Lawsuit Against Activision for Guitar Hero III Issues

You must have surely heard about Guitar Hero III's sound issues, in the Wii version at least, since the title only manages to output mono sound. That's surely not the "Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound" the box of the title promised all gamers. It appears that this problem bothered Samuel Livingston of San Diego so much, that the man decided to sue Activision. According to ActionTrip, the plaintiff "seeks actual damages, individual restitution, equitable relief, civil penalties, costs and expenses of litigation, including attorney's fees, and all further relief available".

That's quite a request, isn't it? This is not the fist time we've seen Guitar Hero III's publisher getting sued over a Guitar Hero title, as a rock band (The Romantics) also filed a law suit against Activision for infringing the copyright of one of their songs. It seems that Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s included a recording of the "What I live about you" song, extremely similar to the one performed by the band. Meanwhile, the legal action regarding the mono audio issues, mentioned that Activision isn't trying to solve the problem or "take steps to let the future purchasers know about the sound problem".

Here's what the publisher's representative's mentioned to the folks over at Wired:

"We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. We are currently working with Nintendo and are planning to issue an improved audio experience in future versions of the game. We expect to have re-mastered discs available by early 2008 and we will be offering consumers replacement discs at no cost once they become available. We thank all of our customers for their support and patience."

The question is "how early 2008 should we expect an updated version of the game?". Considering that GH III sells extremely well on Christmas time, you can consider all the trouble surrounding it a major downer for Activision.