@kunio: The Aussie edition is done by Allure Media, not by the "normal" Kotaku team.

I'm assuming there's some sort of arrangement to use the US Edition's content and then add to it, or whatever.

Dragoonkin

So, yes, this is indeed here, and everything seems to be in order. Good job Kotaku, you have my readership.

hikkifan1986

Don't expect to see me play a violin for Activision after their shenanigans with refusing to allow "their technology" to be used with the PS3 version of Rock Band.

Boo hoo! What comes around, goes around, suckas!

slantyyz

Wait a minute. Gibson gives the okay to license their name and the "style" of their guitar's to Guitar Hero...but then they sue Activision because they feel Guitar Hero is infringing on a different one of their patents?

So when they were busy licensing their name/image/product to Activision...did they just not research Guitar Hero at all? You'd think they'd have realized it at the time. Instead of...you know...3 years later.

TRT-X

hahah whats with Gibson, as if they arent making millions selling guitars already. *sigh* greed

YuSuzuki

@justhesh: Yes. What the fuck elsa would it be simulating?

dowingba

Get ready for another "Comment of the Week" straight from me!

3!

2!

1!

This:

The Guitar Freaks Wikipedia page!

Look at the release date:

1999.

That's nine years ago.

Gibson are some slimy fuckers!!

Someone at Gibson marketing saw Guitar Freaks and began licking their lips in an insane fury, rubbing their hands together like greedy thieves. And they patented "videogame with a guitar controller". And they waited nine years.

Nine years.

Man, I'm totally going to throw away my Gibson SG '61 reissue!

Naw, just kidding! Why the hell would I do that!

108

So the plastic guitar shaped controllers are musical instruments?? Who knew we gamers had musician blood in is. Guess those 9 yr old kids that can play the game on expert need to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame.

y2julio

"Wait, we have a patent for WHAT? Quick! Sue the BEJESUS out of someone!"

Insomnia Bob

Gibson's patent seems too vague to me, and more of an idea than any actual invention. For example Immersion owns the rumble patent used on many game controllers, but they only own a patent for several different types of vibrating controllers not a patent on vibrating controllers.

jrhawk42

Based on Gibson's vague patent, Harmonix/MTV would have had to license the system for Rock Band too I suppose? And I believe Activision did approach Gibson re: modelling the controllers after their guitars and paid them for the license to do so.

Sounds like the only part of that patent that holds any weight is "simulate participation in a concert". As previous posters pointed out, the controllers are not "musical instruments" and there's no 3D display being used.

Noc

@krunkjuice: Neither has Tokai... ever... and yes I say this as the owner of 2 Gibsons (Les Paul and Explorer) and one Epiphone (Les Paul), most Les Paul clones don't have the proper wood or dimensons and that takes away a ton of the trademark sustained Les Paul sound (Not to mention horrible pickups).

Of course most people are going to jump in the bandwagon and profess their hate for Gibson now, but save it... they have a valid complaint, Harmonix did license the Gibson name and shape so why didn't Activision? Also, if Gibson has been pestering them since January and Activision filed a motion to make Gibson's patent invalid it makes Gibson case look even more legit.

It's an interesting case though, I think Rock Band/Guitar hero is a great vehicle for bands to deliver songs or get themselves known beyond certain music circles, however that doesn't give Activision the right to bypass bands or manufacturers.

zoesch

In the US we sue anybody, for any reason, just cause we can. Jeebus, I hope I don't get sued for saying that.

The US patent system is broken, take it out back and shoot the damn thing already.

Adam

@Korbei: Problem with that is that they no longer hold the rights to GH. You go for the person who has the thing that breaks whatever agreement, not who made it.

Paladin58

I agree that it should be inapplicable. Not only does Gibson's patent sound too different - if vaguely like Guitar Hero, they should have spoken up about it when approached to have their guitars featured in this very game. They have not only failed to protect their intellectual property in a timely manner, they have granted an implied license by specifically offering their name and products to this project.

fuchikoma

@kunio:

Poor excuse for a drum simulation wwahhatt?

BaronVonCrogs

This bullshit is all about money. And that's all it is , about its money. What about Guitar Freaks and Drummania? Fucking Rock Band and it's poor excuse for drum simulation. I think people forget that it was all ripped off from Konami. It wasn't orginal. Harmonix were the first company smart enough to take the concept and tailor it for the Western market. Just because you are first to patent and copyright an idea doesn't mean you didn't rip it off someone else.

BTW Kotaku, you should really do away with your Australian edition. It annoys me that you acknowledge your Australian audience by segregating them from your main readership, shows an outdated version of your website and has different content than the US site.

kunio

I really don't think that Gibson has a leg to stand on

BrentW

@Korbei: I did. I'm reading the "Simulated Performance Tchnology" to be the Gibson guitar, since the concept of simply hitting coloured buttons to play a music game pre-dates Gibson's own 1999 patent.

Luke Plunkett

@krunkjuice:
Oh, totally. I'd recommend a LP copy over a genuine Gibson any day. Especially the ESP Eclipse series.

bostano

Also isn't there a ton of prior art in this area? It's my understanding that Harmonix didn't exactly invent the idea of video game instrument controllers.

frieze

@Luke Plunkett: No. Read the article. (Not the Kotaku blog entry.. the real article.) It says Gibson is suing Activision over the use of some "Simulated Performance Technology" or something of that sort. Not the Les Paul controller.

Making the controller without consent would be a clear infringement that would NEVER have made it to market.

Korbei

The actual patent is: A musician can simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3D display that includes stereo speakers. Audio and video portions of a musical concert are pre-recorded, along with a separate sound track corresponding to the musical instrument played by the musician. Playback of the instrument sound track is controlled by signals generated in the musical instrument and transmitted to a system interface box connected to the audio-video play back device, an audio mixer, and the head-mounted display. An external bypass switch allows the musician to suppress the instrument sound track so that the sounds created by actual playing of the musical instrument are heard along with the pre-recorded audio and video portions.

So it seems like Gibson had a patent on something close to the whole game but with a head mounted 3d display. I wonder how specific you have to be to a patent for it to be applicable. Also it says a musical instrument, can we consider the GH guitar an actual musical instrument?

Jacktherip

Does turning pre-recorded sound off and on with the press of buttons constitute musical performance simulation?

justhesh

Red Octane makes the Guitar Hero controllers (they always have) and Activision owns Red Octane.

gameware

@bostano: This is why I buy Tokai Les Pauls and not Gibson. Gibson hasn't made a decent guitar in ages.

krunkjuice

Mo Money Mo Problems!

latinogamer

When it rains, it pours...

Heh, don't expect to see Gibson-based controllers for Guitar Hero IV, eh?

BPM X: Soul Eraser

@GUNDAM-RX-78-2: I beg to differ! (Goes back to getting only one kill per every three deaths on average in COD4) :P

ShaggE

Hey! Look! Activision has money now! We should sue them!

Why?

So we can get that money!

Why not make money in a more legitimate and less underhanded fashion

What, like drug trafficking?

No you idiot, innovation and production of new goods for people to enjoy and buy!

Innowhat?

Innovation.

What?

*Rinse Lather Repeat*

redstar918

@Samos42:
If that's the case, shouldn't they have done this when GH3 first came out? Or maybe before then? It seems like most of the damage is already done at this point, not to mention the game is basically a giant ad for them anyway.

WasabiJoe

More lawsuits and more delays please! I'm loving this fucking industry right now...

7ucky

@Part-Time-Viking: No one gets owned more than me! XO
(goes back to sucking at CoD4)

GUNDAM-RX-78-2-Still HATES! God of War 1

@Korbei: OK. You're wrong :)

Gibson are suing over the plastic guitars that come with the GHIII. Has nothing to do with the in-game mechanics.

Luke Plunkett

@Korbei: Actually, the reason is that Harmonix had a license for the guitars. Activision didn't bother with that so now Gibson is suing them. Or at least that's what it sounds like.

Samos42

Aw, what the hell, I'll sue Activision too.

I get owned too many times online with CoD4, and it's all Activisions fault.

gimme monies plz.

Part-Time-Viking

Correct me if Im wrong.. but shouldnt they be suing Harmonix, who created this engine? It was fine for GH and GH2.. but by the time GHIII comes out (As well as Rock Band for that matter).. suddenly its an infringement?

Im sorry.. but its not like the franchise has been a secret.. they even licensed Gibsons design for the controller before releasing the game.

The statute of limitations is up on that one. Go fuck yourselves and you $8000 guitars. You money grubbing fucks.

Korbei

Yet another really lame lawsuit by Gibson. Sometimes I'm ashamed to sell their guitars for a living.

bostano