The video game industry is no stranger to a little bit of controversy. For years, various horrible aspects of society have been blamed on the influence video games have on some of our lives. The teenagers responsible for the Columbine shooting were avid players of Doom and Quake apparently, so naturally, those games were blamed for the heinous crimes they committed.
There are an endless number of lawsuits linked to the gaming industry too, most of which are rooted in copyright issues and tend to be pretty boring. Not all of them are too dull, though. Some are crazy and even downright unbelievable, and we’ve picked out a few of the weirdest ones from throughout gaming history.
Wilson vs Midway Games
Before the Columbine shooting, Mortal Kombat was being blamed for the death of a young boy. While on his way to ask permission to go see the MK movie, Noah Wilson and his friend Yancy Salazar found a knife in the street. The pair then began to playfully reenact moves from the MK game using the knife. As you might imagine, the choice to mess around with a knife in such a way did not end well. Yancy stabbed Noah with the knife, accidentally killing his friend.
Since the act bore a resemblance to MK character Cyrax’s finishing move, during which he grabs his opponent in a headlock and stabs them in the chest, Noah’s mother took Midway Games, MK’s developers to court. Wilson claimed her son and his friends were “so wrapped up with this interactive technology that they believed they could act this out without fear of harm” - actions she believes led to her son’s death. The court eventually decided that MK was protected under the first amendment and in March of 2002, the case was dismissed. This is a decision that is still highly contested 17 years after it was made.
Universal City Studios Inc vs. Nintendo Co Ltd
Now, for something a little more light-hearted. There was one case that almost cut Nintendo off at the knees before it had even had a chance to make its mark on the gaming industry. The business would have looked very different today had this case gone the other way. It began with the creation of one of Nintendo’s first-ever characters, Donkey Kong. Once Universal got wind of the Japanese company’s digital ape, it instantly assumed it was a ripoff of its own creation, King Kong.
This is a fair accusation to make and thus began the litigation. Things didn’t look good for Nintendo, which desperately needed a win. It got that win eventually, of course, all thanks to ace attorney, John Kirby. After copious amounts of digging, Kirby discovered that during a previous lawsuit, Universal had argued that King Kong was public domain, and could be re-used by anyone. This left the massive movie company without a leg to stand on.
After Donkey Kong and King Kong had been tirelessly compared in court, the judge was probably happy to hear this case-ending piece of evidence. He ruled in Nintendo’s favor and also stated that Universal pay the game company $1.6 million in legal fees. Nintendo was so grateful for its lawyer’s efforts that it named another of their iconic characters after him, Kirby.
Hold Your Wee For A Wii
This case might well be the strangest one of all. In 2007, a radio station in Sacramento invited guests into the studio to compete for a Nintendo Wii. The contestants were tasked with drinking water every ten minutes and then not going to the bathroom for as long as they possibly could. The person who could hold it in for the longest time would take home a brand new Wii, which was only two months old at the time.
It sounds harmless enough until you hear what happened to the contestants. One of the women, a perfectly healthy 28-year-old up until that point in her life, actually died of water intoxication. The eventual winner of the contest was so ill that she was violently sick before even leaving the station with her prize. Ten of the radio station’s staff were fired off the back of the ill-thought-out competition, and a number of lawsuits followed.
Those competing for the Wii would take the station to court over now having an irrational fear of water, sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression. Plus, the husband and children of the woman who died took the station to court via a wrongful death lawsuit - and all of it was done for the sake of winning a Nintendo Wii.
Going Forward
As mentioned initially, the video game world is one that is littered with lawsuits. Some are pretty wacky and it boggles the mind that they exist, while others are a lot darker and demonstrate that the industry isn’t all fun and games. You shouldn’t dwell on that aspect of it too much, though. Gaming is supposed to be fun, and as long as you’re not acting out what you see on screen or doing crazy things to win consoles, you should be fine.
