Last week, Red Octane admitted that there were some problems with the whammy bar on a few of the 360 controllers for Guitar Hero II. Originally, the company recommended that players experiencing these issues should return the controller to retailers and exchange it for another. Now, over the course of the weekend, Red Octane has release a new patch for the game which, according to the company's official statement, should resolve the issues via the software instead of the hardware. The update for Guitar Hero II went up at 7:00 am EDT on Saturday via a connection to Xbox Live. According to Red Octane, the new patch "should resolve this issue for all Activision Guitar Hero branded guitar models".

There's some talk in various forums about players having issues with the patch, with players complaining that after downloading and applying it, their copies of Guitar Hero II would sporadically freeze up and even lock up the console completely. While a lot of people seem quick to blame the new patch for these issues, digging a little deeper into the forums finds that these freezing issues were around well before the patch was released. Whether or not this is a problem with a few copies of the game, issues with the players' consoles, or something else entirely remain to be seen. Also, there's no word on how potential rock stars not connected to Xbox Live will be able to patch the game, though it's likely the company will offer an offline solution soon.