Seek legal advice in regards to PS3 lag issues

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 6:20 am

Wow thanks for the personal attack that really made my day better.

To respond to the half of your post that isn't blatantly ridiculous - I'm here to offer suggestions where I can to people who hit other weird bugs that I've seen, and to make an attempt at keeping things reasonable in some threads. Threatening to sue Bethesda for releasing a game that has some bugs is hardly reasonable and I'm merely pointing out the flaws in that idea.

And I'm not currently playing Skyrim because I find that my PS3 runs better when I don't play it ever waking hour. Maybe that's why my game is still running just fine, because I haven't played it 10+ hours every day since it was released.
yes so its obviously are fault for playing a game that has a huge game breaking bug isnt it lol i only played for 2 hours at a time until i got the bug 20 hours in and now nothing works your logic is flawed
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Samantha Pattison
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 5:11 pm

k guys the problem here is we are enjoying a game we paid good money for way to much so the only solution according to capt wizard over here is not to play the game
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Dean Brown
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 6:10 pm

yes so its obviously are fault for playing a game that has a huge game breaking bug isnt it lol i only played for 2 hours at a time until i got the bug 20 hours in and now nothing works your logic is flawed

Another excellent job of mis-reading what I posted and putting words in my mouth (or on my screen, so to speak). I didn't say that playing more at each sitting was definitely the cause of the lag, just that maybe playing shorter periods of time is part of the reason I haven't seen any yet despite passing what most people claim is the "breaking point."
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Campbell
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 7:57 am

serious? its america, they can sue for anything over there lol. Its merely a suggestion, if so many are really not happy with their purchase, then this should be addressed by any respectable company, if they don't then you have no other choice but to seek legal advice on the matter, ranting and raving will not achieve anything. Get a crappy subpar meal in a restauraunt? more than often you would get a full refund, get a subpar electrical appliance? you get refunded, i dont see how this basic response from companies does not apply to game companies.

This comment is inane on a level I can only attribute to a total disconnection shared by you and reality.

If you sue someone for something that is idiotic, your case will receive the same consideration given to all other ridiculous cases: the judge will look at you like your an idiot, while your lawyer charges you by the hour, and it will be dismissed off hand. Bethesda, who has lawyers working for them wont care, and anyone who hired a lawyer would be out at least 500$. Most likely more, if you went in for a consultation prior to the court case... which you would have to do. The way things work is this: People can sue for seemingly stupid reasons and get away with it, IF THOSE THINGS ARE POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING. Your case isn't something that will threaten your life, it is a consumer complaint. Consumer complaints are processed by marketers. It isn't a legal matter.

Also, you can get refunds for video games. They gave you a receipt. If the retailer you bought from will not accept your reason: "The game is broken" because they just say: "...Yet Bethesda has sold hundreds of thousands of units and there haven't been mass recalls"... Well, you can try to appeal to the publisher. If the publisher doesn't accept your reason either, then you can sell the game to gamestop or on E-bay.

Since we are sitting down and discussing this, you have to realize that just because you think something is wrong, doesn't make your word law. If something is a big enough deal that you think you deserve compensation, there had better be other people backing you up, or evidence. A lot of people complaining on a forum isn't evidence, it's thousands of bored teenagers who feel entitled to their opinion. Thankfully, that alone isn't enough to make something law.
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Scared humanity
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:46 pm

Also, on a side note: has anyone noticed the trend in forums for people to start threatening legal action, despite the fact they really have no idea how the legal system works? I've seen this on a lot of games lately... Is this some sort of Phase the internet is going through now, or has insanity become contagious?
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Carlos Rojas
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:18 am

Also, on a side note: has anyone noticed the trend in forums for people to start threatening legal action, despite the fact they really have no idea how the legal system works? I've seen this on a lot of games lately... Is this some sort of Phase the internet is going through now, or has insanity become contagious?

It's sue-happy society in general. Any time anybody is upset for any reason there's a good chance their first reaction is, "Things aren't going the way I want, is there any possible way I can blame someone else and sue them?"

Depressing really. Granted, some lawsuits are called for, but a lot of the time people need to just learn to chill out and not get so emotionally invested in things that don't really matter that much in the long run.
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City Swagga
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:57 am

Yes but did you buy those 300,000 copies ?? No you bought only 1 copy and so can only sue for $60 --- IF you get an attorney to sue on behalf of all buyers then they would have to contat each buyer and get them to sign on to the law suit and the most you would get is $60 per complainant + perhaps legal fees (so the lawyer would make some money) and to even get that much you'd have to prove it was a fault of Bethesdas and not something inherent with the PS3 or even a combination of the 2 (in which case you'd also have to sue Sony. and to prove that you'd need expert witnesses that can anolyze the problems and find what is causing the problem and who is at fault and they aren't cheap and you can not sue to get reimburshed for the cost of hiring them to testify for you ! so in the end most likely you'd be out many thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands by the time SONY and BETH dragged things out for years and each person might get a discount on the next Bethesda product they buy.

Also if you are not satisfied with the product you would first need to follow methods to mitigate your damages and the court would probably find that you could have merely returned the product and gotten your money back and therefore deny your case from proceeeding in which case you'd be liable for the attorneys fees and they would sue you to recover them !

It's called a class action lawsuit. People get together and sue large companies all the time, they don't always win but many times settlements are awarded. Technically speaking, there is valid ground for a lawsuit if one could prove that Bethesda knowingly sold a defective product. Even if you couldn't prove they knowingly sold it defective, which I'm guessing they did, you could still prove that they sold a defective product to hundreds of thousands of people. Like another person brought up, this would force a product recall. People are laughing at the situation because it's "just a game", but what if this were food and there was an unwanted ingredient inside that caused heart failure if a large portion was eaten. Or if this was a new car and the breaks went bad after 40 miles, it's the same principal. The company sold a defective product, if you can prove it then you have a case.

That being said, I don't have the money to go after such an endeavour. But should a person do so, I and anybody with the PS3 copy would automatically be included.
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Jinx Sykes
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 8:03 am

Also, on a side note: has anyone noticed the trend in forums for people to start threatening legal action, despite the fact they really have no idea how the legal system works? I've seen this on a lot of games lately... Is this some sort of Phase the internet is going through now, or has insanity become contagious?

It was a suggestion, i dont even own it on ps3 so i have no reason to go follow through with any form of legal action. It was a suggestion to those who were constantly ranting and raving, threatening boycotts etc. im not a lawyer, im not versed in american law. But from what i know, in my country this would hold some weight. Perhaps it would be a better option to go to the retailer and get a refund, which would no doubt open up more confrontations with retailers refusing to refund the item. Most people dont know how the legal system works, that is why you employ a lawyer for a consultation, i was suggesting people seek 'ADVICE' not go out and sue them on their own. If they were to ask a lawyer and the lawyer said this just might work, then they can go with that, if the lawyer laughed in your face then you can move on down a different path.

Pepole are dissatisfied with the way game companies treat customers, this type of ignorant behaviour displayed by game companies is rarely shown in other industries who happily accept if their product is flawed and either refund, recall or offer to fix the problem. We don't know beth wont patch this yet, but based on their previous record i doubt they will fix this issue that seems to have been carried over from fallout3 etc.
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Kira! :)))
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 7:55 pm

It's called a class action lawsuit. People get together and sue large companies all the time, they don't always win but many times settlements are awarded. Technically speaking, there is valid ground for a lawsuit if one could prove that Bethesda knowingly sold a defective product. Even if you couldn't prove they knowingly sold it defective, which I'm guessing they did, you could still prove that they sold a defective product to hundreds of thousands of people. Like another person brought up, this would force a product recall. People are laughing at the situation because it's "just a game", but what if this were food and there was an unwanted ingredient inside that caused heart failure if a large portion was eaten. Or if this was a new car and the breaks went bad after 40 miles, it's the same principal. The company sold a defective product, if you can prove it then you have a case.

That being said, I don't have the money to go after such an endeavour. But should a person do so, I and anybody with the PS3 copy would automatically be included.

Couple more wrong things here:

1. It wouldn't force a product recall - at the absolute maximum Bethesda would just be forced to figure out a proper patch for the problem if they haven't already by the time the lawsuit actually reaches that point. If they can actually fix the problem for the end users then there'd be no financial liability on their end beyond that point.

2. Nobody would be automatically included. To be included in a class-action lawsuit you must choose to opt-in. You either hear about the lawsuit and contact the lawyers handling it directly, or sometimes depending on the action in question they may have contact information for potentially affected parties and you might get something in the mail asking you to opt-in. They wouldn't just automatically opt-in every PS3 owner on the planet who ever played Skyrim because some of them haven't had any problems or may not care about the lawsuit to begin with.
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Anna Beattie
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:05 pm

Seek legal advice? LOL Please take a recorder into that meeting with a lawyer. I would love to hear them laugh their ass off at you and to hear their response. This will be gold. Please post response on here.
I'm a lawyer.

I'm not laughing at the OP.
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mishionary
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Yes but did you buy those 300,000 copies ?? No you bought only 1 copy and so can only sue for $60 --- IF you get an attorney to sue on behalf of all buyers then they would have to contat each buyer and get them to sign on to the law suit and the most you would get is $60 per complainant + perhaps legal fees (so the lawyer would make some money) and to even get that much you'd have to prove it was a fault of Bethesdas and not something inherent with the PS3 or even a combination of the 2 (in which case you'd also have to sue Sony. and to prove that you'd need expert witnesses that can anolyze the problems and find what is causing the problem and who is at fault and they aren't cheap and you can not sue to get reimburshed for the cost of hiring them to testify for you ! so in the end most likely you'd be out many thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands by the time SONY and BETH dragged things out for years and each person might get a discount on the next Bethesda product they buy.

Also if you are not satisfied with the product you would first need to follow methods to mitigate your damages and the court would probably find that you could have merely returned the product and gotten your money back and therefore deny your case from proceeeding in which case you'd be liable for the attorneys fees and they would sue you to recover them !
You seem to have tried to hit every legal term except the one most important: contingency fee.
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how solid
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:26 pm

It was a suggestion, i dont even own it on ps3 so i have no reason to go follow through with any form of legal action. It was a suggestion to those who were constantly ranting and raving, threatening boycotts etc. im not a lawyer, im not versed in american law. But from what i know, in my country this would hold some weight. Perhaps it would be a better option to go to the retailer and get a refund, which would no doubt open up more confrontations with retailers refusing to refund the item. Most people dont know how the legal system works, that is why you employ a lawyer for a consultation, i was suggesting people seek 'ADVICE' not go out and sue them on their own. If they were to ask a lawyer and the lawyer said this just might work, then they can go with that, if the lawyer laughed in your face then you can move on down a different path.

Pepole are dissatisfied with the way game companies treat customers, this type of ignorant behaviour displayed by game companies is rarely shown in other industries who happily accept if their product is flawed and either refund, recall or offer to fix the problem. We don't know beth wont patch this yet, but based on their previous record i doubt they will fix this issue that seems to have been carried over from fallout3 etc.

The way game companies treat their customers, is the same as the way every company treats customers. The entertainment industry as a whole has a disconnect from the people it is in place to entertain... this is why there are indie development companies in every media. Further, what form of complete do you wish a game to be in. Game companies cannot account for every bug and every flaw in their games. Why? Not due to apathy, but because every possible thing that can go wrong in the lines of code, is likely to go wrong at some point, due to the unbelievable number of variables a video game is exposed to on the countless systems it is exposed to. Totally bug free games don't exist at release. Heck, totally bug free games really haven't existed at all after real 3-d was introduced to gaming.
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Ross
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 10:55 am

Couple more wrong things here:

1. It wouldn't force a product recall - at the absolute maximum Bethesda would just be forced to figure out a proper patch for the problem if they haven't already by the time the lawsuit actually reaches that point. If they can actually fix the problem for the end users then there'd be no financial liability on their end beyond that point.

2. Nobody would be automatically included. To be included in a class-action lawsuit you must choose to opt-in. You either hear about the lawsuit and contact the lawyers handling it directly, or sometimes depending on the action in question they may have contact information for potentially affected parties and you might get something in the mail asking you to opt-in. They wouldn't just automatically opt-in every PS3 owner on the planet who ever played Skyrim because some of them haven't had any problems or may not care about the lawsuit to begin with.

1. Well of course if they can fix the problem there would be no need to recall it eh? But people seem to feel, the problem wont be fixed. And if they can't or don't fix it, should this happen, they have to recall it. But the most logical conclusion from all this will be a working patch.

2. That so? A while back when people where mad as hell at AT&T over the iPhone and plan prices a class action lawsuit was formed. I did not do a thing to involve myself, but after everything was said and done. I could have gotten a free iPhone on AT&T like everybody else in the lawsuit. I chose to decline. So if you do have to opt in, they generally contact you and ask if you want to opt in. That could be something as simple as replying to an email you had no idea was coming. In my case, I didn't even have to reply. If I wanted to opt out then I had to reply. So you don't always have to opt yourself in.

And honestly, I doubt this would happen and don't personally see the point in it. Too much effort, I'd as soon TP and egg the Bethesda Studios building than sue them. At least I would get personal gratification from that, at a marginal cost... childish as it may be. Not doing that either, we aint in the same state. But hey if some rich kid, or advlt, is out there is reading and is mad he/she got bamboozeled...*chuckles*, fell free to start one up. Bad press does wonders to motivate a company ;)
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Phillip Brunyee
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 9:59 am

I could have gotten a free iPhone on AT&T like everybody else in the lawsuit. I chose to decline.

Yeah see that's you opting out. Taking the iPhone would have been opting in. You don't always have to make the choice to participate or not before the lawsuit actually starts, but typically at some point you're given the option to either get on board with the settlement or just stay completely out of it.
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Ronald
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 6:39 am

Does anyone know how to do the black sacrament? If so, would you know how to generalise it to say... a company? Just a thought :hubbahubba:
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Spaceman
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 5:05 pm

u need to place a human heart and some human bones in the shape of a person within a circle of candles. This will be the effigy of your target. after that, keep chanting "Sweet Mother, Sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear..."

And wait for a dark brotherhood member to approach you. Remember!! you must prepare compensation or your deed will not be carried out. Good luck!
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Vera Maslar
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 8:00 am

This would essentially be the same as if you ordered a $60 dinner at a nice restaurant and you weren't happy with your meal, so instead of sending it back (waiting for Beth to fix it) you immediately try and sue the restaurant for the offense.

For your anology to work the meal you ordered would have to be cooked on the outside and frozen on the inside.
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leni
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:38 pm

For your anology to work the meal you ordered would have to be cooked on the outside and frozen on the inside.

*and full of rat droppings.

(Looks at McDonald's and fast food lawsuits in the past.)
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Minako
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 5:41 am

I'm a law student and have already studied sales and consumer law in Sweden. Therefore, I don't know anything about American law, but if this were to be judged in Swedish law, then the only way to "get to Bethesda" would be to say that the goods is defected.

The risk of the product is yours, and thus it is normally you to prove the goods is defective.
However, if the seller has given you a guarantee, then it's up to the seller to prove the product is NOT defective. If the seller can't prove this, the then product is presumed to be defective within 6 months.
The Swedish consumer law is mandatory and any contract that puts the consumer in a worse position than the law is null and void.

Once we have that stated, we need to see what penalties which can be invoked. At first, the seller is obliged to remedy the problem or redeliver the product. This is what Bethesda naturally would do. Remedy is taking the course of action to patch. Redeliver wouldn't help you in this case, cause if the whole version you have is problematic, then a new product would have the same defects as the other one, obviously. The remedy (patching) is something the seller can DEMAND to do first, if it can happen within a reasonably time and without significant inconvenience to the buyer. Can it happen within a reasonably time and without a significant inconvenience to you as a buyer? Perhaps, perhaps not. One can argument for and against this matter.
If neither remedy nor redeliver happens, you can demand price reduction or a termination of the contract (none of which is very relevant for you in this case, I assume).

Independent of above, you can also claim damages. This covers both indirect and direct losses that you have suffers. The terms indirect and direct are somewhat discussed and complicated, but in general you could claim damages for any kind of losses you have suffered. It covers suffered losses related to other products which Skyrim has caused damages to (very doubtful in this case) and damages to the specific defective product Skyrim (most likely in this case).

Damages would be so low in this case that it would be practically useless to even demand it. There is one possibility though that you can get damages for the time you've been without your game, if you can prove that the game was so important to you that it caused you a discomfort or inconvenience that would have been avoided if you would have received a proper, functional working product. In
jurisprudence, this has been invoked for for instance if a person gets defective gardening tools and has to do the gardening by hand until the functional working products arrive. In this case, this would be doubtful, but still possible. If you would have buyed another game as a covering purchase, you would also receive damages for the (reasonable) price difference between these two products.

The most natural cause would be that the seller remedies the problem within a reasonably time and without a significant inconvenience to you as a buyer, and if that can't happen that you get to terminate the contract or get a price reduction.

This is generally consistent with most consumer laws, and I doubt the US would be any different, however in the states you are allowed to file for damages for services NOT rendered and products that are deemed defective. In any case, a legal response should be the last...last resort, and as you've said they have hinted that they will patch the game. I'm personally giving Bethesda at most 2- 3 months, I deem that a fairly reasonable time. A case could be made afterwards, and that's where past practice will be incredibly valuable, particular their general lack of interest in fixing other Bethesda games on the PS3 platform (Oblivion, FNLV). What gamers shouldn't do it just take this on the chin, especially now... #recession.
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Christine
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:06 pm

So instead of just not doing anything if the next patch doesn't work, you will waste thousands of dollars hiring an attorney and going after a corporation that made over 200 million in revenue off just their last game in two days? Do you have any idea of the legal defenses a company like that can afford? Also, I guarantee that this is not grounds for a legal suit. If it was, it would have happened to a million other game studios that released a buggy game at launch (i.e; pretty much every game studio).

Everyone needs to chill the eff out. I am having lag issues too. I gotta deal with it. It'll get fixed. If it doesn't, trade in the game, swallow the loss, and don't buy another Beth game on PS3. There.

This would essentially be the same as if you ordered a $60 dinner at a nice restaurant and you weren't happy with your meal, so instead of sending it back (waiting for Beth to fix it) you immediately try and sue the restaurant for the offense.


True, A lot of game studios can be held accountable, but times are changing. Video games have now earned multi-billion dollar revenues. Society can not treat it with bias.

"Also, I guarantee that this is not grounds for a legal suit"

Unfortunatley for them, with judicial loopholes outstanding, it is. Selling a defective product is in direct violation of consumer rights in most U.S. states and provinces, If the warranty does not hold up to national standard. If it was one defective game disc that was replaced, There would not be a case to present. If the problem is widespread, Bethesda has to either fix the issue, recall, or reimburse customers to avoid being held liable for damages.

I guarantee that Bethesda would most likely win in dominating fashion, if this were the case. But the act of standing up for the rights of consumers is more important than the verdict. Bethesda's public relations would be tainted by it for at least a decade; Going to court is a lose-lose situation for them.

By the way, does anyone find the end user license agreement in video games to be useless? You have to open the packaging to even be able to read it, and despite that it says you have the option to return the game to the retailer for a full refund, you can't because you have already opened the packaging and, in a sense, agreed to something you have never read.
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Bethany Watkin
 
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