The creators of Rock Band-- MTV Games, Harmonix, Electronic Arts, and Viacom-- have all been slapped with a class-action lawsuit by lawyers from one Monte Morgan of Kansas.

Though one would think that the main point of such a lawsuit would be to punish a company for shipping the defective product, which is indeed Morgan's first 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.

…the majority of the document filed Tuesday has to do with lawyers' attempt to prove not that Harmonix et al did so, but that, acknowledging the fact that the drum pedals were defective, they attempted to exploit that very defective nature with the release of Rock Band 2.

The key point here is Harmonix and EA's June 26th extension of the Rock Band warranty — which lasted until October 1st, 2008. Now, any new customer has only a sixty day warranty on Rock Band hardware. Plaintiffs argue that this is not nearly enough time should, say, a mother purchase the game for a Christmas present months in advance — and moreover, that the extension in and of itself is part proof that Harmonix realized the hardware was defective.

The kicker comes with when and how defendants chose to market Rock Band 2. Harmonix announced Rock Band 2 only four days after they revealed that the warranty extension would cease in October — and October is when Rock Band 2 was released (though the game was originally slated for the prior month). Furthermore, citing the image at right, plaintiffs note that the new game featured an improved drum pedal that featured prominently in the game's marketing campaign… and allege that the warranty expiration was timed to drive existing owners of defective kits to purchase the new game. -- GameCyte

Naturally, the suit is seeking damages, plus a possible injunction against further sale of the "faulty" Rock Band units.

GameCyte asks:

And because most of the ballyhoo is because of EA's own attempt to appease existing customers with a warranty extension… if they do win, just how much more rigid might warranties be in the future?

What do you think? Did EA bite the lot of them in the butt by trying to keep customers satisfied, or were they conspiring all along to milk this thing to the last drop?