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Halo 3 Lawsuit - Nunez is Seeking $5 Million in Damages

MS and Bungie declared the game and system as perfectly compatible. Randy seeks to prove otherwise

Nov 29, 2007 08:17 GMT  ·  By
Let's see how Microsoft and Bungie defend themselves now
   Let's see how Microsoft and Bungie defend themselves now

A piece up on Courthouse News Service, last week, said something about a California resident going by the name of Randy Nunez, who had filed a class action lawsuit against Bungie and Microsoft requesting unspecified damages at that time, for when he popped in the Halo 3 game disc, his Xbox 360 began to "crash," "freeze" or "lock up." Today, one of the top headlines says that Randy Nunez is "seeking class-action status along with $5 million in damages plus costs and attorneys' fees," according to arstechnica.com.

The argument here is that Halo 3 should work with the Xbox 360 no matter what, since Microsoft and Bungie have said that the two were perfectly compatible. That's why Nunez feels he's been sort of cheated. The suit also alleges that Halo 3 "routinely, consistently, and systematically 'froze,' 'crashed,' or 'locked up,'" claiming that these issues "disrupted game play."

The plaintiff is seeking class-action status along with $5 million in damages (adding costs and attorneys' fees, of course) as the issue is a widespread one, the suit claims, saying that "many consumers" have experienced the respective failures, making their machines "totally inoperable," even citing "industry Internet web sites, weblogs, and message boards" in an effort to prove that MS and Bungie are dealing with a common issue.

As "Ars technica" reckons "it's possible that by alleging a specific-and incredibly popular-piece of software also causes the issue the plaintiff can say that Microsoft and Bungie haven't adequately dealt with the problems of the hardware and software combination." However, it is also possible that Halo 3 being so frikkin' popular and "widespread," gamers with freezing Xbox 360s will only keep reporting system failures, as Microsoft's machine is a faulty one to begin with. They didn't throw a billion back in for repairs adding one more year to the system's warranty for nothing, now did they?

Whatever the outcome, it still sounds a little exaggerated to ask for $5 million in damages, just because the 360 froze during gameplay.