Konami sues Harmonix because Rock Band is fun

As much as I enjoy DDR, Konami is being a little bitch about most rhythm games on the market. It's almost as if they dislike competition in that genre.

Whatever excuse they may have, it looks to me like they're trying to cash in on anything they can because their own series has been dying. They did this with ITG, which I do think was basically a rip off of their own DDR, it was still unfair of them to get rid of the competition because they refuse to innovate, and like stated already, refusing to localize their other series. That's probably their business plan, wait and sue anything that is similar in any way to their own games.

This sounds like yet another frivolous video game related lawsuit. Unless Konami holds the patent for plastic along with the microphone, drums, and the guitar, then this just amounts to a retarded cash grab. I'm certain Harmonix/Viacom would win in court but it's kind of sad knowing that Harmonix will just throw a fistful of cash at Konami and tell them to piss off to avoid wasting time and most likely more money than the settlement would be in court.

It was only a matter of time.

Douche bags.

What took them so long? Timing.

If both series weren't successful and expanding out of Konami's control, they wouldn't have cared.

They've literally put Konami in a position where NO ONE outside of a niche would care if their games were finally localized, because there are two franchises doing what they've done, and (arguably) better.

Is it their fault? Yes and no. Because personally, I think outside of the music, the games aren't incredibly interesting to look at. This is really where the competition's games succeed that Konami's do not. Transforming the experience from challenging but otherwise dull note striking to a rock star fantasy is where GH and RB have taken the throne, and literally demolished it.

When Beatmania finally came out here, they dropped the ball massively with a mediocre soundtrack, and an interface behind what they currently were up to in Japan. Not to mention that I was too busy playing DJ Max to care, what with it's better aesthetics and great, catchy music.

But I digress...Konami dug themselves into this hole, now they're trying to climb out of it with a pointless lawsuit in an atttempt to reclaim the genre they created. It isn't happening, and this won't gain them any cool points from anyone.

I'm with Chaoticwolf.
Konami seem to hate any competition when it comes to their Bemani games. Konami sued when In The Groove came out, and this is history repeating. Anytime someone takes an idea they came up with, then changes it up and improves it, what does Konami due?
Cue lawsuit time.

Konami has missed so many opportunities here with their Bemani games. I used to LOVE Bemani, but nothing ever came over. When Guitar Hero was created, it was a blessing. Guitar freaks with more buttons and american rock? Sweet. It's sad to see that it has taken Konami THIS LONG to bring over their "Rock Revolution." This lawsuit just shows how pathetic they have become.

Konami, you're wasting your time. Most of these lawsuits are pretty useless. They can't accept the fact their "king of music-games" title was taken by Harmonix/Activision. Rather than suing everyone, they need to create an updated music-game that can compete with Rock Band/Guitar Hero.

Sad, but this will go nowhere. They've missed their opportunity to sue on other devices created prior to Rock Band and the patents on common functionality and design are very hard to win.

I find myself not giving a crap, since for some reason, I can't have any fun with Rock Band. Guitar hero 2 was the last music game that was any fun to me.

I find it hard to believe Harmonix just didn't bother to get patent rights for their games. That seems a little too big of a mistake.

About time? Give me a break. This makes Konami's cool points dip big time. They're wasting their time trying to sue them.

Idiots. Konami obviously has nothing better to do at the moment.

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are on a completely different level than Guitar Freaks and Drummania. Greedy bastards.

Well if Konami have patents (and they certainly have the historical precedent for these kind of games), then they should be entitled to sue. Doesn't mean they'll win of course. But it is clear that GH and Rock Band are blatant rip-offs of Konami games.

patents are what will destroy this world... they are the fucking reason half of the PS3 owners out there is stuck with a no-good-ultra-light-controller, forced to shell out more $$ to get a decent one...

Fuck Konami. Seriously. Those assholes should have localized Guitar Freaks and Drummania WAY before Guitar Hero came out. Now these bitches complain that a company is succeeding with a similar, better product in a region where they never released their own fucking game?!

I hate Konami. I wish MGS's were published by a different company. And yes, they screwed up PES2008, ps3.. And yes, I hate Konami ID, why aren't they content with my PSN account. And yes, they were being pricks when they removed pes05 online functionality, when PES06 came out, even tho the matches were held peer to peer.. I hate patents, btw. I have my reasons.