Activision Sued Over GH III Wii Mono-Output

[H.Cornerstone]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/activision/ghiii-mono-sound-costs-activision-a-lawsuit-333283.php

Hoo-boy. Activision, this just isn't your day. Not content with pissing a whole bunch of people off over the PS3 version of Rock Band (http://kotaku.com/gaming/playstation-3/activision-blocks-rock-band-patch-kills-ghiii-guitar-support-333236.php), it's now being reported that the company is being sued over their bungling of Guitar Hero III's sound output on the Wii (http://kotaku.com/gaming/dolby-blues/ghiii-wii-only-offers-mono-sound-321590.php). A class-action suit filed in San Diego "seeks actual damages, individual restitution, equitable relief, civil penalties, costs and expenses of litigation, including attorney's fees, and all further relief available" over the game's mono-only output, citing the fact the game box promises Dolby Pro Logic II support, which it doesn't deliver. That's one long and expensive Christmas wish list for law firm KamberEdelson, LLC. They also claim that Activision is "continuing to engage in deceptive practices" by leaving the game on the shelf when they know full well what's promised on the box isn't what's inside it.
Activision Sued For Guitar Hero Sound Problems (http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/activision-sued.html) [Game|Life]
Karma's a bitch aint it?

[Dark Slayer120]

I walked up to this girl today and said OmghotnessIwannabangu. It did not end well.....

[PyroGamer]

Well, they are continuing to engage in deceptive practices, aren't they?

I'd say this is definitely one of the less frivolous video-game class-actions.

[DesertEagleXIX]

It took gamers nearly a month to notice? I just heard about issue a few weeks ago.

[Zen Davis]

Gamers are morons. Didn't you know?

Not me though.

I'm totally on the money.

[007]

This is ridiculous.

If they hadn't already agreed to replace the discs, I could understand. However, they've already officially recognized the problem, and set up a system to deal with it. So why sue now? For them, it's easier to sell the remaining stock and and then fix it afer the fact, than to recall all of the product already in-store. Which, by the way, isn't probably a whole lot.

This is like the problem with those Back to the Future and Superman DVD sets a while back. There were problems with them, so they did a replacement program. Did they take the defective ones off the shelf? Hell no. Just left them there, and assumed people would take care of it.

Now, I'm not one to defend companies... but really, this is just stupid. This is a group of people who see money to be made. Damages? Not having OMG DOlby DigitaALBE SouNDZOOOZZR damaged you?

Activision screwed up, and they're fixing it. This is just another frivolous lawsuit.

[PyroGamer]

If they hadn't already agreed to replace the discs, I could understand. However, they've already officially recognized the problem, and set up a system to deal with it. So why sue now?
I didn't realize they had done that.

In that case, I take back my post. This is pretty fucking frivolous.

[007]

I didn't realize they had done that.

In that case, I take back my post. This is pretty fucking frivolous.


http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162733&highlight=replace+activision

There's the link to the thread, which also contains the article.

[mrlokievil]

But aren't they still selling the bundles that contain the mono discs? From my understanding they haven't fixed the problem since the replacements aren't ready yet, so if it's still in stores they are knowingly selling a defective product.

[007]

In theory, that's true, but it's still a bit ridiculous to sue over.

The fact is... defective is a subjective word. The game works, it just doesn't contain features that it was supposed to have, which was an error of omission, nothing sinister.

So, really, if you can put up with the mono sound, I see no need to not let people buy it.

Also, if anyone really thinks that they'd pull it off the shelf 2 weeks before Christmas, they're nuts.

Like I said earlier... the BTTF and SM DVD sets were nearly the same thing. Both had 'defects' (a wrongly chopped BTTF2, and the wrong disc burned for one of the SM films), yet both remained on the shelf, even though a fix was not yet readily available.

My opinion is that, provided the company has acknowledged and said they WILL have an imminent fix to the issue, and the 'defect' isn't game and/or system breaking, I see no need to pull it.

Trust me, people will buy it anyway, and half of them won't even notice. Demanding money over it is simply ludicrous.

[Chacrana]

If Activision actually does have a replacement plan, then this is frivolous, but I'd like to see them get sued because I just don't like them.

And mono sound is a big fucking problem, though probably not for people playing on their 13" TVs with built-in VCRs.

[Zoglog]

While I would like to blame Red Octane (being the crappy company they are) This is mainly Neversoft's fault for not fixing this and Activision's for not making it known.