The epic cases of years past are interesting to read about, but what really marks today's game lawsuits is their personal touch. Increased awareness of regular people suing corporations for absurd reasons has caused more people to try their hand at winning a big cash settlement. If smokers can sue tobacco companies (and win) because they didn't know cigarettes can cause cancer, or if obese individuals can sue McDonalds (and win) because they didn't know that Big Macs contain enormous fat content, why should a parent be shy about blaming video games and the media for something as heavy as the death of their child?

One other incident the article touches on is the bizarre series of events that spawned over the rights to Alexey Pajitnov's ridiculously addictive and elegant Tetris. What actually happened was quite convoluted and filled with corporate subterfuge between several companies, and it's worth reading about if you can find a good account of it. Game Over by David Sheff has an in-depth history of the whole thing.