Man drops lawsuit over Rock Band instrument bundling
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jun 12th 2008 at 12:55PM }
With all the rhythm game-related lawsuits flying around in recent months, it seems we totally missed a class-action lawsuit filed back in March by one Michael Antonelli against Rock Band makers Harmonix, Electronic Arts and Viacom (owner of MTV). It seems Antonelli was upset that the companies weren't offering a standalone guitar for the game, requiring PS3 owners to buy two full, $170 bundles in order to play with the full four-player setup (Xbox 360 owners could use Guitar Hero II's USB guitar).Well, we're not too broken out about missing this news the first time around, because Next Gen is reporting that Antonelli dropped the suit as of June 6. We can't say we blame him, as the standalone guitar he wanted has been announced since February and available since April.
While it's always nice to see a frivolous lawsuit drop to the side of the road, it's also a little sad. Just think of all those hours spent preparing those pointless legal briefs -- those are hours that could have been spent rocking out! It's a shame, really ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Jun 12th 2008 1:05PM
People should get three sue tokens when they turn 18. You only got three, use them wisely, you stupid geedy fuckers.
Vcize @ Jun 12th 2008 1:48PM
Lol.
oshin @ Jun 12th 2008 1:11PM
If everybody got 3 sue tokens I could imagine the number of law cases shooting up. Im fairly sure the majority of people dont sue in there lifetime, then again I live in ireland, and compo culture is only rife here, not a way of life.
Ghen @ Jun 12th 2008 1:23PM
Its truly insane in America. People honestly believe that lawsuits are the only way to the American dream because they're too lazy or stupid to start their own business.
Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 12th 2008 2:51PM
First, Class Action Lawsuits don't do dick in favor of the customers. You get, at most, a minor amount of cash compared to the trouble the original filer goes through. It's more of a "fuck you. lazy corporation!" move than somebody saying they want 300 million.
Second, the entire basis of the lawsuit is because certain claims were made (use your GH controller chief among them) and later removed quite secretly as Activision said "piss off" to money and rather than having EA step up and rectify the situation, they kept chanting "next year, early next year." It wasn't a problem for me because a friend also bought Rock Band but it was certainly an issue for a large percentage of the userbase.
FSK405K @ Jun 12th 2008 1:13PM
Lawsuits based around a lack of peripherals. Can we sue Nintendo for not having enough storage on the Wii?
baby sea tuna @ Jun 12th 2008 1:15PM
I'm glad this guy finally realized what an asshole he was.
BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 12th 2008 1:37PM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/BPMdotEXE/Macros/GioFacepalm.jpg
eugene @ Jun 12th 2008 1:37PM
We should get to pelt these assholes with salmonella ridden tomatoes. The court could sell tickets as a way to recoupe the money spent on this colossal waste of time and it would be a way to help out the tomatoe farmers.
everybody wins!
Nailio @ Jun 12th 2008 4:00PM
I work at Subway, and SOOO many people have been pissed that they cant have tomatoes. We have a paper at the order area explaining why there are none, and they still ignore it.
I say Good riddance. If you get someone who orders everything AND extra tomatoes, when you try to fold that sandwich the tomatoes suddenly have no friction and fire out of the sandwich at the speed of light. I heard the military was looking into some sort of zero friction tomato rail gun.
eugene @ Jun 12th 2008 5:31PM
The only thing that pisses me off about subway is that you guys abandoned the trench cut when cutting the bread. The trench was awesome, it kept the fillings nice and stable and ensured limited slipage of vegetables and condiments.
Nailio @ Jun 13th 2008 12:09AM
We still do it for the Meatball Marinara sometimes, I jjust pray that people dont ask for much veggies when I make it like that. It is a little bit sloppy cutting though.
And as long as you arent a douche about it, if you ask for a trench cut I'm sure they'll do it, the one at my Subway will let me do some custom things. Just remember to tip the guy doing it :D
Professor Lario @ Jun 12th 2008 1:42PM
While the lawsuit was unfounded, the exec that decided to ship Rock Band and NOT make a second guitar available for purchase is idiot of the year. How many sales did they lose out on? By the time the new guitar (for the full Rock Band experience) was out, people - including myself - had moved on.
Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 12th 2008 2:45PM
Yeah, people do tend to forget, as a PS3 owner, this entire situation was bullshit. Especially considering players COULD obtain an extra guitar before April by buying direct from EA. Something that costs you... *gasp* $125?!?
When the lawsuit was filed, in December, it did have a very valid warrant behind it. That problem, however, has since been rectified. Thank you slow court system.