12: Video Game Lawsuits with the Gaming Historian

This week, we discuss video game lawsuits with our special guest, Norman Caruso, the Gaming Historian. How did we get the Gaming Historian on this little dog and pony show? It’s hard to say. It could be that he’s a huge fan of obscure podcasts. … or it could be that he’s Kristin’s husband. What can we say? It’s a gigantic mystery.

In this episode, Kristin starts us off with Devin Moore, a teenager who shot two police officers and a 911 dispatcher. When the police finally caught up with him, he said, “Life is like a video game. Everybody’s got to die sometime.” That mindset left a lot of people asking whether violent video games were to blame for his murder spree.

Then Norman brings us our only non-violent crime of the day when he tells the fascinating story of Atari Games vs Nintendo. This lawsuit focused on the very first unlicensed games for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Brandi wraps things up with Daniel Petric, the 16-year-old boy who shot his parents after they took away his copy of Halo 3. His defense attorney said that Daniel’s recent infection made him more susceptible to the game’s violent themes…. But we’re a little skeptical.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Rise and Fall of Video Gamings Most Vocal Enemy,” Kotaku
“Court Rejects Appeal in Alabama Suit Blaming Game for Slayings,” WSFA
“Grand Theft Auto Player Gets Death Penalty,” The Inquirer
“Can a Video Game Lead to Murder?” CBS News
“Driven to Kill?” People Magazine

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“Game Over For Teen Who Killed Mother Over Video Game” by Edecio Martinez, CBS News
“17-year-old Accused of Killing Mother Over Halo 3 Video Game May Get Verdict Soon” by Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer
“Petric Sentenced to 23 Years To Life: Father Says Son Regrets Shooting Mother Over Halo 3 Video Game” by Jordan Cravens, The Morning Journal

In this episode, Norman pulled from:
“Game Over” by David Sheff
A History of AT Games (http://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/at_games.html)
Atari Games Corp v Nintendo http://digital-law-online.info/cases/24PQ2D1015.htm