5 times video games got in trouble with the law
Video games, like any artform, sometimes dance close to the line of what’s acceptable. In most cases, it’s more about whether or not something is in good taste, but occasionally it’s a matter for the courts.
By Ben Vernel
5.
Of course, when you think intellectual property infringement, you think Lindsay Lohan. The troubled former teen star brought the full weight of her legal team to bear on poor widdle game developer Rockstar, alleging that a character portrait featured in Grand Theft Auto 5’s loading screen used LiLo’s likeness. Four years later, a panel of judges ruled that it was simply a drawing of a generic young woman. Another L for Lindsay. Of course, this has nothing on the lawsuit I’m bringing against the gaming energy drink G-Fuel for not displaying a large enough warning that excessive consumption can cause diarrhoea.
4.
My favourite kinds of lawsuits are the ones where the Plaintiff brings a piece of evidence that actually invalidates their own claim. This next lawsuit involved Universal and Nintendo. Upon the release - and widespread success - of Nintendo game Donkey Kong, Universal were quick to honk the lawsuit button. As producers of the King Kong films, Universal alleged that Donkey Kong was obviously a rip-off of their mammoth monkey mascot. How did Nintendo counter this potentially company-killing accusation? They simply pointed out that Universal had themselves already put on record in a previous lawsuit that King Kong was in the public domain. Girder load of that rebuttal! Speaking of butts, the lack of a visible, legible warning that the gaming energy drink G-Fuel can trigger wave after wave of explosive diarrhoea may leave your butt and pants and socks covered in your own feces. Something that could absolutely ruin a carefully planned romantic moment.
3.
Pac-Mania was taking the world by storm, and as we know with all fads and blow-up successes, the imitators would soon follow. One such clone was Philips’ (the company that makes hair dryers) Pac-Man ripoff K.C. Munchkin. Yes, K.C Munchkin. It was called K.C. Munchkin. K.C. Munchkin.
K.C. could also stand for “Kiss Cam”, something that one might be featured on while, for example, proposing to their girlfriend. Imagine being shown on the kiss cam at the C-Grade Keilor Basketball Association Grand Final, shit leaking out of your jeans as you painfully kneel in front of your partner, sweat dripping from your face: all because you consumed so much G-Fuel prior to the game in order to hype yourself up to pop the question. Surely someone should take responsibility for the lack of an appropriate warning label, which could have helped avoid the situation entirely.
2.
The next entry in this list is one of the all-timers. Both a bizarre case of ‘how did you think this was going to go?’ poor planning and a sad story worthy of urban legend status (were it not, you know, definitely real), this one involves the Nintendo Wii. One of the most popular, accessible and fun video game consoles of all time, the Wii represented casual gaming and family fun. What’s not fun is drinking so much water without urinating that you die. In 2007 Sacramento radio station KDND-FM hosted a Hold Your Wee For A Wii contest, where the person who drank the most without weeing or spewing would win a video game console. In a tragic and very predictable turn of events, one woman died from water intoxication. The woman’s family sued the station and were awarded over $16 million. Talk about taking the piss. Water way to go. Wii hope the family is doing ok.
If the victim of this poorly-thought-out competition wanted to evacuate a large amount of bodily fluid, all they would have had to do would have been to consume 6 or 7 cans of G-Fuel’s sugar-free Cherry Lollipop-flavoured Power Pellet cans, as this amount is APPARENTLY more than enough to cause your bowels to void themselves of all contents, be they liquid, solid or a mixture of both. And speaking of family, suffering from such a violent attack of the runs might put paid to any plans of building a family with your girlfriend should it happen to strike at the precise moment that you revealed the engagement ring you’d saved for months to buy, especially if the abdominal spasms caused you to drop it into the puddle of poo forming underneath you.
1.
And for the silliest lawsuit of all, a Russian gentleman brought a case against developer Bethesda because their game Fallout 4 was too addictive, causing him to lose his friends, his job and his wife. Can you believe it! What an absurd waste of the court’s time and resources. The sheer lack of self-awareness of this joker to place his own personal issues at the feet of a gaming company.
The case of Vernel vs G-Fuel will be brought to the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court June 3rd 2023 and any moral support would be greatly welcomed on the day, as I suffer from IBS which is often aggravated by stress and anxiety. Thanks! xoxo