With the name Band Hero, I'm honestly surprised Harmonix isn't suing them for deliberately confusing consumers / brand infringement. Calling the game Band Hero might be an attempt on Activision's part to muddy the waters, but as cloudeagle is fond of pointing out, that works both ways. In order to bring a viable suit, HMX/MTV would need to be able to provide some proof that Activision willfully intended to cause harm by using the name. A much harder thing to do. Sure, and that's all I'm thinking about - when you change your name to contain half of the name of your biggest, most recognizable competitor, at what point are you liable for confusing customers? It would surprise me if you needed to demonstrate willful intent to be held liable, but then again I have no legal experience in this.

With the name Band Hero, I'm honestly surprised Harmonix isn't suing them for deliberately confusing consumers / brand infringement. Calling the game Band Hero might be an attempt on Activision's part to muddy the waters, but as cloudeagle is fond of pointing out, that works both ways. In order to bring a viable suit, HMX/MTV would need to be able to provide some proof that Activision willfully intended to cause harm by using the name. A much harder thing to do. Sure, and that's all I'm thinking about - when you change your name to contain half of the name of your biggest, most recognizable competitor, at what point are you liable for confusing customers? It would surprise me if you needed to demonstrate willful intent to be held liable, but then again I have no legal experience in this. People already confuse Rock Band and Guitar Hero. If anything, Activision does nothing to dispel that notion. And they didn't change the name of anything. This is a whole new IP to exploit. The presumption here is that HMX has any kind of specific claim on the word 'Band' either as part of a rhythm game structure or on the whole. Plus, they also have to prove that the game itself is in any way specifically trying to impede Rock Band. And beyond a competitive sense. If HMX brought a suit against Activision on the basis of just the name, they'd be tossed out of court. They need more before a judge would consider allowing the matter to proceed.

Maybe HMX isnt suing because the actual BANDS in the games are, so they figure that's good enough. Seriously, I think in a couple years we'll see that the death of this franchise is the way the treated the actual musicians. The bands that have their own games (Metallica, Aerosmith and Van Halen) are NOTORIOUS for just doing anything for money (well, maybe not Aerosmith - but they did it before things went downhill), and we're now on the 2nd artist who's suing because Activison does not give a shit about the wishes of the artist. I mean, that line in the No Doubt suit, that the band asked them to change the way they look, and they said no because it would cost TOO MUCH MONEY is just insanity. The franchise makes GAZILLIONS of dollars, but they cant afford to change the way No Doubt looks when No Doubt themselves request it? I'm honestly not trying to start the music game wars up again - but when you look at the Beatles, and compare it to what Activision is doing, how could any band who's not just looking to make a buck sign off on this anymore? The thing is, obviously No Doubt - and Nirvana, ect... - are all cool with their MUSIC appearing anywhere in the game, it's just their LIKENESS that they dont want fucked with, and I don't blame them. So why can't Activision just leave it alone? I don't get it at all. And because of stuff like this, I bet anything that bands won't want to deal with them at all - so not only do you lose the likeness, but they'll stop licensing the music too. Hell - even LEGO ROCK BAND doesn't let me fuck around with the LEGO VERSIONS of musicians likenesses. If you're playing story, where you play a song as Queen or David Bowie or someone, you CAN NOT play that song ANYWHERE in story except with that artist. And if you're playing in quickplay, you can play the songs, but you can't use the artists. It keeps everyone happy. And this is LEGOS, not even motion captured dead people. Combined with the comments Kotick has made about the record labels should have to pay HIM, and the fact that these lawsuits cost the labels money, I can not see this strategy of "Fuck you, you signed the contract." working out well for them at all.

To be fair though, I'm pretty sure that Activision isn't actively hiding what they plan to do with the character's likeness. If anything No Doubt should be angry at their own lawyers for not conveying exactly what they were getting into.

I don't see how people can think that Gwen Stefani and Co. are overreacting to this or anything like that. I'm pretty sure that, oh let's say, Shirley Manson doesn't want people seeing a little cartoony version of herself belting out a fucking Children of Bodom song. They might as well just put her in a clown suit.

The premise of the suit filed by No Doubt sounds really goddamn silly. But if the contract wasn't clear of what things were being allowed, then I guess maybe they have some grounding? I don't necessarily care on No Doubt's behalf. This is just another chance for "fuck Activision" to come into play.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You take that back about ND and Gwen Stefani right now

Current thread title made me stop by to say "lol."

I've said it elsewhere, but considering the latest goal is to churn out as many ... Hero games as possible, it could just be there was a haste-borne fuckup. The developers didn't clear everything 100% with legal, that sort of thing. And since Band Hero is a carbon copy of GH5 with a new setlist, the fuckup got repeated. That said, I seriously doubt there was anything sinister in the name "Band Hero." Honestly, I think it was just a case of Activision wanting to think of ways to get people to buy Guitar Hero over and over and over in the same year (remember, they specifically said they wanted to triple the number of Hero games, it's no secret), so they decided to tweak the name enough to make it seem new but not too much so that it remains familiar. Or that's the theory, anyway. The end result just baffled everyone and created a marketing nightmare. Even the Guitar Hero enthusiasts I know don't know what the hell "Band Hero" is supposed to be. Another interesting sidenote: all the Band Hero instruments are labeled "Guitar Hero." The commercials do that Risky Business Old Time Rock n' Roll schtick for the 47th time. Hell, IGN pointed out that they didn't bother to change the name of the music creator... it's still "GHStudio."

Shit like this doesn't get made without the approval of Legal. Believe that. If Production slipped this past them without their sign off (including months of, well, hype) and this bites them in the ass, heads won't just roll. Whole families will encounter accidents.

I'd imagine heads already are rolling. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Attached to the bodies, though. In big fucking huge piles of money, blow, and hookers.

With the name Band Hero, I'm honestly surprised Harmonix isn't suing them for deliberately confusing consumers / brand infringement. Calling the game Band Hero might be an attempt on Activision's part to muddy the waters, but as cloudeagle is fond of pointing out, that works both ways. In order to bring a viable suit, HMX/MTV would need to be able to provide some proof that Activision willfully intended to cause harm by using the name. A much harder thing to do. Sure, and that's all I'm thinking about - when you change your name to contain half of the name of your biggest, most recognizable competitor, at what point are you liable for confusing customers? It would surprise me if you needed to demonstrate willful intent to be held liable, but then again I have no legal experience in this. keep in mind the fact that words in question are INCREDIBLY common, and a clear description of the product, regardless of branding.

With the name Band Hero, I'm honestly surprised Harmonix isn't suing them for deliberately confusing consumers / brand infringement. Calling the game Band Hero might be an attempt on Activision's part to muddy the waters, but as cloudeagle is fond of pointing out, that works both ways. In order to bring a viable suit, HMX/MTV would need to be able to provide some proof that Activision willfully intended to cause harm by using the name. A much harder thing to do. Sure, and that's all I'm thinking about - when you change your name to contain half of the name of your biggest, most recognizable competitor, at what point are you liable for confusing customers? It would surprise me if you needed to demonstrate willful intent to be held liable, but then again I have no legal experience in this. People already confuse Rock Band and Guitar Hero. If anything, Activision does nothing to dispel that notion. And they didn't change the name of anything. This is a whole new IP to exploit. The presumption here is that HMX has any kind of specific claim on the word 'Band' either as part of a rhythm game structure or on the whole. Plus, they also have to prove that the game itself is in any way specifically trying to impede Rock Band. And beyond a competitive sense. If HMX brought a suit against Activision on the basis of just the name, they'd be tossed out of court. They need more before a judge would consider allowing the matter to proceed. Just another thought on the issue: If HMX DID sue, Activision could point out that they didn't sure Konami for Rock Revolution, which ALSO used a name from the Rock Band title.

Current thread title made me stop by to say "lol." I tried my hardest

Regarding the "Risky Business" ads, I get the concept of familiarity and having people know what the product is right away, but maybe someone should tell Activision that it probably isn't the way to go when you're trying to hide the fact that you're churning out way too many games.

Regarding the "Risky Business" ads, I get the concept of familiarity and having people know what the product is right away, but maybe someone should tell Activision that it probably isn't the way to go when you're trying to hide the fact that you're churning out way too many games. Thought I did like Metallica's take on it. *Hallway shot, music playing. No one slides in. *Cut to living room with guys bound and gagged in chairs. *Cut to outside and Kirk and the other guys with a detonator plunger "Like we'd have them do that crap for our game." *Kirk hits plunger, house blows up.

Regarding the "Risky Business" ads, I get the concept of familiarity and having people know what the product is right away, but maybe someone should tell Activision that it probably isn't the way to go when you're trying to hide the fact that you're churning out way too many games. Thought I did like Metallica's take on it. *Hallway shot, music playing. No one slides in. *Cut to living room with guys bound and gagged in chairs. *Cut to outside and Kirk and the other guys with a detonator plunger "Like we'd have them do that crap for our game." *Kirk hits plunger, house blows up. Heh, that was entertaining.

Regarding the "Risky Business" ads, I get the concept of familiarity and having people know what the product is right away, but maybe someone should tell Activision that it probably isn't the way to go when you're trying to hide the fact that you're churning out way too many games. Thought I did like Metallica's take on it. *Hallway shot, music playing. No one slides in. *Cut to living room with guys bound and gagged in chairs. *Cut to outside and Kirk and the other guys with a detonator plunger "Like we'd have them do that crap for our game." *Kirk hits plunger, house blows up. That one was pretty great. Though it was also before the churning out of GH games got really out of hand.

Regarding the "Risky Business" ads, I get the concept of familiarity and having people know what the product is right away, but maybe someone should tell Activision that it probably isn't the way to go when you're trying to hide the fact that you're churning out way too many games. Thought I did like Metallica's take on it. *Hallway shot, music playing. No one slides in. *Cut to living room with guys bound and gagged in chairs. *Cut to outside and Kirk and the other guys with a detonator plunger "Like we'd have them do that crap for our game." *Kirk hits plunger, house blows up. That one was pretty great. Though it was also before the churning out of GH games got really out of hand. i wouldn't mind the campaign so much if they'd stopped making them after that ad. Continuing after that just seems like a redundant waste of time to me.

Regarding the thread title: Yeah, pretty much. Supposedly No Doubt is working on a new album but this bitch won't quit churning out kids

Regarding the "Risky Business" ads, I get the concept of familiarity and having people know what the product is right away, but maybe someone should tell Activision that it probably isn't the way to go when you're trying to hide the fact that you're churning out way too many games. Thought I did like Metallica's take on it. *Hallway shot, music playing. No one slides in. *Cut to living room with guys bound and gagged in chairs. *Cut to outside and Kirk and the other guys with a detonator plunger "Like we'd have them do that crap for our game." *Kirk hits plunger, house blows up. I always found that ad hilariously ironic because Grandpa Hetfield is talking about how they won't let some old fogies sully Metallica. Anyway, the Taylor Swift ad aired a few times tonight. It's also got Rivers Cuomo, Travis Barker, and Pete Wentz. It's actually not a bad ad, because it goes from those bars of OTRaR into whatever song Taylor Swift sings. I didn't think it was too derivative.

My favorite part of the Old Time Rock and Roll ads was how long they went on for before that song actually appeared in the game.

Until now I had no idea Gwen Stefani was in No Doubt. Suddenly, that band just lost a lot of respect. Urg.

Until now I had no idea Gwen Stefani was in No Doubt. Suddenly, that band just lost a lot of respect. Urg. Um....that is pretty interesting considering how big No Doubt was when Tragic Kingdom hit. It's just too bad she sold out so quickly after that and the band turned to pure crap.

Until now I had no idea Gwen Stefani was in No Doubt. Suddenly, that band just lost a lot of respect. Urg. hahahaha. Ok guy.