Harmonix sues over Rock Revolution

By Ellie Gibson Published 16 February, 2009

Konami accused of infringing patents.

Rock Band developer Harmonix has filed a lawsuit against Konami, claiming Rock Revolution infringes on patents.

That's right, it's a bit like that time last year when Rock Revolution developer Konami filed a lawsuit against Harmonix, claiming Rock Band infringes on patents.

As reported by Bloomerg, the new suit specifically refers to patents for game controllers that simulate musical instruments. Harmonix is seeking to block sales of Rock Revolution, and wants cash compensation into the bargain.

Neither company is commenting on the litigation.

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About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Wastelander #1 3 years ago

    Um, isn't the Harmonix stuff just a direct rip of Konami's Guitar Freeks and Drum Mania?

  • aliki #2 3 years ago

    Harmonix ripped off Konami in the first place. Arse.

  • andywilkie35 #3 3 years ago

    I think its fair enough. Konami sue Harmonix because they put out a similar game to one that they released in arcades years ago, so Harmonix sue back basically telling them to fuck off.

    When Konami make a decent rock game (because judging by reviews of Rock Revolution its an abomination) then they can try again. Reminds me a bit of Rockstar getting a gagging order on Jack Thompson before he could comment/launch a bogus legal case about GTA4

  • kangarootoo #4 3 years ago

    "Harmonix is seeking to block sales of Rock Revolution"

    I'm not really sure that sales of Rock Revolution should be a major worry for anybody, except Konami.

  • monkeylite #5 3 years ago

    Guitar Freaks >>>>>>>>>>>> Rock Band

    Harmonix can go screw themselves.

  • ChrisS #6 3 years ago

    I think if Harmonix is hoping to claw back money from sales of Rock Revolution then it can look forward to receiving a cheque for about 12p.

  • DFawkes #7 3 years ago

    It would be funny if both companies won their legal cases. Well funny, or a miscarriage of justice.

    Konami were first though, clearly, but I'm not sure who patented what. If it's just the concept of playing a pretend instrument, I think that's nigh on unpatentable.

  • kangarootoo #8 3 years ago

    "I think that's nigh on unpatentable"

    Man, you would be amazed at the stuff you can patent. A whole lot of it does seem kind of obvious, like anyone could happen upon the idea.

  • RobotRocker #9 3 years ago

    I have no idea why people are defending Konami as regards Guitar Freaks. Its an utterly terrible, terrible game even before Frequency was a twinkle in Harmonix's eye. It had a Vertical playfield wich caused notes to be very hard to see, the combo system works on notes hit but there is no way for the player to save themselves if in trouble, the Tilt switch in guitar used for extra notes (The guitars were always too stubborn to recognise a tilt though, so it would always break your combo unless the cab was new or in amazing condition). Also, the game never gave you a sense that you were actually playing music, just arbitrarily hitting icons scrolling down a screen while a MP3 plays in the background. Its a goddamn mess to play and it was an awful game since its been released (Its nowhere near as good as Beatmania or Drum Freaks and Konami know it considering how little they cared about it till now). It sucked then, its nigh unplayble now.

  • Jamiesan #10 3 years ago

    I have recently patented breathing. You all owe me 20 quid.

    This whole patent culture pisses me off. If you spent more time making plastic instruments that actually WORK, instead of spanding 7 months looking for ways to countersue people, maybe you'd make some money that way?

  • varsas #11 3 years ago

    I have no idea why people are defending Konami as regards Guitar Freaks. Its an utterly terrible, terrible game even before Frequency was a twinkle in Harmonix's eye. It had a Vertical playfield wich caused notes to be very hard to see, the combo system works on notes hit but there is no way for the player to save themselves if in trouble, the Tilt switch in guitar used for extra notes (The guitars were always too stubborn to recognise a tilt though, so it would always break your combo unless the cab was new or in amazing condition). Also, the game never gave you a sense that you were actually playing music, just arbitrarily hitting icons scrolling down a screen while a MP3 plays in the background. Its a goddamn mess to play and it was an awful game since its been released (Its nowhere near as good as Beatmania or Drum Freaks and Konami know it considering how little they cared about it till now). It sucked then, its nigh unplayble now.

    The vertical playfield is much easier to see that the slanted one especially with regards to timing. Guitar Freaks is no worse that Rock Band or Guitar Hero in terms of translating notes hit to sound i.e. you clearly do have a sense of playing it.

    I think people are defending Konami because they were the first to come up with it and because Harmonix are a load of crap when dealing with people outside of the U.S! Still no word on the new game over here!

  • RobotRocker #12 3 years ago

    The vertical playfield is much easier to see that the slanted one especially with regards to timing. Guitar Freaks is no worse that Rock Band or Guitar Hero in terms of translating notes hit to sound i.e. you clearly do have a sense of playing it.

    I think people are defending Konami because they were the first to come up with it and because Harmonix are a load of crap when dealing with people outside of the U.S! Still no word on the new game over here!

    The vertical playfield is much worse considering that Konami tends to shove it to the left and bunch its notes up on screen. You can certainly see them, but there is a just a massive mess of them on screen leading to the player trying to concentrate on the strum point, which is absolutley tiny comapred to the wide area Guitar Hero and Rock Band give you. it simply becomes a memory game designed to eat credits at that point. Take a look at this video for an example http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=hDWyiS-rt... . I can beat Raining Blood on expert in Gh3 and keeping up with that would simply be confusing. Even the note colours blur into each other. Thats some god awful game design on its own merits.

    As for Konami being first. Its still an awful game and the logic of defending them because they were first is puzzling. It would be like defending Namco filing suit at Sega over a patent regarding 3rd person racing games since Outrun copied Pole Position so much. And lord help us if we get into iD software and every single FPS since 1993. Rock Band has so many improvements and diffrences over Guitar Freaks. Its two games that have a shared concept, but thats it.

    As for the new game and Harmonix "being crap". If you mean Rock Band 2, its out already and The Beatles project is due the same time as the US as well. Not only that, Harmonix were pretty apologetic about Europe and knocked down the price of the original bundle (Plus, they got out Rock Band 2 in Europe ahead of Schedule). You can find an original bundle + game for £100 or less if you shop around too. And I doubt the Guitar Freaks fans will be bitching once Q Entertainment finishes up Rock Band Japan either. Mind you, no one bitched when Activison launched the GH: World Tour Bundle at £160 either. But thats Eurogamer for you.

    tl;dr version: Konami sat on their ass on a bad game with a good concept. Another studio comes along and improves it tenfold, Konami calls the waaaahmbulance.




  • ZeroAX #13 3 years ago

    ok FUCK the americans and their stupid system of patents. patents should be GLOBAL. it's retarted that american companies can patent foreign ideas and then take advantage of them, or demand money, from the companies that first had the ideas.

  • varsas #14 3 years ago

    The vertical playfield is much worse considering that Konami tends to shove it to the left and bunch its notes up on screen. You can certainly see them, but there is a just a massive mess of them on screen leading to the player trying to concentrate on the strum point, which is absolutley tiny comapred to the wide area Guitar Hero and Rock Band give you. it simply becomes a memory game designed to eat credits at that point. Take a look at this video for an example http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=hDWyiS-rt... . I can beat Raining Blood on expert in Gh3 and keeping up with that would simply be confusing. Even the note colours blur into each other. Thats some god awful game design on its own merits.

    As for Konami being first. Its still an awful game and the logic of defending them because they were first is puzzling. It would be like defending Namco filing suit at Sega over a patent regarding 3rd person racing games since Outrun copied Pole Position so much. And lord help us if we get into iD software and every single FPS since 1993. Rock Band has so many improvements and diffrences over Guitar Freaks. Its two games that have a shared concept, but thats it.

    As for the new game and Harmonix "being crap". If you mean Rock Band 2, its out already and The Beatles project is due the same time as the US as well. Not only that, Harmonix were pretty apologetic about Europe and knocked down the price of the original bundle (Plus, they got out Rock Band 2 in Europe ahead of Schedule). You can find an original bundle + game for £100 or less if you shop around too. And I doubt the Guitar Freaks fans will be bitching once Q Entertainment finishes up Rock Band Japan either. Mind you, no one bitched when Activison launched the GH: World Tour Bundle at £160 either. But thats Eurogamer for you.

    tl;dr version: Konami sat on their ass on a bad game with a good concept. Another studio comes along and improves it tenfold, Konami calls the waaaahmbulance.


    I can understand not liking Konami's system but I really don't see it being more difficult to see or play than GH or RB; imho especially with regard to timing it's far clearer with a vertical playfield.

    Rock Band 2 is only out on 360 and there is absolutely no word on a release on other systems; they just appear to not be bothered at all with the market outside the US.

    If GF were that bad then it wouldn't have spawned the sequels it did in the far east. Harmonix were merely better at adapting it to western tastes.
    Edited by 1 at 16/02/09 @ 12:57

  • Phreak_UK #15 3 years ago

    If GF were that bad then it wouldn't have spawned the sequels it did in the far east.

    Since when has quality been a determining factor in the production of sequels?

  • barnard666 #16 3 years ago

    FUCK HARMONIX!

  • varsas #17 3 years ago

    Phreak_UK
    16-Feb-09 13:23:47

    If GF were that bad then it wouldn't have spawned the sequels it did in the far east.

    Since when has quality been a determining factor in the production of sequels?

    Good point, success is usually the determining factor and GF had some success; in my opinion it is a good game but RobotRocker thinks otherwise.

  • RobotRocker #18 3 years ago

    Rock Band 2 is only out on 360 and there is absolutely no word on a release on other systems; they just appear to not be bothered at all with the market outside the US.

    Microsoft have an exclusivity deal on Rock Band 2. RB2 is still on the way for PS3/Wii but its going to be a while before it appears here (I'd guess some where between March/April time).

  • JinTypeNoir #19 3 years ago

    Konami shouldn't mess up their efforts to make international versions of their Bemani games so much, and I don't agree with their bloodthirsty lawsuits to protect their rhythm games (as it's been going on for more than a decade and is getting ridiculous).

    However, Guitar Freaks kills Guitar Hero for two simple reasons - variety of music and the fact that you can actually improvise. When you play Guitar Hero you just janky "I played the guitar wrong" sound effects and the song messes up if you do badly. If you put the wrong notes in the wrong areas of Guitar Freaks, those notes play, changing the song. To a certain extent, you can improvise in Guitar Freaks and other Bemani games (and to that extent a lot of other non-Guitar Hero and Rock Band games). This really gives the games much more of a depth and life to them to me and why Guitar Hero is dull and doesn't keep my interest.