So much so this site is even becoming irrelevant. It's the same games a top the charts week after week. We used to have high quality games come out every week from big companies. Now we are lucky if we get one a month or two months.
Definitely not a ton. There's a little, but that doesn't constitute a ton. The bigger premium cost titles don't really make it up there or stay there. Not XCom, FTL, RPGs comparable to console or console portables save a port of the old Knights of the Old Republic. It's finicky, to say the least, often riding on licenses that gained casual appeal. And still quite a race to the bottom. Then you have the issues of translating platformers, which typically don't do well in the store due to control issues. I don't think it is that easy, but who knows. The future might bring other changes.
BOOOOOO! Release paid versions of the classics, then we'll talk.
So I guess Nintendo isn't that invested into mobile by releasing something most people will not be interested in. Was expecting a Mario V Donkey Kong game or something with their main IP's.
I hope with Iwatas passing they don't go the way of Apple with Jobs passing I.E. innovation takes a serious hit and they become followers rather than innovators.
Aw weak! Somebody show me ONE person who isn't completely underhelmed.
The ones who are being realistic, considering that Nintendo has their own systems to support. Obviously not the ones who still think mobile is going to overtake handheld, ideally with Nintendo's help.
I'm guessing that this has some sort of Street Pass type thing in it. Street Pass is great, so this makes me happy.
Can't wait! I'll be first on the buy list!