We'll make this short and sweet, because we hate giving this guy attention. Crazy Jack Thompson is on the warpath again, but this time he's going after Microsoft and their "hyperviolent" game Halo 3. In a letter addressed to Mr. Bill Gates and sent out to various media outlets (not including us) Thompson threatens legal action against Microsoft if they do not take the proper steps to make sure that no one under 17 years old purchases Halo 3 game due to its mature rating. Jack then goes on to illustrate a few examples, blah, blah, thinks he's smart, blah, blah, and ends his letter with a soft threat. Crazy Jack's crazy letter can be read in its entirety after the break, but be warned he's crazy. Oh, and if it were to come down to it we wish you the best of luck Jack in going toe to toe with Microsoft's lawyers. Their legal team is twice the size of their entire Windows division.[Thanks, MuJaHiDeEn 420]
Bill Gates
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington
Re: Halo 3
Dear Mr. Gates:
As you know, the Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly found that games rated "Mature" by the video game industry-captured Entertainment Software Rating Board are routinely sold to kids under the age of 17 despite the age rating. The most recent failure rate of the ratings on "Mature" games, according to the FTC, is 42%. The entire rating system is a fraud, and "broken," the latter description aptly provided by Senator Hillary Clinton.
As you also know, Lee Boyd Malvo trained on Microsoft's Halo to further enable him to become the remarkably efficient "DC Beltway Sniper." That was reported by NBC News at the time and was noted in Malvo's criminal trial.
You appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes II and rather revealing and usefully noted that "the cool thing about these games is that they transport you to a world you think is real." Precisely. Capcom has recently disclosed to investors that your video game industry's violent games, sold to children, pose a real hazard to the health of the industry. Right on.
The hyperviolent Microsoft Xbox 360 game Halo 3 is scheduled by your company for commercial release in September of this year. The Beta version that was released last week shows us all just how violent the game is and how inappropriate it is for play by anyone under 17, as the "Mature" rating it will surely receive indicates.
Here's the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3.
Regards,
Jack Thompson
