A woman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is suing Nintendo for unspecified damages
after her thirty year old son died during a marathon session on his N64.
Apparently the unfortunate man died after hitting his head on a table during a
seizure while playing with the console. While this was obviously a tragic loss
for the family involved, its hard to feel much sympathy for them once you start
to read the details of the accident.

According to the report from the Associated Press, the man first started
suffering seizures after buying his N64 in 1999, but ignoring this inconvenience
he carried on playing on the console for anything up to eight hours a day, six
days a week.

This despite the now standard epilepsy warning that comes with every Nintendo
game, informing players that some people may have seizures or black outs
triggered by light flashes, such as while playing video games, even if they have
never had a seizure before. The warning adds that 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, and ends by suggesting in
big capital letters that you should stop playing immediately if you experience
any of these symptoms while using the console.

Its also hard to see how the woman can seriously expect to sue Nintendo for
her sons lost future earnings when he was a thirty year old who spent 48
hours a week sat in front of the TV playing Mario.

Nintendo are understandably denying any responsibility for the death, although
in a similar case last year (also in Louisiana) a jury decided that the company
did not provide an adequate warning concerning the risk of seizures. They did
however determine that the console in question (a SNES) was not unreasonably
dangerous in design. Which is nice to know.