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.]
Contest:
2:41 PM on 11.21.2008
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It's what the Golden Avatar said. If you play it right, putting the pressure on the end with the soft rubber bumpers, instead of in the middle where there is only thin plastic, then you shouldn't break your pedal.
I won't argue that maybe they should have foreseen that gamers are clumsy oafs who break everything they touch, but this certainly wasn't a grand scheme set out to nickel and dime consumers.
I've had my RB drums for almost a year now and haven't had any pedal problems.
also there is no such thing as improper use in this sort of situation. if you make a product that is basically a toy, you must accommodate the lowest common denominator.
My pedal broke and I am certain I am not the only one.
I got my first replaced but within weeks of barely being used, it had cracks. I ended up just buying one of the wooden pedal kits and it has been fine since.
Though I do not think that the shitty pedals were part of an evil scheme by Harmonix or EA, I can't believe anyone here would deny that the thing is faulty.
EA/MTV/HMX had this coming, especially with the warranty extension, which invalidated their claims that the breakage was due to user error. Also consumers now have the option to BUY a RB2 set, but we should have had a working set to begin with!
Best case scenario: free RB drum set for RB1 owners!
Gimme money.
I've been playing drums for 8+ years now, and I play the Rock Band kick just like I do on my real set: beating the ever-living shit out of it. But I still maintain proper technique which puts no pressure on the sensitive parts of the pedal
@ Golden:
There are some songs that I seriously do not think are possible without some amount of force.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkCp_djKu2E
Skip to about 2:30 and check out those double hits. I don't know if you can just move your toes really fast or something, but when I hit those I have to use the bounce (as with a real drum pedal). And in order for it to bounce, you have to hit it reasonably hard. There's no work-around and I can't just "change my playstyle". I am a drummer and this is a drum set! I promise you, I don't just suck at RB drums. I've gold-starred (though not 100%) the song above...
I don't think the technique argument is necessarily relevant anyway. Tons of RB drummers don't know the first thing about playing set. As long as they follow the directions and don't wear army boots or something, the product shouldn't break, right? I mean there are only a couple of warnings in the manual and I am not disregarding them...
My entire foot was on the pedal, and I had no shoe on. Moreover, it did not break in the middle even, so you can't blame stress on the middle! It broke at the bottom right above the plastic that is on the metal rod. My pedal also has a small crack at the same spot.
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Tama-Iron-Cobra-Double-Bass-Drum-Pedal?sku=429922
(this one was manufactured with care and precision, guaranteed to not break when you "use" it)
The two RB kits in my household haven't experienced this issue, and none of the players I know IRL have had any issues. The only real evidence I've seen of any problem is whiners on the internet.
Kind of like Microsoft did in response to the RRoD.
And then, perhaps they made the warranty expire when they were releasing a stronger pedal.
And there may even be a slight chance that they made an "improved" pedal because of all the complaints about the old one.
Nah, not a chance. The lawyers are right. They're just dicks.