Lawyer Sues Over "Seizure Triggers" in Videogames

[ReverseEngineered]

Let's also sue Hershey for not making Reese's peanut butter cups peanut-free, because people with peanut allergies could go into anaphylactic shock and die.

It's not like developers are being dishonest or anything -- there are warnings all over most games about the possibility of seizures, even on games that don't contain any crazy flashing colors or loud sounds.

This is just another ambulance-chasing lawyer looking to make a fat wad of cash by suing some poor unsuspecting game developer into oblivion. Hell, he's even tossing in a healthy dose of "somebody think of the children" and "those poor handicapped people" to seal the deal.

I hope this one gets thrown out before it even sees court. This is why the accuser should have to pay the defendant's legal costs if they are found not guilty -- to stop stupid people from making frivolous cases, hoping one of them will land them a huge settlement, like some kind of legalized phishing scheme.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

This is really, really, really stupid. You don't sue florists when you get an allergic reaction.

Videogames=(Moving Pictures + Flashing Lights)=Epileptic reations

God, this is so stupid.

Exactly... this is a typical example of a medical condition creating a situation. Do we blame all things capable of projecting a light, right up to including stars, cause they have the potential to create a seizure in someone who is Epileptic?

Also take a note on how he is 'padding' this lawsuit. In reality you might get a handful of Epileptics who had no knowledge of their conditions till a game brought it to the surface. I really don't think there is more then a dozen such people in the whole world. This would mean he couldn't prove a real, and valid, threat because the shear minute amount of clients alone could be proof there really is no threat.

But how is he padding it? Anything from real problems like seizures right through to blinking... BLINKING! He can hand select from thousands on thousands of gamers who have done nothing more then stared at a screen too long and got some eye strain from it. The lack of any REAL damage being caused makes me think this whole thing is a money grabbing scam. Even if he is serious and thinks this is a threat what is the bet most of his clients are just seeing Green. And no, not cause their red-blue capabilities where burnt away by computer games....

Didn't put your glasses on this morning, why that is video games fault!

 

[Schlorgan]

THIS LAWSUIT = EPIC FAILZ

and that's all I have to say about it

 

[PhiMed]

...I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, honestly. On one hand, we don't need more lawyers running around suing video game companies for silly reasons, but this lawyer's reason seems somewhat legit.

More investigation may be required if we're going to find out whether this man's our friend or foe, and whether or not these seizures are common enough to reinforce his case.

I'm not sure it is legit. If it was the child's first seizure, better to find out that your child has a seizure disorder while he's sitting at home in a safe place than when he's doing something potentially harmful.
Seizure disorders are triggered by videogames, not caused by videogames. It's like someone with celiac disease suing the producer of a food clearly marked as containing gluten.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Sueing is gonna do fuck all. There is a very clear warning on

A.) The game box
B.) The manual
C.) Some game have it in the actual game.

They can't do shit, you can't read the warnings? We should sue you for making the rest of us look dumber.


Also the first thing I thought when I saw Kenny and epilectic reactions in the same sentnce It thought of that Chinpokomon episode from South Park........ha ha ha!

 

[Travdelosmuertos]

He's never read the inside page of a game's manual, has he?

...I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, honestly. On one hand, we don't need more lawyers running around suing video game companies for silly reasons, but this lawyer's reason seems somewhat legit.

More investigation may be required if we're going to find out whether this man's our friend or foe, and whether or not these seizures are common enough to reinforce his case.

The catch is, most games today do carry a siezure warning, if he's targeting titles from 7 years ago? I don't remember, honestly, if they had warnings back then.

I'm inclined to think that these incidents aren't really that common, but we'll find out soon enough, I guess.

They've had them for a long time.

As far back as when I bought Mega Man 4 for my NES!

 

[Pokedude1013]

I agree with those people who say this is stupid, fuck accountability. We shouldn't hold game companies accountable for seizures, especially telling congress to pass legislation to help prevent seizures in video games, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard. The only thing video game companies need to be accountable to is their fanbase, like IW, those people who took away our thingies and now we are angry about it.

 

[Grounogeos]

I can't even begin to tell you how big of a facepalm I'm making.

That liar's (lawyer/liar, tom-ate-o/tom-aht-o) claim made me do a /facepalm that put me into a coma for 3 hours.

It's no wonder people like OJ and Michael Jackson get off the hook so easy if that's what we have defending people in courts these days.

 

[Kajt]

Read the manual. It says that certain patterns may cause seizures.

 

[BenzSmoke]

I think I speak for most folks on the Escapist when I say: F*ck that guy. There is no way this case is going through! The videogame industry's "dirty secret" my a*s! Maybe this is why games go for the "realistic" look these days. They need to make everything brown and gray so they don't get sued by idiots like this!

"Forget about all the murder and rape in the world. Let's talk about kids twitching when they see alot of flashing lights."

(Wow I'm mad)

 

[Cid Silverwing]

This is really, really, really stupid. You don't sue florists when you get an allergic reaction.

Videogames=(Moving Pictures + Flashing Lights)=Epileptic reations

God, this is so stupid.

This. The courts need to stop letting people sue over things like this.

I mean, come on! There must be a thousand frivolous (i.e. ILLEGAL) lawsuits going on by now!

 

[Kaymish]

that prick spyro was a fun game and looking at my ps1 game disk it has a warning label for lasers and epilepsy right on the disk on the oppsite side of the disk from the gold sony logo

though im allergic to bees can i sue honey manufacturers when i get stung and have to stab my self in the arse with a syringe

the American law system is hilariously funny at times i thought this was a joke at first but then i remembered that lawyers are the sole source of human misery

 

[Ironic]

...I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, honestly. On one hand, we don't need more lawyers running around suing video game companies for silly reasons, but this lawyer's reason seems somewhat legit.

More investigation may be required if we're going to find out whether this man's our friend or foe, and whether or not these seizures are common enough to reinforce his case.

Even if he pulls the "equality" card, whis is what i gathered from the website (that epilepsy suffers can't play the games) does that mean we need brail, sign-language, one-handed control, smell-o-vision and BRAIN INTERFACES to meet and market to every other disability/condition that prevents people from gaming?

 

[Wintermoot]

RTFM there IS a seizure warning in pretty much every game manual Nintendo even put black papers with it in there boxes

 

[WorldCritic]

Shouldn't the focus be more on some shows that have caused seizures? Mainly Pokemon?

 

[om]

I still remember seeing seizure warnings on ALL my old NES instruction books. They've been on this for a long time, and class action lawsuits like this benefit nobody but the lawyer.

I am forced to agree. I feel that this is nothing more than an overblown media campaign, but if there is danger, I shall keep tabs.

You never know...

 

[Beardon65]

I don't think the lawers are going to win... I mean look at our dear friend Mr. Thompson, has he won any cases against videogames? I don't think so... Though their cases might be more serious, they have the warnings and they are tested. In pretty flashy lights defence, it's not the games that shouldn't flash, it's that kids need to learn how to read. (btw if Our Dear Friend did win one, lemme know)