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Franchise: Tomb Raider
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Attachment Nell McAndrews undertook the role of Lara Croft in 1998 through to 1999, during which time she posed nude for Playboy. At the time, Eidos threatened Playboy with a lawsuit. They were unable to alter the U.S. printing, but won a lawsuit forcing the U.K. printing of the magazine to cover up the Tomb Raider logo on the cover. This scandal was likely the reason she was replaced as the role of Lara Croft.
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Celebrity, General, Legal Affairs, Magazine, Real Life
person ShadowOfTheServer calendar_month October 2, 2013
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The Guy Game
The Guy Game (2004)
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One of the girls who appeared topless in The Guy Game was 17 years old at the time of filming, making it illegal to sell in territories where the age of consent is 18. This was not known by Topheavy Studios or representatives scouting for girls during the 2003 spring break season in Texas, as she provided a fake ID card and signed a consent form before participating. Her real age did not come to light until four months after the game's release, when her brother purchased the game and told her she was in it, leading her to sue Topheavy Studios, Gathering of Developers (a subsidiary of Take Two Interactive which included Topheavy), Microsoft and Sony (whose consoles the game was released for).

She argued she was not informed that footage of her would be used in-game and on its promotional website, that she was not able to give consent at the time and that the developers misappropriated her likeness by failing to discover her age inaccuracies and releasing the game. Legal counsel for Topheavy argued that she entered and participated in the game willingly and that the fraudulent representations of her age made to the producers made it reasonable for them to have treated her as an adult. A Texas county judge granted a temporary injunction against manufacturing copies of the game until her voice, name and image were removed entirely, but the legal proceedings did not determine if Topheavy had produced child pornography in violation of Texas obscenity laws. The following year, Topheavy released a DVD version of the game with additional content not featured in the original game titled "The Guy Game: Game Over". They appeared to take the controversy in stride, stating on the game's store page:

"The rumors are true! The most controversial video game ever created - The Guy Game - is no longer available!"
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Complaint, General, Legal Affairs, Real Life, Version Difference, Website
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month May 7, 2013
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Mario Party
Mario Party (1998)
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Some minigames like Tug o' War, Paddle Battle, Cast Aways, Deep Sea Divers, Pedal Power, and the Mecha Fly Guy minigame caused players to resort to using their palm to rotate the hard, plastic control stick faster to win or get better results. This appears to be an intended control method as it was featured in a Japanese commercial for the game, but it was not a safe way to play those minigames, injuring players through blistering, burns, lacerations, punctures, and cuts. After over 100 complaints were made to the New York Attorney General's office, Nintendo agreed to a settlement to pay $75,000 to the office to cover their investigation into the matter, and agreed to give out padded, fingerless sports gloves to injured players who could provide proof-of-purchase, potentially giving out $80 million worth of them. However, the requirements to do so were reportedly "elaborate" and it's not known how many gloves actually reached injured players. Since the game had already sold 1.5 million units by the time this settlement was reached, a warning was published in an issue of Nintendo Power that recommended players to instead rotate the control stick with their thumb, or hold it between the thumb and forefinger. This warning was also added to the start of the Nintendo Switch Online re-release of the game, as well as Tug o' War's re-appearance in Mario Party Superstars, to protect Nintendo from legal liability when re-introducing control stick minigames to the Mario Party series.
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Advertisement/Commercial, Controls, General, Injury, Legal Affairs, Magazine, Minigame, Mistake, Real Life, Release Difference
person gamemaster1991 calendar_month April 5, 2013
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CNET article:
https://web.archive.org/web/20121025065428/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040_3-237808.html

[Below links and information provided by CuriousUserX90.]

Mario Party Japanese commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRm5MilibtM

Video about the controversy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSNj7zksTdA

Nintendo Switch Online warning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgMr60iHew
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010)
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Sumo Digital had tried to get ToeJam & Earl in the game as well. However they were unsuccessful with obtaining the rights for both All-Stars Racing and its sequel All-Stars Racing Transformed.
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Copyright, Development, Early Idea, Legal Affairs, Unused Character
person SilverSupernova calendar_month March 31, 2013
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Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (1981)
subdirectory_arrow_right Kirby (Franchise), King Kong (Franchise)
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When Donkey Kong became popular, Nintendo was sued by American film company Universal Studios over allegations that Donkey Kong was plagiarizing their 1933 film King Kong. Lawyer John Kirby, defending Nintendo, pointed out that Universal was aware of and had previously argued in court that the story of King Kong was in the public domain due to the film's novelization, which came out before the film and marked the first non-promotional appearance of the character, failing to have its copyright notice renewed. As a result, Universal lost the case. Nintendo lavishly awarded Kirby by taking him, his wife and some associates to dinner at a fancy Manhattan restaurant, giving him a sailboat named "Donkey Kong" and the exclusive rights to the name Donkey Kong for sailboats as a strange show of gratitude.

In a 2011 interview with Game Informer, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that "Kirby" was one of many candidates on a list of names that were proposed for the then-in development video game character, and upon seeing it, he recalled John Kirby and felt that a connection between the two would be amusing. However, the name was picked not as a tribute to the lawyer, but rather because the harsh-sounding nature of the name was a comedic contrast to the character's soft, cute design.
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Development, General, Inspiration, Legal Affairs, Real Life
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 14, 2013
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Original DidYouKnowGaming blog post:
http://didyouknowgaming.com/post/32069456462/donkey-kong

2011 Game Informer interview mentioning Kirby's name origin:
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/06/17/miyamoto-wii-amp-wii-u-are-colored-white-for-all-ages-appeal.aspx

[Below links provided by Rocko & Heffer.]

Legal files:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/615/838/1515073/

Sail boat:
David Sheff - "Game Over: Press Start to Continue: The Maturing of Mario" (1999). Wilton, Connecticut: GamePress. (Page 126 in the book):
https://archive.org/details/0966961706/page/26/mode/1up
Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies (2009)
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Plants vs. Zombies was at one point going to be called "Lawn of the Dead", a pun on George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The name was changed for legal reasons.
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Copyright, Development, Early Idea, Legal Affairs
person DidYouKnowGaming calendar_month March 3, 2013
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