$5 million lawsuit filed against Microsoft over Halo 3, Xbox 360 problems

Halo 3 is designed from the ground up to be compatible with the Xbox 360, right? A federal lawsuit filed last week against Microsoft and the game's developer, Bungie, claims it is not. 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". Yes, freezing, crashing and locking up would disrupt game play. The plaintiff, Randy Nunez, is seeking class-action status along with $5 million in damages plus costs and attorneys' fees. In a country where you can win a huge amount of money for spilling coffee on yourself, I suppose frivolous lawsuits like this are inevitable.

While the famous McDonald's coffee lawsuit is often unjustly cited as an example of what is wrong with our civil justice system, the facts in that case actually warranted the jury's decision. In this lawsuit against Microsoft and Bungie, the plaintiff is claiming that interruption of his game play warrants a $5 million check. Even if you could prove that Microsoft and Bungie intentionally released Halo 3 with knowledge of hardware/software compatibility issues -- which is a tough sell considering Microsoft's widely publicized $1 BILLION investment in correcting the Xbox 360's hardware issues, including extending the console's warranty length to three years -- how can you claim that interrupted gaming is worth $5 million?

I love my games, and yes, it is frustrating when serious performance issues ruin a gaming experience, but no GAMING experience is worthy of $5 million in compensation. Hellooo, McFly!! Perhaps Mr. Nunez should consider using his time to acquire gainful employment rather than wasting our court system's precious time with this bunk.

Take Two Settles Hot Coffee Lawsuit - $35 for the "Offended and Upset"

Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, has announced the settlement of all consumer class action lawsuits pending in the United States" related to the infamous GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" mod. Take-Two has committed at least $1.025 million on the settlement, and by the terms of the agreement, their total costs are capped at no more than $2.75 million.

If you feel you were burned by Take-Two's "hot coffee" incident (sorry), you can get satisfaction if you are willing to jump through some hoops. OK, a lot of hoops. If you swear that you bought a copy of GTA: SA before July 20, 2005, further swear that you were "offended and upset" by the existence of the Hot Coffee mod, and further swear that you wouldn't have bought the game if you had known about it, and also swear that you would have returned the software if you "thought this possible," you may be entitled to exchange your tainted disc for a brand new disc devoid of any beverage mods, hot or otherwise.

If a new disc doesn't do it for you, you may be able to receive a cash payment of $35 provided you can supply a valid proof of purchase and jump through some more hoops. Good luck with that! Now, can we all move on please? OK, good.