Yet another lawsuit

[Glockstar]

Activision Sued For Guitar Hero Sound Problems [Update 1]
By Chris Kohler EmailDecember 12, 2007 | 2:54:22 PMCategories: Legal Matters

Activision is quickly finding out what it means to have the holiday season's top-selling video game: Lots of lawsuits.

Already faced with legal threats from a rock group over a cover of a song that appears in Guitar Hero, Activision has now been named in a class-action suit that alleges that the company engaged in "deceptive and unlawful" conduct by selling the Wii version of Guitar Hero III, which only outputs mono sound, not Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound as claimed on the box.

The class named in the suit includes all purchasers of the game who "would not have purchased the Guitar Hero III video game and/or paid as much for it had they known the truth about the product."

The suit, brought by plaintiff Samuel Livingston of San Diego and represented by the law firm KamberEdelson, LLC, "seeks actual damages, individual restitution, equitable relief, civil penalties, costs and expenses of litigation, including attorney's fees, and all further relief available."

The suit claims that Activision has not rectified the problem for "any purchaser" of Guitar Hero III, nor has it taken steps to point out the issue to future purchasers. By noting that the game is still on store shelves this holiday, the suit alleges that Activision is continuing to engage in deceptive practices.

Activision has said that it will voluntary replace the Wii discs with properly working versions, but not until 2008.

Activision did not immediately respond to Wired's request for comment.


UPDATE: Activision "cannot comment on any on-going litigation," says a representative for the company, who also provided Wired with this statement regarding the sound issues:

We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. We are currently working with Nintendo and are planning to issue an improved audio experience in future versions of the game. We expect to have re-mastered discs available by early 2008 and we will be offering consumers replacement discs at no cost once they become available. We thank all of our customers for their support and patience.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/activision-sued.html#more

[ilnadmy]

Well that was stupid of Activision.

[Mochan]

Pathetic.

[Glockstar]

What's pathetic?

Personally, I think the "seeks actual damages, individual restitution, equitable relief, civil penalties, costs and expenses of litigation, including attorney's fees, and all further relief available.", is pathetic.

But necessary.

Because what Activision is doing is even more pathetic. The just and proper thing for Activision to do here is do a recall. And either print out new box art, or make the game right.

But Activision knows that if they do that they'll miss out on A LOT of holiday dough. And apparently they think they'll make enough money off of the game's sales this holiday to cover the suit.

And they also probably think that a lot of people who buy the game this holiday just won't notice - or say anything.

[Cuddly Knife]

Maybe it was just a screwy glitch in the game?

I agree that the dude who is suing is the pathetic one, just like the band that is suing because the cover(which they game permission to use a cover because they didn't want to use their own master tracks) sounds too much like the original artists. He's gonna lose, because Activision has already released info that they will give gamers the new version for free. Hell, I read about this last week, I believe.

Just another sewer.:D

[Mochan]

What's pathetic?

Everyone involved in the issue is pathetic. The people who actually sought damages for it are pathetic... but nowhere near as pathetic as Activision for letting such a glaring mistake get published. Where is the quality control? Whoever developed the game (be it Activision or whoever) for utterly failing to program the sound properly that it couldn't even do stereo. This ain't 8-bit anymore please. Stereo was standard more than a decade ago! Totally pathetic.

In other words, we're in total agreement.

[trebor]

For the record, the whole reason I haven't bought this game yet is because of the sound problem that I heard about early on. I can wait until they fix the game to buy it at this point.

[Dancer O_o]

Pathetic.

I find these games in general to be pathetic, mainly because of the amount of time you put into the pretendy instruments would probably have you able to play the real instruments just as proficiently...or at least on the path to it. These games sell well though, I just don't like the genre, not escapist enough for me.

The dude who is suing is within his right, but he will get nothing mostly.

[Gadfly2317]

Maybe it was just a screwy glitch in the game?

I agree that the dude who is suing is the pathetic one, just like the band that is suing because the cover(which they game permission to use a cover because they didn't want to use their own master tracks) sounds too much like the original artists. He's gonna lose, because Activision has already released info that they will give gamers the new version for free. Hell, I read about this last week, I believe.

Just another sewer.:D

I think frivolous lawsuits suck, like when someone walks across your lawn, cuts their foot on a bottle that someone driving by threw onto your lawn, cuts their foot, and then sues YOU.

But corporations that make money off of false advertising should face penalties; you can't put a corporation in jail like you would an individual, and false advertising is basically a form of theft. Sure, Activision may be offering free replacement disks, but I know I would be pissed as hell if I'd bought the Wii version thinking (because it says on the box) that it supports Dolby Pro Logic but was only mono. MONO? Why wouldn't it at least be in stereo?

This seems really stupid since so many Wii games are in Dolby Pro Logic II. Why in the hell would the release a music game in mono?

I don't know if this situation justifies a lawsuit or not (probably it doesn't), but at least the lawsuit is about a real act of corporate malfeasance, and not some complete loony kind of cash-in we see in way too many lawsuits where people do something to themselves and then want to blame someone else (like the classic case of the jackass who sucessfully sued mcdonalds after spilling coffee on themselves.)

[ilnadmy]

Or the 17 year-old who successfully sued his neighbor for unwittingly getting into his parked car and driving over the kid's hand while he was trying to STEAL THE GUY'S RIMS.

[Gadfly2317]

For the record, the whole reason I haven't bought this game yet is because of the sound problem that I heard about early on. I can wait until they fix the game to buy it at this point.

I wonder if you could score a cheap used Ps2 and guitar controller; GH1 and 2 are supercheap, and imo have a better song lineup than III. Probably wouldn't cost much more than buying the Wii controller and game.

Even a new slim Ps2 is so cheap now it would be worth it to play a few things. There are so many titles you would love in the $19 price range. Next-gen still isn't quite there yet in many ways, and its always fun (to me anyway) to score a cheap console I missed and sample some of its best for next to nothing.

I'm not sure why I'm always pestering you to pick up something else when you are able to fill your existing gametime with the Wii and DS, but oh well. . .I guess that's my current battle at sys wars: To get Treb to pick up a Sony product (like the PsP--if you love Fire Emblem, having a game like Jeane D'Arc or FF: Tactics in the palm of your hand would be gaming nirvana for you!)

[trebor]

I wonder if you could score a cheap used Ps2 and guitar controller; GH1 and 2 are supercheap, and imo have a better song lineup than III. Probably wouldn't cost much more than buying the Wii controller and game.

Even a new slim Ps2 is so cheap now it would be worth it to play a few things. There are so many titles you would love in the $19 price range. Next-gen still isn't quite there yet in many ways, and its always fun (to me anyway) to score a cheap console I missed and sample some of its best for next to nothing.

I'm not sure why I'm always pestering you to pick up something else when you are able to fill your existing gametime with the Wii and DS, but oh well. . .I guess that's my current battle at sys wars: To get Treb to pick up a Sony product (like the PsP--if you love Fire Emblem, having a game like Jeane D'Arc or FF: Tactics in the palm of your hand would be gaming nirvana for you!)

Yeah, I agree that GH2's track list blows away GH3's. On the other hand, wireless guitars beat tethered guitars.

I'd love to get a PS2 (or a PS3 even more) but the biggest obstacle for me is simply time - I can't seem to find the time to get through the games I'm currently working on, let alone taking on another system. Hell, I have the new Fire Emblem unopened and sitting on a shelf because I'm juggling 3 other Wii games right now. This doesn't even count the impending baby. I'll be lucky to get any time at all!

Anyways, for the record, I DID own the PS1. So I did own a Sony console...a decade ago ;p

If you want a real sys. war challenge, convince me to buy a 360 :)