Lawsuit targets MS and Bungie for 'faulty' Halo 3

by Ross Miller { Nov 29th 2007 at 11:52AM }

A new lawsuit has been filed by a San Diego resident against Microsoft and Bungie concerning Halo 3. According to Information Week, the suit alleges the game "consistently causes the Xbox 360 to crash, freeze, or lock up while the game is being played."

The plaintiff, Randy Nunez, also asserts the problem is widespread and that Microsoft and Bungie "have failed to recall Halo 3 or otherwise remedy its failure to function on the Xbox 360." He is seeking class action status and unspecified damages.

We're not lawyers, but we don't think the problem is inherently Halo 3 so much as hardware issues that Microsoft has tried to address (to the tune of over $1 billion). Of course, he could be talking about scratched Legendary Edition discs, which Microsoft also took action to fix. It's hard to tell how these fancy schmancy legal proceedings will play out; perhaps the whole mess can be resolved over a friendly game of capture the flag.

[Via GameDaily]

Tags: bungie, halo, halo-3, halo3, lawsuit, legal, microsoft, rrod

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

astroblastro @ Nov 29th 2007 12:02PM

hey, can we sue bioware while we're at it? Mass Effect has Massive Bugs (har dee har har).

Flipside @ Nov 29th 2007 12:21PM

'hey, can we sue bioware while we're at it? Mass Effect has Massive Bugs (har dee har har).'

Now THAT made me laugh.

DangerMouse @ Nov 29th 2007 12:24PM

I cringed.

glitched @ Nov 29th 2007 12:34PM

massive bugs, massive damage?

danny. @ Nov 29th 2007 12:40PM

I'm waiting for a huge patch to Mass Effect. Still loving the game though.

Speddy @ Nov 29th 2007 12:58PM

Clear out your Storage Device cache prior to starting Mass Effect. No problems. (Yes, I've gotten the Disc Dirty error 5x now...and I eject the disc, clear the cache in the System Blade, then insert disc and start again).

System Blade, select Storage device, Y then X X, LB, RB, X X. Yes. Done.

Dan @ Nov 29th 2007 2:03PM

I don't think you can sue just because a game has bad code... otherwise the developers of barbie games would be bankrupt by now.

Rob Accomando @ Nov 29th 2007 12:03PM

I'm not even going to comment on the stupidity of this lawsuit.

Negativecool @ Nov 29th 2007 12:35PM

Irony is fun.

DWells55 @ Nov 29th 2007 12:54PM

I think it's regarding the batch of bad disks. I personally experienced this with my first Legendary Edition. The disc appeared to be mint and worked fine for a while, but quickly refused to load maps on any 360 I tried it on. If I ran it in a system without a hard drive, the screen would go black after trying to load a map. After this it would either freeze or return an error message and kick me back to the dashboard after 2 to 3 minutes of black screen.

But it's nothing getting a replacement disc can't fix. No need for a law suit.

Marty @ Nov 29th 2007 1:21PM

I think this lawsuit is pretty idiotic, but I do find it kinda funny that the bad batch of discs was also seemingly exclusive to the Legendary edition... since those fans were probably the ones least likely to throw a big fit over broken discs.

dan stabbingworth @ Nov 29th 2007 1:23PM

My first 360 used to freeze all the time for no reason on both xbox and 360 games. I think this is a problem with some 360s, but it is far less prevalent than certain other issues.

Negativecool @ Nov 29th 2007 12:08PM

Fail.

deaftly @ Nov 29th 2007 12:12PM

@Ross

It was the collectors edition, not the legendary edition that had the scratched disc's. Also this guy has no chance in hell winning.

Silent Xenocide @ Nov 29th 2007 12:14PM

Assassins Creed and Mass Effect froze my 360 several times, while Halo 3 has never done so for me.

Dan @ Nov 29th 2007 12:14PM

As a law student I can add something to this - Randy's most likely an old guy (elderly) who doesn't have anything better to do with his time then spend hundreds of hours in depositions, ect. He got hooked into it by the firm seeking the class action status. The reason the firm is doing it is because of the 5 million that they want 30% of as their fee. Each individual that joins in the class action suit can't be expecting more than $50 dollars each, mostly the price of the game. The reason they want to make sure it's at least 5 million is because if it's under that amount then they can only get class-action status for the suit if at least one member of the class has a claim for more than 75,000 dollars.

Basically it's a bogus claim. They'll be given the chance to get enough people in the class action to get over 5 million in total damages, and if they don't then the suit won't fly. Even then, it's highly unlikely to make it past the 'discovery' stage, where they get what evidence they can from Microsoft about the percentage of red-ringing consoles and faulty discs.

Negativecool @ Nov 29th 2007 12:32PM

Is there anything that Microsoft or any other large company to do to detour these bogus claims.
Like say a whopping counter suit, after this claim is crushed in court, to "set an example" for anyone else thinking of waisting their lawyers' time?
I mean, they've got to be dealing with a lot of these things at all times.

And if not, dammit there should be.

NATO_Duke @ Nov 29th 2007 12:44PM

OK, as a lawyer I would have told this guy to move on with life. This lawsuit looks silly and the idea of a class action where the damages are so illusory seems to be doomed.

I read that -"The suit alleges that Halo 3 "routinely, consistently, and systematically 'froze,' 'crashed,' or 'locked up.'" The suit then claims that these issues "disrupted game play." Disrupted gameplay? Really!? So you want to start a nationwide class action?

He wants 5 million for this? Good luck with getting a class action certification. He we have one guy getting upset over not being able to play the game, and now he wants to establish a class and hold himself out as being able to represent that class fully- I doubt the fed court will bite.

In the end I would guess this suit is shut down quickly and that MS walks away unbothered.

Farseer (GDI) @ Nov 29th 2007 1:10PM

So, to reach $5 mil, at $60 a game, you would need at over 83,000 people to sign up before this would even be considered as a class action lawsuit, correct?

That's a lot of legwork, if I do say so myself. I think that this guy would probably have better luck making more money by, say, working a job instead of tying up the court system with this crap. Just sayin'.

NATO_Duke @ Nov 29th 2007 1:28PM

Well, the damages wouldn't be directly tied to the game price, so you dont need to have 83k people involved. Yet you still need to have some basis to claim such an obviously large and bogus amount of money. I can't see how he could make such a claim without first having figured out how large the pool of potential class members is.

Phranctoast @ Nov 29th 2007 1:46PM

Dan @ Nato

Any word on anyone trying to use FOIL to get the actual defect rate on the 360?

Phranctoast @ Nov 29th 2007 1:47PM

that was supposed to be an "&"...woops

NATO_Duke @ Nov 29th 2007 2:08PM

If you're asking if people have used FOIA to get failure rates from MS, that wouldn't applly as that is for federal agencies. I imagine by FOIL, you mean the FOI Laws applied by a respective state on their own. A state's own law, like California's Public Records Act would not be able to compel a private company to disclose that material as it covers public records, and not corporate ones.

Yet with a suit filed they will have subpoena power and unless MS attorneys stop it, those records could be ordered released by a judge. Either way, you wouldn't see them as MS would move to have any records released done under protective order.

NATO_Duke @ Nov 29th 2007 2:23PM

Damn typos.

xXFenixKnightXx @ Nov 29th 2007 12:16PM

100+ Comments

joeyg @ Nov 29th 2007 12:19PM

just turning on my xbox killed mine...can i sue for that?

btw..it went out to MS repair yesterday.

Todd @ Nov 29th 2007 12:22PM

Microsoft sure seems to have more issues with their console (and related IP) than Sony or Nintendo. What the hell are Microsoft engineers doing with their time?

WiNG @ Nov 29th 2007 12:40PM

...playing Halo.

Todd @ Nov 29th 2007 12:23PM

@deaftly

If enough people sign the class action lawsuit, Microsoft will have to take notice. Then you'll see lots of coupons being sent out to 360 owners with an apology letter.

FidliousWong @ Nov 29th 2007 12:54PM

Or like the seven other class actions thrown against the system, Microsoft will just quietly buy this ones silence (although since this two week old news is still making rounds, MS may be willing to let this laughable case go). I mean, both Nintendo and Sony let these cases go. Sometimes they get stung from them, sometimes not. It certainly seem more reputable than watching these suits "disappear."

But then again, if this suit could somehow be tied into hardware failure, MS may be willing to buy it out again.

rigby @ Nov 29th 2007 12:24PM

i have played Halo3 a LOT .. i have 980gs on it, clocked it on normal, heroic, legendary.. got all the skulls, completed legendary on co-op 3 times with different friends and i can safely say that NOT ONCE has the game:

""consistently to crashed, frozen, or locked up while the game is being played."

NOT ONCE

this case will never stand up in court.. ever.

dsub @ Nov 29th 2007 12:27PM

Agreed. They would have to demonstrate, in real-time before a judge that they are experiencing the problem with a brand new copy of Halo 3 and a brand new system. Odds are that's not happening. These guys will end up looking like toolbags before a judge. Odds are this is just an example of a bunch of pre-law students who had to create a mach-lawsuit based on a few minor issues they've had, and they decided to give a real shot.

baby sea tuna @ Nov 29th 2007 1:35PM

Yeah, I haven't played it *quite* that much but I've also logged numerous hours on H3 and have never had a problem with it freezing or crashing my box.

Simpsons, on the other hand...

dsub @ Nov 29th 2007 12:25PM

I'd like to sue EA. Every single game that has EA's logo on it in someway give be Unreadable Disc error all the time. Here's a list of games that have decided to spring this issue on me in the midst of gameplay...

-Madden NFL 2007
-Madden NFL 2008
-NCAA Football 2008
-Tiger Woods 2008
-Skate
-Rock Band

At first I thought it was just the EA Sports games, but it's not. When Skate and Rock Band did the same thing, I knew something was up. I've experienced the issues on two different XBOX 360's, but NEVER on a game published by someone other than EA.

gonk @ Nov 29th 2007 12:33PM

skate works fine for me though

ssuk @ Nov 29th 2007 12:35PM

I'd like to sue them for mental harm caused by playing their mindless dribble.

FidliousWong @ Nov 29th 2007 12:56PM

I'd sue them for crappy PS3 ports. But then I'd be stuck suing damn near everyone. Instead I'll do the next best thing. If they release a crappy buggy port, I won't buy it.

Cyro @ Nov 29th 2007 12:26PM

What a bunch of crap.

plyx @ Nov 29th 2007 12:27PM

Halo 3 killed my 360. I'm sure it could have been any game, just so happened I was playing Halo 3 at the time. I called MS, got a replacement system in a few weeks, sold it and bought an Elite.

dsub @ Nov 29th 2007 12:28PM

In other news, the new Falcon motherboard systems with the 65nm chips have started to appear in the gamestop I work at.

Sean D. @ Nov 29th 2007 12:45PM

They're at Best Buy now too. I got one (with the 175W power supply), and it had the three blinking red lights out of the box! I exchanged it and inadvertently ended up with the older model. I'm planning on exchanging it next week as soon as they have Falcon Elites in stock.

ssuk @ Nov 29th 2007 12:34PM

Normal person: Oh dear, this Halo 3 copy isn't working properly, let's send it back to the store. Where's my receipt.

This guy: Oh dear, this Halo 3 copy isn't working properly... Honey, is the lawyer on quick-dial 3 or 4?

Seriously, gotta love idiots like this.

rTwelve @ Nov 29th 2007 7:50PM

"Damnit! My toast isn't fully toasted! [sues toaster manufacturer]"

astroblastro @ Nov 29th 2007 12:43PM

I don't see why people are defending bug laiden software. This just might pressure microsoft and bungie to actually do something about this problem. Wouldn't you be mad if you bought a new car and it periodically shut off while you were on the highway?

These developers need to step up their QA and stop shipping games with a minimal amount of bugs. I don't think patching should be seen as a reasonable solution and should only be done to fine-tune multiplayer games or fix small bugs.

NATO_Duke @ Nov 29th 2007 12:47PM

I think safety of drivers on the road cases and disruption of my game time lawsuits are easily distinguishable. To compare those scenarios is laughable.

astroblastro @ Nov 29th 2007 12:50PM

It doesn't matter. If i buy a car, game, toaster, etc... I expect it to work.

jayeffaar @ Nov 29th 2007 3:01PM

Yes, buggy software sucks, but that's not relevant here. The point that you seem to be missing here is that as far as a lot of us can tell, Halo 3 isn't buggy at all. The guy is complaining about problems that other people are not having, leading us to think that the game itself is not the problem.