Nintendo Faces Continuation Of Seizure Lawsuit

Thanks to 2TheAdvocate for its article discussing a lawsuit against Nintendo regarding their videogames causing seizures. The suit, which has been in progress since July 2003, claims that Nintendo "failed to report that its games contain defects that presented a 'substantial hazard' and create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death." In Nintendo's defence, they claim that they "instituted some recommendations... [including] a limit on the number of times per second a light can flash, and a limit on the brightness of certain lights and their duration on the screen." As a result, "the number of seizures reported to the company by consumers has dropped from 22 in 1999 to six in 2003." The trial will continue until later this month.

Comments

Re:Frivolous Lawsuit

[nocomment]

It is rediculous. I've had my gamecube since christmas, and I've read on almost all documentation that some things may cause seizures even if you have never had them before... I've read in on at least 2 of my 3 games (the 2 made by nintendo, and the gamecube doc's itself. This I would conclude...is frivelous.

Re:This is gay

[Inominate]

The no-seizures mode exists.

It's also called the "off" button or switch.

Warning

[Daetrin]

From the inside cover of the first game manual i happened to pick up (F-Zero GX for GameCube):

! WARNING - Seizures

Some people (about 1 in 4000) may have seizures or blackouts triggered by light flashes or patterns, such as watching TV or playing video games, even if they have never had a seizure before.
Anyone who has had a seizure, loss of awareness, or other symptom linked to an epileptic condition should consult a doctor before playing a video game.
Parents should watch when their children play video games. Stop playing and consult a doctor if your or your child have any of the following symptoms

Convulsions - Eye or muscle twitching - Loss of awareness
Altered vision - Involunatry movements - Disorientation

To reduce the likelihood of a seizure when playing video games

1. Sit or stand as far from the screen as possible.
2. Play video games on the smallest available television screen.
3. Do not play if you are tired or need sleep.
4. Play in a well-lit room.
5. Take a 10 to 15 minute break every hour.

Actually, i've had the loss of awareness one on multiple occasions, it's called staying up too late and falling asleep while playing :)

This warning is followed by several other similar although less detailed warnings: "! WARNING - Repetitive Motion Injuries" "! WARNING - Electric Shock" "! CAUTION - Motion Sickeness" and "! CAUTION - Laser Device"

Nintendo has both made an attempt to eliminate the occurance of events most likely to cause an eplieptic fit _and_ put warnings in each and every game manual and in the instructions for the console itself i believe, which is a lot more than a lot of other companies do. Last i checked Netscape and IE weren't taking any precautions to prevent epileptic causing media from being viewed on the web.

Sure, there is some _very_ small percentage of people who are prone to epileptic fits but who haven't had an attack yet who won't take the warning seriously, however that's hardly Nintendo's fault.

These people are most likely going to have their first attack _sometime_, and given that reasonable precautions are taken it's not really the fault of whatever causes that first specific attack.

For almost _anything_ you can find some small percentage of people for whom it causes problems. Attempting to sugar coat _everything_ so that _nothing_ can hurt _anyone_ is not only extremely unfeasible, it may very well be technically impossible.

Conpanies should be legally responsbile to warn you of the contents of whatever product they provide. It's your job as the consumer to learn about what limits you need to live under and abide by them. Sure it will suck the first time you eat or try that thing that you have a medical condition involving, but pending the development of much more advanced genetic testing than we have now that's just the way life works.