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A class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States, claiming Microsoft's blockbuster game Halo 3 is responsible for crashes on the Xbox 360 console.
The game, which sold $400 million in copies during the first week on sale, is officially the fastest selling console title of all time.
Halo 3 is the third instalment in a sci-fi trilogy that has spanned two generations of Microsoft's gaming console.
The lawsuit has been filed in California under consumer protection legislation and alledges a breach of 'statutory implied warranty of merchantability' and 'statutory implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose'.
It specifies both Microsoft and game Bungie, producers of the title as Defendants.
Celebrity gossip site TMZ says gamer complainant Randy Nunez alleges that when he plays the game, his console will 'crash, freeze or lock up'.
A copy of the lawsuit is a downloadable pdf on TMZ.com.
It alleges that Halo 3 is, in fact, not compatible with the Xbox 360 - the console that the game is specifically and exclusively designed for.
The suit also says that "although faced with repeated and mounting consumer complaints and inquiries concerning this operational flaw in the Halo 3, Defendants have failed to recall Halo 3 or otherwise remedy its failure to function on the Xbox 360."
The suit seeks over $US5m in damages.
It is not the first time since the Halo 3 release September that there have been problems with the game, although this it is the first time lawyers have been called in.
Microsoft was forced to replace limited edition versions of the game which were found to be scratched before they'd even been opened.
The discs were discovered to be detatching from a pad inside the metallic cases and getting wrecked.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
