Kotaku: epilepsy

Seizure-Inducing DS Game May Change Testing Laws in UK

Brian Crecente — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:00:01 MDT

The British Parliament plan to debate whether video games should be safety-tested for causing photo sensitive epileptic seizures, the Bristol Evening Post reports.

The debate comes after Dentist Gaye Herford spent a year trying to bring the plight of her son to the attention of Parliament after he suffered a seizure while playing Rayman: Raving Rabbids on this DS.

The paper reports that Ubisoft has already agreed to voluntarily test its games through a screening process.

Herford discovered her 10-year-old son with his eyes glazed over and twitching uncontrollably in an epileptic fit in May 2007.

If the campaign leads to new legislation, the UK will be the first country in the world to set such high safety standards for video games, the paper reports. Television and film programs are already tested.

MUM'S NINTENDO EPILEPSY BATTLE [The Evening Post]

UK Games May Begin Mandatory Epilepsy Testing

Mark Wilson — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:40:37 MST

Rayman Raving Rabbids DS caused a 10-year-old boy's first epileptic seizure. Since then his mother, Gaye Herford, has been campaigning for a UK ban upon epileptic seizure-inducing games. Today she has been successful in getting the House of Commons to sign a motion addressing manufacturers to screen games for content that could cause epileptic fits. But a law could follow requiring content testing before commercial sale, just as the UK already tests film and television. Meanwhile Ubisoft has since agreed to prescreen content more vigorously. From Ubisoft UK managing director Rob Cooper:

Our immediate response to Gaye Herford was to not just take note but to take up her case. Testing of the original Rayman Raving Rabbids Nintendo DS game showed that no images posed a high risk for photosensitivity epilepsy....However, we took the view that different people can react in different ways and made a decision to prescreen and pretest all Ubisoft in-house developed games regardless of platform, prior to publication.

Nobody wants trouble here, Ms. Herford. Please back away from the courts, slowly...

Mother strikes a blow against epilepsy risk of computer games [via pocketgamer]

Sony, Sierra, Vivendi Sued For Spyro Induced Seizure

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:22:28 MDT

Gamespot is reporting that the mother of a child who suffered "permanent disabling injuries" from a grand mal seizure while playing Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly has filed suit in the New York State Supreme Court. In it, she names Vivendi Games, Sierra Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America and seeks unspecified damages.

As Gamespot points out, the PlayStation 2 game comes with an included epilepsy warning, a common practice on videogame software.

We'll update when we get more details. Michael McWhertor

Vivendi, Sony sued over epileptic seizure [Gamespot]

Control Space Invaders With An Epileptic's Tongue

kotaku.com — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:00:50 MDT

A teenage epileptic being treated at St. Louis medical center is an adept expert at playing Space Invaders... with only his indomitable will, the flickering of the tongue and a colander slapped on top of his head.

What's odd about the experiment is that he's able to control his space ship by thinking about moving his tongue left or right. Not actually moving it, merely by thinking of moving it.

This is actually a fascinating neuro-philosophical question, the sort of thing Daniel Dennett would go apeshit trying to work out. Is it even possible to think about moving your tongue without moving it? Doesn't that imply that when you think about moving your tongue, there's two signals being fired in your brain: one that actually moves your tongue and the other one telling you that you're thinking about moving your tongue? Obviously, for this to work, you're separating the two signals: so actually, Space Invaders only reacts to the "tongue-think" signal. But if you asked this kid to think about thinking about moving his tongue, would he still be able to play Space Invaders?

Yeah, yeah, you could go on like this forever. Florian Eckhardt

Teenager moves video icons just by imagination [Tony Fitzpatrick, via The Last Boss]

James Sokolove Feels Out Epilepsy Lawsuit Against Game Industry

brownlee — Wed, 10 May 2006 16:40:16 MDT

If you've ever felt a molten explosion in your brain while playing a video game and found yourself on the floor, your spine whipping about like an unleashed firehose, you may very well be in luck. James Sokolove is interested in your story. More importantly, he's interested in suing the game industry for you.

Although the words 'class', 'action' and/or 'lawsuit' are never mentioned, Sokolove has posted up a page on his website clearly testing the waters for a potential class-action lawsuit against the gaming industry for triggering epileptic seizures.

Sokolove writes:

If your child or the child of someone you love has suffered an epileptic seizure during or shortly after playing video games or computer games, please fill out this form for a free evaluation of your case - or call us at 1-800-275-0192 for an immediate response regarding your rights and information about compensation for injuries.
We can help you understand your rights and options, and seek compensation for your injuries.

Sokolove likes to use the Pokemon epilepsy fiasco as an example of epileptic seizures triggered by video games... ignoring the fact that the seizures in question were generated by a television show. Not that facts ever stopped anyone from suing, prosecuting or legislating the games industry. Thanks to William F. for the heads up!

James Sokolove's Video Games and Seizures Page