It looks like the $300 million in bonuses that the Harmonix co-founders received got the attention of a few lawyers.  On November 18th, Kansas resident Monte Morgan filed a class action lawsuit against Harmonix over broken bass drum pedals that are allegedly defective.  The drum pedals in question are from the original Rock Band title that had a knack for breaking under normal use.

EA had issued an extended warranty beyond the original 60 days where the customer could have the defective pedals replaced without a receipt.  Since October 1st, 2008 however, the customer is required to have a receipt showing the product in question was purchased within the last 60 days, which is where the problem arises.  If the defective pedal is purchased as a gift in advance, the warranty could be up before the device is even used.

Rock Band 2 has an improved drum pedal with a metal plate that remedies the problem.  The plaintiff’s have stated that the release of Rock Band 2 and the timing of the extended warranty being dropped has to do with driving sales towards Rock Band 2.

My drum pedal is still going strong but I can understand the resentment.  The extended warranty being conveniently dropped at the time of the next Rock Band release is just too obvious.  The cost of replacing the old pedals with the new metal version would be high, but isn’t that better than a lawsuit and bad publicity?