Kick, kick, kick... crunch

Oops, did your Rock Band drum pedal break? It's probably not the most suitable piece of plastic when you think about how many times it's going to be stomped on during game play. Was the inclusion of this breakable pedal just crap planning, or was it something more deliberate?

The lawyers for Kansas resident Monte Morgan think that Rock Band's makers were out to "cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money” by selling kit with a "design defect," says GameCyte. That's why they've hit Harmonix, MTV, EA and Viacom all with a class action lawsuit.

From the complaint:

Due to a design defect, the bass drum foot pedal (which is an integral component of the Rock Band drum kit) fractures under ordinary and expected usage, thus rendering the pedal inoperative. Without a functioning bass drum foot pedal, consumers are unable to use the Rock Band drum kit or play the Rock Band game in the manner marketed and advertised by Defendants, thus depriving them of the value and enjoyment of their purchases.

What sucks for them is that they extended the Rock Band warranty for customers up until October 1st of this year. Unfortunately, this extension might end up as proof that Harmonix realized that the pedals were defective.

What's worse is an image that GameCyte dug up, above. The "improved" drum pedal market points to something being wrong with its predecessor. On top of that, the Plantiffs allege that the warranty expiration was timed to drive existing owners of defective kits to purchase the new game.

The defendants are seeking unspecified damages, and want the court to order an injunction, which could have Rock Band listed as defective and removed from shelves.

I don't think anyone will stand up and say that the pedals don't suck. It remains to be seen whether this was a deliberate scheme or not.

[Update: Harmonix/MTV Games have issued an official statement, calling the lawsuit "opportunistic and baseless. The full story can be found here.]