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Rock Band Foot Pedal Case Dropped By Plaintiff
by Kris Graft
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October 6, 2009
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The plaintiff who sued developer Harmonix in November last year over cracking bass drum controller pedals in Rock Band has voluntarily dismissed his case, court records reveal.
In a court filing from September 23, obtained by Gamasutra, plaintiff Monte Morgan dropped a class action lawsuit against Rock Band developer Harmonix, its parent Viacom, Viacom-owned MTV Networks, the game's distributor Electronic Arts, and electronics retailer Best Buy.
Counsel for both of the parties met in late August this year for a settlement conference, but did not agree on a settlement, records show. Prior to that, a judge had already dismissed some of the counts against the defendants.
After the original Rock Band launched in 2007, there were widespread reports of issues, including guitar controller problems and cracking bass drum pedals. Harmonix and EA said they would replace or fix faulty controllers.
But it was the cracking drum pedals and Harmonix's later move to more tightly control product returns that prompted Morgan to file the class action lawsuit last year. The original complaint claimed that the foot pedal was defective, and it fractured "under ordinary and expected usage, thus rendering the pedal inoperative."
The plaintiff was seeking reimbursement for Rock Band kits, and for the defendants to stop selling the allegedly defective products. Harmonix and MTV Games stood by its product, stating at the time of the suit, "When used as directed, our drum pedals are designed to provide years of enjoyment. … This litigation is opportunistic and baseless."
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I know not one person with the original Rock Band kick pedal that has not busted in the exact way as described above. Mine looks like a dirty wad of duct tape.
"When used as directed, our drum pedals are designed to provide years of enjoyment. … This litigation is opportunistic and baseless."
I'm not a lawyer or any kind of legal expert, but I can't possibly see how this statement is true. I would challenge Harmonix / MTV to prove that the game can be played on expert for hours, much less "years" using the stock pedal. Like the above poster, I don't know a single person who hasn't cracked the top of their bass pedal.
Purely anecdotal I admit, but we tend to play a lot in our office. A couple of guys around here play on expert a lot. Not only did the top plate of ours crack, but so did the base and the hinge mechanism that holds the two together. It was only at this point that we finally broke down and got one of the more expensive metal pedals.
Maybe that means something like 'used for half an hour by a 5 year old then put in the closet for further years of enjoyment.'