Rock Band Creators Hit With Class Action Lawsuit

GameCyteSean writes "GameCyte is reporting that Harmonix, EA, MTV and Viacom have been targeted by a class action lawsuit. Customers allege that the companies knowingly shipped defective bass drum pedals for the music game Rock Band, then exploited customers' necessity for replacements by having the game's hardware warranty extension expire just as the sequel, Rock Band 2 — a game with improved pedals — was scheduled to release." I wonder if we'll see a similar suit against Neversoft and Activision over the equipment problems related to the Guitar Hero World Tour launch.

Comments

I have an Idea for a lawsuit

[Anonymous Coward]

How a class action lawsuit for all those who lose sleep because their [drunken] neighbours own Rock Band?

In before "kill the lawyers"

[carbon 68k]

Settle now. Pay the plaintiff's attorneys, pay the heads of the class action, and make the pedals available for, say, another year.

Almost by definition, it can't be much more expensive than fighting the lawsuit out, and it would make people feel a lot better about buying from the Rock Band franchise in the future.

Re:In before "kill the lawyers"

[Tomster]

It's cheaper the first time 'round. But settling is just a way of telling everyone you'll roll over. Any company that does this is begging for another fifty class action lawsuits. Once the attorneys have been brought into play by the other team, you have to play the legal game.

A better idea is mediation first, then if that fails bring out the attorneys. But in our legal system there is essentially no risk/cost associated with bringing a lawsuit, so that's what people do.

Thomas

Re:In before "kill the lawyers"

[mollymoo]

Almost by definition, it can't be much more expensive than fighting the lawsuit out, and it would make people feel a lot better about buying from the Rock Band franchise in the future.

I do not think that phrase means what you think it means.

Re:Pot, Kettle, Blackness

[martinw89]

This has nothing to do with the pot calling the kettle black. That would be, to use your example, if Ford was filing a lawsuit against Harmonix because of mental anguish due to broken base pedals and warranty issues.

I don't see that happening anytime soon for some reason...

Re:GH Lawsuit? Please

[JimboFBX]

Yes, but that doesn't fix all issues, like the fact I to hit the cymbols near the hard plastic in order to get them to register as a crash, or the guitar that no longer downstrums and stores dont want to accept a return for. If I used their RMA, I would have to pay to ship their defective item back to them, then wait 3 weeks.

So I bought a copy of guitar hero WT with just the guitar, swapped out mine for the new one, then returned it.

The new guitar has a strummer that is squeakier than the guitar I own for Guitar Hero, the original PS2 game. The touch sensor is also so sensitive that just holding my hand an inch from it sets it off. I'll probably have to return it again, or live with the issues and oil the strummer myself.

But is it worth suing them? I do think they need to pay for their customers RMAs, at the cost of loss profits.

Re:Pot, Kettle, Blackness

[Lord Fury]

Warranty? Who buys new Fords?

Re:Pot, Kettle, Blackness

[Ryunosuke]

People expect Ford to stop working shortly after the warranty expires (if it lasts that long), they didn't expect the same from video game equipment. But I think comparing cars and video game equipment is a great idea!

Wait, what?

[Gordonjcp]

They're actually suing the manufacturer of a cheap plastic toy, which is designed to be stamped on, because it broke?

Re:Wait, what?

[maxume]

Even worse, they are suing because the company released an improved version.

Re:Wait, what?

[Walpurgiss]

I think it is pretty stupid. The problem is people expect the plastic pedal housing a solenoid switch to be as strong as a real bass drum kick pedal. It is complete stupidity on the consumer's part. I got rock band at launch, and within 2 months we broke my pedal. My room mate plays drums and he really abused the thing, like he hits his when he plays. It broke in half. I fixed it by screwing a diamond plate cut to fit the pedal part, and it has worked perfectly since then, better than new. I think the class should lose based on just being stupid for thinking plastic == strength of metal. The only metal in the original pedal was literally the spring, metal on the pcb, and in the magnetic switch. Of course you can't stomp the shit out of it. If there's any case for class action, I'd think it would be the defective drum heads that shipped until a hardware revision a month or so later, or for the defective guitars that used leaf switches that fail after like 100,000 switches (Why even think that would be ok for this application?) Of course, they did offer free replacement for all of these problems, for months longer than a normal warantee for a game, and they covered shipping. Even would ship you the new gear first, if you'd give them a credit card # in case you didn't send yours back.

Re:Wait, what?

[maxume]

The flaw being really obvious weakens the case for the class. If the purchaser can see that it is a piece of junk, they can't really claim that they expected it to perform well.

Re:Wait, what?

[mollymoo]

The plastic pedals on my Logitech Driving Force GT can be stamped on. I stamp on them regularly (though not every time, I modulate when required). The pedals on my previous wheel, a Logitech GT Force, were also plastic. They got stamped on for seven years. You can make stamp-on-able things out of plastic, you just need enough of the right sort of plastic in the right places. Metal isn't the answer, you can make weak shit out of metal too, the answer is proper design.

Re:GH Lawsuit? Please

[PsychosisBoy]

So I bought a copy of guitar hero WT with just the guitar, swapped out mine for the new one, then returned it.

Congratulations! You have committed fraud.

Make that More Effective

[RulerOf]

But I think comparing cars and video game equipment is a great idea!

In order to achieve a proper comparison, you need to convert the Ford warranty and the Harmonix warranty into a more common and well understood unit of measurement, like Libraries of Congress.

Re:Disgruntled Musician

[mccalli]

Maybe, just maybe, this class action lawsuit will convince the general masses to buy real instruments?

I'm a musician too - I write music and play keyboards. I'm a slightly above average player, fairly average writer (though I'd like to think differently of course). To reach those dizzying heights, it took me years of learning and practice. Years. I'm 36 now, I started learning when I was 9, haven't finished learning and doubt I ever will. Anyone on here who plays will be able to relate to that statement I think.

I also own Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. Have really enjoyed playing Guitar Hero III, though I've not really got into Rock Band as yet due to lack of time. Am I for a moment fooled into thinking I could really play a guitar to that level? No, I'm not. How many years would it take me to play guitar at the required level of skill? A lot of years, and that's assuming I ever made it. These games - they're not a substitute for real musicianship, but then they're not supposed to be either. They're exactly what they say they are, music-based games. I have a lot of fun with them, and to deny myself that just because I know I'm not really playing a proper guitar just seems foolish.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:GH Lawsuit? Please

[LunarCrisis]

Looking past the fact that two items are clearly not identical if one of them is defective. . .

When you "return" something that means that you are "returning" it. Meaning that you are giving back what you got. If you "return" something else, you are misrepresenting it, and obviously it is fraud.