Jack Thompson rears head in response to GTA IV release date

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 27th 2008 at 8:00PM }

It's been a while since we've heard anything from the infamous anti-gaming crusader, Miami attorney Jack Thompson -- then again, being faced with the possibility of being disbarred in your home state is enough to really tie a guy up. However, with last week's announcement of a late-April release date for Grand Theft Auto IV came Thompson's mandatory adverse response to the series, and negativity towards Take Two, the game's distributor.

Contained within an email from Thompson were promises to keep this "murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders" out of the hands of children by contacting "state and federal officials" to warn of the game's immediate danger. Though no immediate threats were made towards Take Two or Rockstar Games, we're sure the fireworks will really start going off by the time GTA IV drops April 29 -- which just happens to be around the same time the outcome of Thompson's Florida Bar trial will be decided.

Tags: GrandTheftAuto, GrandTheftAutoIV, GTA, GTA IV, GtaIv, JackThompson, Rockstar, TakeTwo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Lone Starr @ Jan 27th 2008 8:03PM

He's a has-been.

License to ill @ Jan 27th 2008 8:05PM

More like a never was...

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:07PM

C'mon ill, you know he was the very highest tier of human society back when he was turning a flop rap CD to a multiplatinum album and accusing Janet Reno of evil, vile lesbianism.

Fifty Three @ Jan 27th 2008 10:42PM

...Still not seeing a problem with keeping this game out of the hands of children. That's what the ESRB and laws prohibiting the sale of M-rated games to minors are for, right? Does Jackie boy even know this?

BIGGEN @ Jan 27th 2008 10:49PM

Jackie's head is in the right place as far as keeping lil shit heads away from these games, but the way he goes about it is that of a lunatic. he should be attacking parents, not devs or stores that sell the games.

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 28th 2008 12:29AM

Really wish some people would do some research on Jack Thompsons tactics in the past before saying he has the right idea. An idea within itself isn't a danger, the implimentation of the idea holds the threat.

"...Still not seeing a problem with keeping this game out of the hands of children."
No debate here, but how do you do it? Do you go for legislating a strict standard with keeping on the ratings like New Yorks Games as Porn act where a cashier could get prison time for their first offense of selling an M rated game to a minor? Or do you go with Yee's standard which gives broad terminology that could easily be used to attack any game, including Super Mario Galaxy, as the slightest whim? And for what? The parents are the ones buying M-rated games for their kids. I used to work retail, I know this as FACT.

"That's what the ESRB and laws prohibiting the sale of M-rated games to minors are for, right?"
There are no laws prohibiting the sales to minors. Know why? Because there are no such laws on any other form of media outside of pornography, and even those are debatable on their freedom of speech stands, just ask Larry Flint. The problem with legislation in regards to M-rating enforceement is that what it would essentially do is punish game stores that carry M-rated games. Likewsie, often the wording in these bills are so vague that one could easily use the bills to ban games outright. Music, books, and movies are all exempt from legislation attempts. Meanwhile, the last time the US successfully accomplished this style of witch hunts, the CCA was founded and the US comics rapidly fell far behind the times.

"Does Jackie boy even know this?"
Jacky Boy uses a twisted logic. Violent games should be considered a public nuissance and as such, completely banned from release (read: Bully Fiasco). Jacky Boy also feels the industry members and essentially usurpers of the christian way (his words) should be gunned down by some of the troubled youths that this country never had a history of before. Hell, he even described violence against fellow human beings beyond the limits of Manhunt 2 (A Modest Video Game Proposal). And let's not forget he wanted to ban a T rated game for supposedly encouraging Pedophile Training (Sims 2.... I shit you not).

You know, I'm all for keeping these games out of the hands of children. But these political activists try to same putting an ad for a mature rated game in a video game magazine is targetting children, that studies prove the exact opposite of what the studies say, and somehow we are facing a crime epidemic the likes of which we've never seen amongst our youth despite crime statistics saying the exact opposite. And here is the really fucked up part. You can give any child of any age $10 and let them go into a Barnes & Noble, and they will come out with a copy of American Psycho. Nobody will bat a fucking eye, but Halo 3 is a culture killer? I don't know about you but given a scenario of a lead character who shoots up a bunch of aliens and a lead character that rapes a severed female head, obviously the alien killer is the bigger threat to our children.

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:06PM

I love how all the shit he said would happen with Bully never did and now typical of his cop killer defending tactics (Devin Moore, Rot In Hell), we'll see all sorts of insane scenarios be describe.

Avarice @ Jan 27th 2008 9:18PM

No kidding. When he started talking about how there would be an increase in slingshot injuries because of that game I invested heavily in glass eye manufactures. Stupid kids! Use your healthy binocular vision to see how weak my dividends have been!

samfish @ Jan 27th 2008 8:13PM

I thought that was the Cigarette Smoking Man at first.

HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME THINK JACK THOMPSON WAS COOL FOR A SPLIT SECOND!

hvnlysoldr @ Jan 27th 2008 9:08PM

Your comment reminded me of Joe Camel. Then it reminded me of Mickey Mouse. Then I remembered Simpsons' 90's episode showing Sonic proposing to Amy as a model to teenagers.

bm @ Jan 27th 2008 11:33PM

"Then I remembered Simpsons' 90's episode showing Sonic proposing to Amy as a model to teenagers."

what

hvnlysoldr @ Jan 27th 2008 11:41PM

Simpsons had an episode titled 90's. They had a billboard telling teenagers to marry instead of free sex. The model icon they picked was Sonic who was proposing to Amy.

bm @ Jan 28th 2008 12:11AM

Hahaha, awesome.

dustandechoes91 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:14PM

Wow for once he is doing something semi-legit. All it says he is doing is sending letters to make sure it isnt sold to minors. This time hes just trying to reinforce a law. I didnt see anything about banning it.

Wow

dustandechoes91 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:17PM

After re-reading it more than once and noting the vagueness of the excerpt, the statement i just made might be semi-false.

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 27th 2008 9:22PM

Umm, reinforce existing laws? Here's the problem, it's not a law. The whole ratings system has been self regulated and all attempts to legislate enforcement of the ratings often hold stiffer penalties than selling alcohol to minors and remain very vague in their description (vague to the point of Mario Galaxy being a disruptive title).

So what Jack Thompson is doing is warning people to uphold laws which do not exist...

BIGGEN @ Jan 27th 2008 10:53PM

law or not, i still blame the parents. at least THEY should know better than let their child have these games. but, oh damn, i forgot, that would mean "having to watch your child every second to regulate what they play." ya know, like the FOX news chick says....ya know, actual PARENTING

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 28th 2008 12:35AM

You know, that's a lame attempt at best. It's not that hard to lock your systems down, period. If you're having trouble doing it, all three companies have an 800 number to help you. Parents can claim ignorance for only so long, man.

Robert @ Jan 27th 2008 8:17PM

Okay, so Thompson's crazy. We're all sure about that. But strip away all the craziness and you might find that he's making a decent point: Keep GTA away from kids. You really can't argue about that.

But he's still crazy.

Roto13 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:21PM

Yeah. For once, he's saying something without his head up his ass.

Zorque @ Jan 27th 2008 9:53PM

The thing is, he wants to keep GTA away from everybody.

Sircolby45 @ Jan 27th 2008 10:51PM

Yes, but the parents need to keep it away from the kids. Not the government!!!

glass soldier @ Jan 27th 2008 8:26PM

this guy needs a life

Sam406 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:27PM

You know, I hate Jack Thompson as much as the next guy, but you gota hand it to him, At least he has a basic idea of what the game is about, unlike the good fellows at Fox News.

Ignatius @ Jan 27th 2008 10:44PM

Jack's View of GTA4: KILL KILL KILL MURDER MURDER MURDER PICK UP THE GUN AND SHOOT YOUR PARENTS.

Fox News' view: Realistic hooker sex! You get genital warts from playing the game!

Co @ Jan 27th 2008 10:58PM

Yea Sam you're right. I mean"murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders" is about the best synopsis of GTA I've heard yet!

Huey2k2 @ Jan 27th 2008 8:27PM

The only thing Jack Thompson ever says that I can actually agree with is we should be keeping really violent and explicit video games out of the hands of children.

Otherwise he is a complete DB.

Deck @ Jan 27th 2008 8:32PM

2nd that!

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 27th 2008 9:30PM

Well, how do you do that, exactly?

After all, the ultimate solution according to him is to ban the game and punish the people who made it. In other words, stiffle free speech and punish people who exercise that right.

Make laws to ban the sales of these games to children? FTC confirmed parents are present at well over 80% video game purchases and I seriously doubt Lil Billy Sunovabitch runs around with $60 cash often. In fact, I worked retail and I can confirm this point. So how do you stop a kid from buying a bad game when the kids aren't the ones buying it anyway?

Now, if we could find a way to get these ultra violent games out of the hands of children, I would be behind it. But every solution you could ever come up with is often made soooo much simpler by parents taking the extra five minutes during purchasing decisions and spend 30 minutes learning how to set the parental controls in the current generation of consoles. In other words, hey, let's start putting this shit back in the hands of the parents instead of the government.

Huey2k2 @ Jan 27th 2008 9:38PM

@ Sheppy

I am not trying to say that it's the government or the ESRB's responsibility to keep extremely violent or explicit games out of the hands of children. It is most certainly the responsibility of the childs parents to make sure this happens.

All I know is it really disturbs me when I am on Xbox Live playing COD or something of the sort with some of my friends and some little kid wanders into the room singing some random shitty "gangsta" rap that he downloaded off the internet all while yelling (usually swearing) at his mom and or dad about how he doesn't want to do his homework or how he doesn't want to stop playing his game.

If I was a parent I would do everything within my power to make sure my child isn't exposed to all that crap.

GoldenS1104 @ Jan 27th 2008 10:28PM

@ Huey2k2

You mean kids like this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=haSGAf7lvR0?

StarFoxA @ Jan 27th 2008 10:53PM

What he does, though, is blame the developers; not the parents.

tommy @ Jan 27th 2008 8:36PM

wow according to the picture looks like the years are beginning to catch up with him... maybe its time for ol' jackie to retire.

Grimmus @ Jan 27th 2008 8:53PM

Actually, now he's really getting into his game; He can tack on his natural insanity to his age-earned senility and have double the fun.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Jan 27th 2008 8:47PM

Hurry up and update so I can get Jack Thompson off the center of my Opera speed dial :P

DustoMan @ Jan 27th 2008 8:48PM

"the game's immediate danger"? Are you kidding me? Did the release of all the other GTA games correlates with a spike in youth violence? Ya, I thought not. Jack should have his own show on Fox News. He sounds just like them.

Follisimo @ Jan 27th 2008 8:55PM

How come we have gamers killing other gamers over stupid stuff but we don't have gamers killing morons like these?

Sam406 @ Jan 27th 2008 9:09PM

Because that would prove his point.

But don't worry, Thompson was dangerous to the gamer community some years ago back when hot cofee was just discovered, but now, being almost disbarred, nobody takes him seriosly.

I think he'll take Rockstar to court one last time, loose, and then it's Game Over for him.