Guitar Hero Lawsuit Settled

1up is reporting that Red Octane and Ant Commandos have settled their lawsuits over 3rd party Guitar Hero controllers. From the article: "Fortunately both sides have now officially reached an agreement - though nobody really knows what form that agreement has taken. Details of the settlement remain private - but we DO know this much: The judge has officially dismissed the case. That's good news for people just wanting to rock the hell out over the holidays."

So what about the 360?

[Anonymous Coward]

"The injunction also asks the court to allow for fair competition in the market by enjoining the sale of the game/controller "bundle" so that consumers no longer have to purchase both Guitar Hero and the RedOctane controller, but rather may purchase the game and have their choice on which controller to buy. "

" "TAC will continue to make and improve on innovative peripherals to provide gamers with a choice. I strongly believe consumers should have their own choice, especially when it comes to choosing a better quality and better designed product," stated Hong Lip Yow."

I love the PS2 controller a hell of a lot more than the 360 controller, but I am unable to use my PS2 controller with the PS2->USB adaptor I use on my PC because of the lock-out chip. This is a "monopolistic" approach from Microsoft allowing them to decide who can and can't build accessories for the 360. Could I build my own controller? No. Would it be easy to design and produce one for sale? Design and build yes, work?.. No. If another rival system came out at the exact same time as the 360 (say the PS3)... and both were nearly identical in proformance.. I wonder how many more accessories would be availible for the non-360 unit if it wasn't locked down, compared to the locked down 360?

What is even more ironic...

[DaFork]

...is that Red Octane sent cease and desist letters to DDR:UK for providing Stepmania file downloads for ITG songs; when ITG only exists because of piracy of DDR songs and stepfiles.

Suing TAC for copying their controller is par for the course. I guess from Red Octane's point of view it's OK for them to copy other people's products, but it's not OK for people to copy theirs.