Court tosses disabled gamer's suit against Sony

[wraggster]

A U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has dismissed a lawsuit against Sony Corporation of America and its related gaming branches (SCEA and SOE) which alleged the company denies access to its services for people with disabilities. According to court documents, plaintiff Alexander Stern argued that his "visual processing impairments" prevent him from enjoying titles manufactured by Sony and its game divisions.

Stern had filed the suit last October, claiming Sony's practices had violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). According to Game Politics, the court stated that in order to prove a violation of Title III of the ADA a plaintiff must show: "(1) [the plaintiff] is disabled within the meaning of the ADA; (2) the defendant is a private entity that owns, leases, or operates a place of public accommodation; and (3) the plaintiff was denied public accommodations by the defendant because of [the plaintiff's] disability."

In the dismissal notice (PDF), the court ruled that because Sony is not a "place of public accommodation" it was "not liable" for violating Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/27/court-tosses-disabled-gamers-suit-against-sony/

[Qmark]

Video games require functional vision?

Shock and alarm!

[lmtlmt]

That is the most idiotic thing ever....

[Gene]

lol. What a tool.

[phsychokill]

really if you were going to try to claim that, you would also need to go after MS and Nintendo as well, not to mention every firm in the world that makes arcade cabinets and games.

all games are about hand eye coordination (unless your using a dance mat then its foot eye) you cant have one without the other.

I could see their point if this was a complaint from some1 who couldn't hear, that a firm never put sub titles in their games, but eye sight is one of the things you cant play a game without.

[jamotto]

I could see their point if this was a complaint from some1 who couldn't hear, that a firm never put sub titles in their games, but eye sight is one of the things you cant play a game without.

Um, why not? As you said the hearing impaired rely on visual subtitles, for people with vision impairment all that is required is audio cues... not that this is new as video games for the blind have been available on PC for over 5 years.

David Greenwood has coded a version of Doom, called Shades of Doom that was for the blind as well as a game called Lone Wolf.