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Jack Thompson Files Take-Two, Rockstar Lawsuit 451

Posted by samzenpus from the think-of-the-children dept.
rtt writes "Jack Thompson is back on the video game scene and has followed through with his threat to file a law suit against Rockstar, Take-Two and Walmart for Rockstar's upcoming "Bully" title. bit-tech was sent a copy by the man himself which started as follows "Take-Two has until five o'clock p.m., Eastern time, Monday, August 14, 2006, to inform me in writing that it will forthwith provide me with a copy of Bully so that I and others can analyze it to determine whether it still poses a threat of copycat violence in our schools.""
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Jack Thompson Files Take-Two, Rockstar Lawsuit More

Jack Thompson Files Take-Two, Rockstar Lawsuit

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  • ...what the fuck? Did he watch the trailer? This game is about defeating bullies, not being one. Hell, from the looks of it, it's a comedic game, not GTA+School

    • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:5, Funny)

      by aprilsound ( 412645 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:28PM (#15915532) Homepage
      I think he just wants a free copy. I mean, who wouldn't?
      • I think he just wants a free copy. I mean, who wouldn't?

        Personally, I kind of want him to win, so I can demand free stuff from every company in the world, and threaten a law suit. That'd be sweet.

        Seriously, this just shows that he think he is above the law, and everybody else is below it. He just can't accept the concept of fairness, if he thinks he has any right to demand that a corporation give him something for free. Especially given that he cites a school board resolution as if that were a major legal binding precident...

        Some of my favorites in his crazy person rant:
        21. Take-Two is fraudulently and deceptively marketing this game not only because it desperately needs the cash from the sale of this controversial game, whose release has been delayed for over a year in large part because of the efforts of the undersigned petitioner, but also because controversy still swirls about the Bully game, and Take-Two is Hell-bent to defuse it.

        Because, you know... No video game in the history of the world ever shipped late, except because of his crusade. It can't possibly be related to needing more time to finish the game. Crazy people like him think they are winning great victories whenever anything happens.

        29. Florida Congressman Jeff Stearns, who recently chaired hearings in the United States House of Representatives, discovered how thoroughly flawed the video game rating system is, as the ESRB is actually paid for and operated, in effect, by the video game industry itself. This is a classic case of the fox guarding the chickens. Congressman Stearns has now introduced to Congress a Bill called the "Truth in Video Game Ratings Act" largely because of the illicit collaboration between the ESRB and Take-Two.

        Right... Thank god for the Federal Book and movie censors... Because, you know, the MPAA isn't funded by movies. And, why the hell is nobody even bothering to ask the industry to self regulate books? I can read a graphic description of horrible bestiality gang bang child rape and decapitation with a chain saw without having to show ID. But, 30 polygons try to do it doggy style, and it's the end of the world.

        • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:5, Funny)

          by LurkerXXX ( 667952 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @10:04PM (#15916073)
          No video game in the history of the world ever shipped late, except because of his crusade.



          Wait, you mean he's the bastard who has been keeping Duke Nukem from me for the last decade plus?

          String him up boys!

          • no, he just recently took over delaying the release of dnf, before him came his father, and his father before that...
            • Thompson had grown so asinine, he wanted to retire. He took me to his office and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Jack Thompson' he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the annoying lawyer habit from the previous Dread Jack Thompson, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Jack Thompson either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Thompson has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.

        • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:5, Funny)

          by shudde ( 915065 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @11:00PM (#15916340)

          I can read a graphic description of horrible bestiality gang bang child rape and decapitation with a chain saw without having to show ID.



          This post useless without ISBN.

        • ... how thoroughly flawed the video game rating system is, as the ESRB is actually paid for and operated, in effect, by the video game industry itself. This is a classic case of the fox guarding the chickens. Congressman Stearns has now introduced to Congress a Bill called the "Truth in Video Game Ratings Act" largely because of the illicit collaboration between the ESRB and Take-Two.

          I guess Jack had better go after the Better Business Bureau next. After all, they're funded by the businesses [bbb.org] who make up its membership. I think we need a "Truth in Business Ratings Act" to help counter this illicit collaboration between the BBB and its members.
           

        • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:4, Insightful)

          by NormalVisual ( 565491 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @12:40AM (#15916763)
          No video game in the history of the world ever shipped late, except because of his crusade. It can't possibly be related to needing more time to finish the game.

          No, no - let him claim to have caused excessive delays! If Take-Two decides to sue him for lost income due to his interference, I'm sure those statements are going to be rather helpful.

          Florida Congressman Jeff Stearns, who recently chaired hearings in the United States House of Representatives, discovered how thoroughly flawed the video game rating system is, as the ESRB is actually paid for and operated, in effect, by the video game industry itself.

          Gee, I hope no one tells Cliff Stearns about the MPAA movie rating system. Then again, the video game industry doesn't have nearly the presence in Washington's wallets as the MPAA members do, and Stearns' big contributors are the telecoms anyway, so it's probably not big on his radar at the moment. In any event, it doesn't help Thompson's case that he can't even get the Congressman's name right.

          I wish this asshole Thompson would pull his lower lip over his head and swallow.

        • No ID for reading violent books (Score:5, Informative)

          by DrYak ( 748999 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @08:16AM (#15917999) Homepage
          I can read a graphic description of horrible bestiality gang bang child rape and decapitation with a chain saw without having to show ID. But, 30 polygons try to do it doggy style, and it's the end of the world.


          Because, as Douglas Adams [douglasadams.com] put it rightly (a must read, absolutely), Books hapenned to be already very common arround when all those people were born. Therefor they consider them as normal. They did themselves read such books and see no harm in other peope doing so.
          On the other hand, the 30 polygons used to be, for a very long time (in the life time of those speaking against video games), something reseved to scientists doing complex and dead slow simulations on horribly expensive hardware. The people currently shouting against polygons only encountered them late in their life, and therefor were highly suspictious about them. They insctinctivly start considering them as against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know.
          In ten years, after this things turned gradually out to be alright really, those people will be up against the "Next Horrible Stuff That Instills Pervesity Inside Our Innocent Children(tm)".

          The same has hapenned with music (Marylin Manson caused Bowling for Columbine ! Beattles pervets the youngs ! Communist must protect themselves from the depraved occidental music ! Jazz is the devil's work ! ... caveman Ungh thinks that the lyra is a blasphemy, tribe should stick to "sticks'n'stones" to keep god Angh happy !)
          The same happenned with a lot of other form of creations.
          There are even debate, dating from classical Greece, arguing that there is too much violence, rape and adultery in the theatre (sorry, lost the references).
          Yes. The Theatre, that place were parent will be happy to see they children go to, instead of playing video games the whole day, was once touted to pervet the moral of the young.

          So as long as new forms media are introduced, they are doomed to be critiqued by the older part of the population and be accused for "All Bad Things That Happen (tm)"

          The sad part is, most of us slashdotter, that stand up against such absurdities in the video game world, will probably the first to shout at their children that they spend too much time in the Holodeck.
          (That is, those /.ers who managed to find a person of the opposite sex to have children with...)

      • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:5, Funny)

        by d34thm0nk3y ( 653414 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @12:53AM (#15916804)
        I think he just wants a free copy. I mean, who wouldn't?

        Yeah, seriously, what an ass. Bastard should get it off Bittorrent like the rest of us.

    • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RsG ( 809189 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:31PM (#15915548)
      Not that I agree with ole' Jackass, but how does that make things different? To devils advocate for a moment, people like JT are the ones who blame things like the Columbine shootings on video games, and that was related to bullying (in that the perpetrators were themselves bullied and perceived their actions to be revenge).

      In Thompsons warped view of the world, games make children violent. This isn't a particularly rational viewpoint, but his actions here are consistant with it. What does he care that the game doesn't condone bullying? It's a Rockstar game (which he hates), and it's violent (which gives him a chance to get up on his soapbox and preach).
    • But remember since colombine its not about preventing bullying. Rather than getting at the root problem they keep with the old kids will be kids line and dismiss the bullies...but with johnny who gets beat up everyday we need to get him into counseling and ostracize him further just in case he goes postal one day.

      • Parenting philosophy (Score:4, Insightful)

        by mcrbids ( 148650 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @09:19PM (#15915824) Journal
        As a father of 5 children, I counsel my kids that it's usually their fault when they are the victims. They are responsible for themselves and their own well being, and they are the ones who suffer when they don't ensure this.

        Yes, bad people do mean things, and you can't stop that. But you can do many things to ensure that the bad people don't do those mean things to you. Whether by locking your bike, (so it's not stolen) avoiding dangerous situations, or by demanding respect early in a relationship.

        There's a kid who lives nearby (whom I'll call Ray) who is a classic victim. It seems like, no matter what, things just don't work out for this kid. It's sad, really. But recently, this he has been hanging out at our house, and we've been counseling the him to stand up for himself. He really had no idea how much of his bad situations he had personally been contributing to, and the result is that, even though we aren't his parents, he's really bonded with us.

        When a child is victimized, if the authority does nothing to teach the victim how to handle the situation from a position of strength, it reinforces their position of weakness. They are given the message that they need to be coddled by the authorities against the bad bullies, and I think that's just wrong. This then prevents the situation from actually improving long term, and when it gets bad enough, the victim pops and mows down a schoolyard with an AK-47.

        Bullies should be punished, and frequently, so should the victims.

        When fights break out among our kids, we punish both parties equally. While the aggressor gets punished for "taking things to the next level", the victim is punished for allowing it to happen to him/her. They can develop means to encourage aggressors to leave them the !@## alone, and they do.

        Forget "fair". Life isn't fair, and law is just a set of consequences that only take effect when you get caught. Teaching towards not being in the victim role helps people avoid the pain of being taken advantage of, and being hurt by the very authorities put there to protect them.

        For the record, actual fights are very rare in our household. Our children are usually described by others as unusual in how close, polite, and considerate they are towards each other. Said children range from age 9 to age 17.

        • Re:Parenting philosophy (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Quaoar ( 614366 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @10:16PM (#15916147)
          When fights break out among our kids, we punish both parties equally. While the aggressor gets punished for "taking things to the next level", the victim is punished for allowing it to happen to him/her. They can develop means to encourage aggressors to leave them the !@## alone, and they do.
          Yeah, that's a good strategy. Punish the innocent. Don't bother to figure out what actually happened, just teach your kids that there is no justice in the world.

        • Re:Parenting philosophy (Score:5, Interesting)

          by russ1337 ( 938915 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @10:50PM (#15916305)
          I had to read your post a couple of times to get what you were saying. At first I thought you were advocating "stand up to bully" violence, but after a re-read, you say discipline your kids for fighting (no matter which one started from the postion of power).
          I agree that the answer to kids being bullied is not to be 'coddled' - 100%. But standing up to bullies is sometimes what they are after.
          I moved from NZ to Northern Ireland when I was 12, and because I was 'foreign' became the target of a few of a couple of the school bullies. I pretty much always managed to talk my way out of it. It'd have been a pretty dangerous situation for me to 'stand up to them directly'... most of these guys were pig farmers and victims of home violence. No punch I could deliver was even going to make them wince, and they could easily gather more friends than I had made in the first month or so. So, I had to use quick thinking, even quicker talking and a little avoidance here and there. In the end I got these guys working for me. I started selling potatoe chips (crisps) at school, undercutting the cafeteria and these guys were doing the leg-work and chasing up the outstanding debts.... win win. They just needed a bit of guidance and a little 'motivation'....

        • Re:Parenting philosophy (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Fordiman ( 689627 ) <fordiman@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @11:45PM (#15916542) Homepage Journal
          Ah, guilt.

          You're right, they sometimes are at fault. Maybe they weren't careful enough. Maybe they did something stupid, leaving themselves open.

          Still, they need to be told what they did wrong, and given the tools necessary to not have it happen again. Get raped? Fine. Go to martial arts training and kick the shit out of the next guy who tries to rape you. Got your bike stolen? lock it the hell up.

          I'm not saying coddle the victim, I'm saying empower the victim. But punish? Fuck that. Being the victim of a crime is punishment enough.

          Unfortunately, being the victim to a crime leaves them feeling lost. Action must be take by those who care about them to make certain it doesn't happen again - and the best way to do this is to give them the tools they need to prevent it; 'teach a man to fish...', after all.

          Yeah. Punishment is negative reinforcement. Coddling is nill reinforcement (making the bad things go away is removing the already existing negative reinforcement). Training is positive reinforcement, the sort that can balance the negative reinforcement caused by being a victim.

          That said, a good deal of this country are whiners; too many people think they are 'victims', to the point where the word loses its meaning. It's what happens when you cancel the reinforcement through coddling; the person thinks that 'victim' is just a natural state of being.

          Fuck that. It's all about teaching self-reliance.

          Still, your brain-dead method causes the opposite problem; the person becomes rediculously paranoid. This, if you can't tell, is also bad. Living in fear is not living. Your children may very likely have a lot of unlearning to do when they leave your household.

          Or not. They may end up like my uncle, who was raised in much the way you described; machiavellian, self-important, and generally unhappy.

        • Re:Parenting philosophy (Score:5, Insightful)

          by brandonY ( 575282 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @12:35AM (#15916749)
          I counsel my kids that it's usually their fault when they are the victims. They are responsible for themselves and their own well being, and they are the ones who suffer when they don't ensure this.

          Man, see, that's EXACTLY why I feel that when a woman is raped, we should stone her to death. Usually she was totally asking for it. Women are responsible for themselves and their own well being, and they are the ones who suffer when they don't ensure this.

          You are wrong. A victim is a victim. Sure a victim could probably take steps to prevent being victimized, but a victim is never guilty because they didn't take those steps. If I leave my wallet on my front porch, if I put my social security number on the Internet, if I wear sleazy clothes into a bad kind of bar in a bad kind of neighborhood and flirt with bad, drunk people, I am putting myself in a bad situation. That does not, however, mean that I have done something wrong.

          Look, if I'm a wussy, 98-pound weakling with no self-confidence, and I get beat up by some kid who is confused because his dad beat him too many times, it is NOT my fault, and I should NOT be punished. Punishing everybody involved, be they victim or criminal, is the opposite of a justice system. It will probably keep the peace, but it's not justice, it's not right, and it's about 1000 years of backwards.

          Forget "fair". Life isn't fair, and law is just a set of consequences that only take effect when you get caught.

          Do you know who think this way? Psychopaths. Life's not fair, but that doesn't mean we should abandon fairness as a goal. You're wrong about laws, too. They're not a set of consequences--they're a set of guidelines. The consequences are there to provide teeth so people like you will at least consider following some of them.

          Jerk.

        • Re:Parenting philosophy (Score:4, Insightful)

          by kfg ( 145172 ) * on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @12:58AM (#15916820)
          When fights break out among our kids, we punish both parties equally.

          Good day, Sir,

          You have a very nice car. Well, that is to say, you used to have a very nice car. I liked it so much I'm afraid I stole it. Your radio presets are awesome too! We obviously have a lot in common.

          If we're lucky maybe we can share a cell, but I expect you'll get caught for having your car stolen long before I get caught for stealing it, so fix the place up nice for me, 'k? Oh yeah, and wear something sexy.

          Your partner in crime,

          Bubba

          KFG

        • Re:Parenting philosophy (Score:4, Insightful)

          by pcgabe ( 712924 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @01:10AM (#15916854) Homepage Journal
          You're going to get a lot of flack from ignorant twits (who probably are NOT parents themselves). Such is the problem with counter-intuitive solutions. The REAL problem is that human nature is counter-intuitive.

          It sounds insensitive to tell a child that being bullied is partly their fault, but it's not. What's insensitive is telling them that it's NOT their fault at all, and letting them continue falling into the same bully traps.

          Perhaps 'fault' is not quite the right word to use; it is emotionally charged. But I would say that, often, there are steps the victim could have taken to defuse the situation and prevent the bullying from taking place.

          I, for one, think you absolutely have the right idea. I was bullied a lot when I was younger, and no one taught me how to handle it properly. It was only later that I discovered how much of the situation I controlled. After that, I wasn't bullied anymore (and also stopped fighting with my siblings; it's all related).

          The world definitely needs more parents like you that are grounded in reality, and less parents living in fantasy land.

      • Re:Okay, I think I stand for all of us when I say. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Couchmanx ( 995646 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @10:27PM (#15916195) Homepage
        I grew up being the victim of bullies .. teachers, principals, guidance counsellors and psyciatrists all told me to ..

        1) count to 10 - dont lose your cool
                            Always ended up in 10 more seconds of teasing and bullying
        2) Walk away
                            Last I checked, bullys have legs too
        3) Ignore them
                            Bullys find that to be more of a reason to tease/bully
        4) Ask an adult/teacher for help
                            When I ask for help Im always told that hes not doing anything wrong and that I should be able to do the above 3 things to get rid of them

        So unfortunately I ended up having to defend myself any way I could and the most effective being me beating the living snot out of them.
        Of course this solution always ended the same way at school. The bully would get a slap on the wrist and be sent back to class ( if not bloodied up ) or sent home to be cleaned up and recover a little, and me being suspended/expelled from school because nothing the adults taught me worked.

        I learned at a young age from adults .. not video games (I do play violent games .. depending on how violent you consider Oblivion and most RPGs are, but they are in no way responcible for why I am and hopefully was violent)... that violence was one way to solve a problem and im still trying to get it out of my system. I know I shouldnt resort to it to fix a problem but 90% of the time its the only solution when everyone that tells you to ask for help doesnt help when you ask for it.
        • 5) Laugh at them

          Almost always caught them off guard. For some reason, if you're not taking the bully seriously, their balls shrink to the size of rasins.

          'Course, this never works when you're being attacked by a fucker and his cronies. The only way to deal with that group is to jam the angry end of a pencil into the thigh of the loudest fucker there. Sure, you get suspended, maybe even a psych eval, but you get the rep for being 'crazy', and you can always make up your grades.

          That one got me through high school. Didn't have a pencil in middle school, but there was a bottle laying on the ground next to the group, so I just grabbed it, broke it and swung it like a retard. That got me in less trouble, oddly enough, and still got me the nutjob rep.

  • Here's hoping for a "Jack Thompson head" mode... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Vandil X ( 636030 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:26PM (#15915510)
    Imagine the hours of fun playing the GCN version on the Wii, smacking Jack Thompsons in the head with the Wii-mote..
  • A not so clever ploy for a free game methinks ;-) (And Rockstar thinks, "Hmmm...give him a game so that he can try to sue us...Actually that will probably take care of all the publicity we need!")

  • So, um (Score:5, Funny)

    by ZorbaTHut ( 126196 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:27PM (#15915518) Homepage
    Why doesn't he just buy one himself?

    Seems easier on everyone's behalf.

  • I want a Rolls Royce (Score:5, Funny)

    by Larry Lightbulb ( 781175 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:27PM (#15915519)
    So that I and others can analyze it to determine whether it still poses a threat of copycat luxury car driving in our schools.

  • They'll ignore him (Score:2, Redundant)

    by NineNine ( 235196 )
    I'm sure that Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. 1. Consulted their attorneys. 2. Their attorneys told them to ignore him and that 3. If he does file a lawsuit, they'll counter-sure for slander, and the judge will more than likely slap the initial idiot with a charge for filing frivolous lawsuits. Nothing will come of it. There are lots of wackos that file all sorts of wacko lawsuits every day. Most are without merit, and are certainly not news.

    Now, how about a good review of the game...?

    • Re:They'll ignore him (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Babbster ( 107076 )

      Nothing will come of it. There are lots of wackos that file all sorts of wacko lawsuits every day. Most are without merit, and are certainly not news.

      There's some degree of truth to this, but lawyers who consistently file suits that are found to be baseless can end up losing their license to practice law. JT has already been investigated by the Florida Bar Association and one judge in Alabama revoked his temporary license [slashdot.org] to practice law in the state.

      While I think that Take Two/Rockstar is pretty safe fr

      • Yes, and if we all clap together Tinkerbell will come back to life. Seriously, many lawyer's and judge's careers are based on fraudulent lawsuits keeping them employed to the detriment of more realistic lawsuits. Take a look at SCO and their lawsuit against IBM over the last few years for a prize example. The judge should have said "show me the code that they infringed" three years ago.

  • Free Promotion (Score:5, Funny)

    by brownaroo ( 682715 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:28PM (#15915527)
    Awsome - Rockstar have a new game - might check it out

  • Or maybe he could just eat a dick (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Reality Master 201 ( 578873 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:28PM (#15915528) Journal
    Seriously, nobody gives a shit about him.

    He's a self-promoting moralistic jerkoff. Stop giving him air by paying attention to him.

    • Re:Or maybe he could just eat a dick (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RsG ( 809189 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:36PM (#15915575)
      The problem is the people who take him seriously and agree with him. Sometimes ignoring the opposition isn't the solution - you must speak out and denounce them.

      With Jack, ignoring him will merely be taken as a sign that you either cannot counter his flimsy arguements, or else that you agree with him. He may be the worlds biggest troll, but he's considered credible by politicians and the media, and that makes him more dangerous than most crackpots.
      • You have to give him a counter-offer he cannot possibly accept.

        Jack, come to our offices and we'll let you and your group play. We'd love to send you a copy, but this is really unoptimized code that only works on our computers. Just let us know a day and we'll have first-class tickets for up to 10 people, a limo, and a hotel for a few days.

        Then, set up a media blitz with schoolgirls, freckled-nosed bullies, taped-glasses geeks, and more schoolgirls. Hot ones. Big tits and short skirts. Jack and his stu

    • He needs to be taken down (Score:5, Insightful)

      by pestilence669 ( 823950 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @10:55PM (#15916323)
      I almost agree with ignoring him... but it's litigious asses like him that destroy fun. They won't stop until all video games are as fun as a night at Morman bible study. I don't think I'm exaggerating.

      It's not just games. Lawyers have completely destroyed the fun of playgrounds. As a parent, that pisses me off. You definitely can't have anything that spins because someone might fall off or get dizzy. Nothing too tall. Big slides & swings? Not a chance. It's even hard to find sand in a playground anymore, because a kid might throw some in another kid's eye.

      Getting hurt when you do stupid things is an important life lesson that lawyers are ruining. Elementary schools have banned nearly every competative sport. No baseball, football, handball, volleyball, tennis, running or tag! No after school programs. No skateboards, rollerskates, or scooters. And definitely nothing that might offend anyone for any reason at all. Maybe Columbine would be less likely to happen if people like Mr. Jack didn't make life suck so badly for the kids he wants to "protect."

      Mortal Kombat didn't cause America's youth to murder their parents any more than heavy metal music did during the 80's. Despite all of the concerns about young people holding hands, dancing, watching violent films, listening to gangsta rap, and such... violent crime is down. Youth crime is down. Why can guys like this spout off to politicians when their "concerns" have absolutely no rational basis? I'm not for book burning and I'm definitely against censorship for no good reason.

      If Thompson is allowed to continue his bogus mislead fight, games will suck bigtime... like playgrounds, school recess, and everything else about childhood that guys like him want to destroy. He wants to make sure that every kid is having a fun time the Jack Thompson way, and that scares the hell out of me.

  • I think I speak for everyone here, (Score:5, Funny)

    by Vengeance ( 46019 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:29PM (#15915533)
    when I invite Jack to take a nice vacation in the Sun. I mean physically inside the generally accepted diameter of the star.

  • AOL Response (Score:4, Funny)

    by Bob9113 ( 14996 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:29PM (#15915534) Homepage
    "Take-Two has until five o'clock p.m., Eastern time, Monday, August 14, 2006, to inform me in writing that it will forthwith provide me with a copy of Bully so that I and others can analyze it to determine whether it still poses a threat of copycat violence in our schools"

    At the risk of sounding AOL:
    Oooh - Me too please!
    • they way it sounds to me is that take two should take him to court for threating them

      • Re:AOL Response (Score:5, Insightful)

        by h0tblack ( 575548 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:58PM (#15915702)
        Give him a copy early and get him to sign a nice solid NDA. Then sit back and wait for him to be unable to control himself and spew forth the special brand of vitriolic fervour that we've come to expect in his game 'reviews'.

        Then sue him for slander, breach of NDA (assuming any of his comments are even vaguely related to the game, which may be tricky) and soak up even more free publicity.

        Profit...

  • Case without evidence or a crime. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by joystickgenie ( 913297 ) <joleske@joystickgenie.com> on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:31PM (#15915546) Homepage
    Wait... how can you bring someone to court for something before they didn't do it? He is saying that rockstar has practiced fraud in the games advertising and be brought up with the "Florida nuisance law" and his evidence in this is that they haven't sent him a copy.

    This has to be thrown out of court.
    • Wasn't he already disbarred?
      • no, unfortunately - just removed from a case where he was trying to but his nose in where it wasn't wanted.

        can't remember the legal term, but he was trying to pretend to be a lawyer in an out of town case, and the judge basically said 'um, no - you are a retard' and kicked him out.
        • Actually, he was indeed part of the case (his associate continued on) and the judge tossed him because, essentially, he was acting like an ass.

          Here's a quote from an IGN article on the matter:

          ...Judge Moore, the case's presiding jurist, issued a stinging 18-page report in which the judge rejected Thompson's claim of voluntary removal and stated that Thompson was effectively thrown off the case for actions "before this Court [that] suggest that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practic

  • Rockstar should send him a copy. (Score:5, Funny)

    by CanSpice ( 300894 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:34PM (#15915559) Homepage
    Remember that old story about some tech support guy who, upon asking a user to send him a copy of a floppy disk, received a piece of paper with the floppy disk photocopied on it?

    Rockstar should do that.
  • Come on Jack you are the bully here, you are all hurt that no one takes you seriosuly so you try and pick on who ever you can... instead of using sticks and sontes you use ad hominums and strawmen...

  • Oh, it's Jack Thompson again... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by CharonX ( 522492 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:34PM (#15915564) Journal
    ...the world famous comedian and one of the best actors there is.
    Honestly, he has to be - he always makes me laugh with tears when he cracks one of his "how videogames [verb] the [noun]" jokes or when he retells the original classic "why videogames are root of all evil" one-liners.
    Also, I really love the way he pretends to be the biggest, most bigoted dumbfuck on earth. I mean, this guy has pure talent - no one alive could be such an gigantic arsehole as he pretends to be.

  • oh lordy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nomadic ( 141991 ) <`nomadicworld' `at' `gmail.com'> on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:36PM (#15915577) Homepage
    Now we'll have 5000 posts screaming about this, most of them adding nothing to the argument. Why preach to the choir? Can someone explain it to me? Do people just like patting each other on the back?

    To file a lawsuit you need a small amount of money. That's it. This doesn't mean anything. Trust me. They have no standing, they have no legitimate cause of action, this will go nowhere. Just calm the hell down people.

  • Ho Hum (Score:2)

    by fm6 ( 162816 )

    This is getting repetitive. See Jack Get Outraged. See Jack File Silly Lawsuit. See Judge Throw Out Lawsuit Because of Bad Spelling. BOOORRRRIIING!!!!

    Hey, that gives me an idea. We should invite Jack to a Slashdot Interview. That would be interesting.

    As I type this, I see four Google ads, all by law firms that want to help me sue somebody....

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Now that's an ego... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Miguelito ( 13307 ) <mm-slashdot@migu ... rg minus painter> on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:38PM (#15915592) Homepage
    "Take-Two has until five o'clock p.m., Eastern time, Monday, August 14, 2006, to inform me in writing that it will forthwith provide me with a copy of Bully so that I and others can analyze it to determine whether it still poses a threat of copycat violence in our schools"


    Takes a serious ego to think you have the right to make such a demand from a company, simply because you've set yourself up as the one to make sure video games aren't too violent.

    I'd love to see Take-Two to tell him to take a flying leap.
  • but I can't do it without your help. My criticisms will be lost in the crowd of largely positive reviews. But if I get a sneak peak, I'll beat the rush...
  • Why can't he just download the torrent like everyone else that isn't paying for a copy?

    I mean, it seems like he is trying to bully Rockstar into giving him a free copy....

  • Jack is a better PR flack than lawyer (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Infonaut ( 96956 ) <infonaut@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:45PM (#15915621) Homepage Journal

    The language from his suit is designed for media consumption, not to sway a judge.

    Here's a random clip from his statement of facts:

    21. Take-Two is fraudulently and deceptively marketing this game not only because it desperately needs the cash from the sale of this controversial game, whose release has been delayed for over a year in large part because of the efforts of the undersigned petitioner, but also because controversy still swirls about the Bully game, and Take-Two is Hell-bent to defuse it.

    Lawyers vary in how they make their statements of fact, but a long litany of statements like this make you sound unhinged and guilty of gross hyperbole. Maybe that's why he's been so stupendously unsuccessful [wikipedia.org] in all of his anti-game lawsuits.

    I also wonder at the letter he sent to Take-Two and Wal-Mart. The opening paragraph certainly sounds like a bald attempt at extortion [wikipedia.org]. He's already skated on thin ice with the Florida Bar and with various judges. I wonder how much longer he'll be able to push the envelope with these vague and poorly constructed lawsuits before he gets nailed to the wall for it.

  • PA's Gabe is on to something I think (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Guysmiley777 ( 880063 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:45PM (#15915626)
    So how do you fight Jack? Well first off all you don't fight him directly. He's like the fucking Candy Man. Mention his name and you give him power. Arguing with him is a waste of time. Jack or someone like him will always be there beating their chest and begging for air time. You'll never change his mind. What you can change is the validity of his arguments and we don't do that during a televised debate.

    ...

    All we have to do, is not be who he says we are.

    -Gabe out

    I really wholeheartedly agree. Giving him attention when he pulls this stupid crap is not going to make him go away. He's an attention-whoring lunatic. He WANTS us to get worked into a tizzy.

  • Still (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Dorceon ( 928997 )
    Notice that he phrased his request "...whether it still poses a threat of copycat violence in our schools." Not that there was proof that it ever posed a threat of copycat violence. "Hey Rockstar Games, are you still beating your wife?"

  • Sure Jack... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Kirsha ( 201264 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:46PM (#15915633)
    Here's your copy. It'll be $54.95.

    Money orders and credit cards only please.

  • Bzzt, Wrong Answer (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kawahee ( 901497 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:49PM (#15915643) Homepage Journal
    I'd like to see this on a Take Two/Rockstar press release:

    A warning for those of you lazy self absorbed and/or just plain inattentive parents: All the censorship in the world won't make up for bad parenting if your child is more influenced by our games than by Mommy & Daddy, both you and your offspring have much bigger problems than the gameplay. So before you go hauling us or any other studio into court, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you did the best you could, because if you're considering taking us to court, you didn't.

    Inspiration for above [wikipedia.org]
  • Wouldn't this be using the threat of a lawsuit akin to blackmail??

    Are there not laws to prevent this sort of..(wait for it?).. bullying ??

    Maybe smiling Jack is trying to get a job with the RIAA??

  • I couldn't say it better myself (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pcgabe ( 712924 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:54PM (#15915671) Homepage Journal
    So how do you fight Jack? Well first off all you don't fight him directly. He's like the [fsck]ing Candy Man. Mention his name and you give him power. Arguing with him is a waste of time. Jack or someone like him will always be there beating their chest and begging for air time. You'll never change his mind. What you can change is the validity of his arguments and we don't do that during a [...] debate. We do it through our actions as a community. [...]

    Arguing [...] with someone like Jack Thompson seems kind of stupid now don't you think?

    All we have to do, is not be who he says we are.
    (As said by Gabe [penny-arcade.com], emphasis mine)

  • Enough is enough! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dreamchaser ( 49529 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:55PM (#15915682) Homepage Journal
    Lazy parents. That's the problem, not violent content in games. If parents would actually PARENT their kids instead of being all self absorbed and/or just wanting to 'be their friend'. The vast majority of parents are lazy, do not want to take responsibility for their children's actions, and pay little if no attention to raising them properly. As a parent of a teenager I can say it makes my job all the harder too.

    Instead of going after media (games, movies, whatever), why not focus on the ONLY place where social problems can be adequately addressed...the HOME.
    • Lazy parents. That's the problem, not violent content in games. If parents would actually PARENT their kids instead of being all self absorbed and/or just wanting to 'be their friend'. The vast majority of parents are lazy, do not want to take responsibility for their children's actions, and pay little if no attention to raising them properly.

      Is it just me, or have "Lazy Parents" taken a number-two spot behind "Jews" on the Big List Of Convenient Scapegoats For Blaming All The Ills Of The World On?

      It can't

  • Video games aren't violent... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tillerman35 ( 763054 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @08:59PM (#15915707)
    video game players are violent. You can get medieval on someone's ass playing the Telletubbies game if you try hard enough. What about all the times I crashed 747's into the World Trade Center in Microsoft FS2000? To be fair, I was trying to fly between them, but the frame rate on my Pentium ONE (with the floating point bug, thank you very much) was so crappy I often over-controlled and wiped out on one of them.

    The converse is also true. I play World of Warcraft, an intensely PVP game but have never fought another player (mostly because they're all noobs and I'm too nice to pwn them severely). I could easily play an hour of GTA without killing a single NPC. It's not the point of the game, but I could do it if I wanted to.

    Still, I'm thankful that the vast rightwing conspiracy is taking time off from the war on drugs, fighting against pr0n, opposing gay marriage, defending the rights of blastocycts, installing surveillance cameras, wire-tapping my home, and working feverishly to perfect SOME kind of mind-control device to protect me (a 47 year old man) from violent video games. Thanks, dudes!

  • Seriously, what is the point??? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sathias ( 884801 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @09:07PM (#15915751)
    Does he really expect us to believe that there is any possible way he could play the game and then say, "Actually, I was wrong... this game is just fine for our kids"? I'm under the impression that his crusade will pick on the tiniest detail, completely oblivious to bias and context.

  • Isn't this illegal? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by drxenos ( 573895 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @09:38PM (#15915939)
    I thought it was illegal to use threats of a lawsuit. I don't remember where I read or heard it, but the jist was saying "you must do this or that or I will suit" was illegal. Any law professionals here?

  • Moron! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Randseed ( 132501 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @10:41PM (#15916267)
    The guy is flat-out a complete, fucking moron. I thihk that about covers it.

  • Open Commentary to Jack Thompson (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GuyverDH ( 232921 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2006 @11:38PM (#15916517)
    It is my opinion that you are nothing more than a grandstanding egotist, with delusions of grandeur trying to draw attention to yourself, in an attempt to compensate for a childhood filled with loneliness.

    Here's the problem.

        There are people who see or read something and decide "Hey, I'd like to try that." Those people are choosing to do something, not being forced to do it and they aren't really copy-cats. They are only people who do not know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, nor have they been raised to have a sense of responsibility. If caught, they just say - "Uh, I played a video game, and it made me do it".... BULLSHIT.
    If you do something, you and ONLY you are responsible for that action.

    Why is that? I believe it is because of people such as yourself, who preach on about how "No one is responsible for their own actions" - they must have seen it in a video game, or a movie, or read about it in a book. You give them an out. If nothing else, all you are doing is making the problem worse. You're giving them their excuse to use before the judge. "Your honor, Jack Thompson clearly states that I only acted this way because of a video game!" You're making the problem worse, not better.

    Let me tell you something else... There are a hell of a lot worse things to emulate on television. It's called the NEWS - maybe you should sit down and watch it some time. You know - the parts about people being blown to bits by terrorists or the military fighting the terrorists. Or the random acts of nature killing thousands of people.
    Let's face it, what someone chooses to do is not the result of reading a book, or watching a movie, or playing a video game. None of these things *MAKE* anyone do anything. The people who do these things have not had a proper upbringing, where they are instilled with a sense of responsibility, and a clear deliniation between right and wrong, good and evil.
    Schools are not responsible for this instruction.
    Governments are not responsible for this instruction.
    Parents are ultimately responsible for this instruction.

    Jack - please, just - go away somewhere, and leave the raising of our kids to us. I don't care about your opinion. I don't believe anything you say. You have to respect someone for anything they say to have an affect on you. Trust me, you haven't earned anyone's respect by, in my opinion, acting like a blithering, idiotic, blow-hard.

    ** This used to be worded a lot harsher - however, I figured no one would take it seriously if I filled it with nothing but knee-jerk commentary.

  • Jack is a bored house husband with extra time. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bigbigbison ( 104532 ) on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @12:02AM (#15916611) Homepage
    From Jack's book, Out of Harm's Way, page 124: "From August 1992 until John [his son] went off to school, my job was to be his stay-at-home father." "We decided I would be the one to stay at home. It made sense. Patricia [his wife] had a great job, and my professional life, jumbled by a radio war [against Stern] and other efforts stemming from that endeavor, was less structured, to say the least."

    So while I think that Jack did a wonderful thing in staying home to take care of his son, the fact is he hasn't had to have a job outside of the home in a long time. Now that his son is older, Jack must have a LOT of spare time on his hands.

    Free time + moral indignation + law degree = lots of lawsuits

    Is there a place where you can look up the cases a lawyer has tried in court? I am curious if Jack has actually won any of the countless lawsuits he has been involved in.
  • ... by having the mentality that "you can get whatever you want by puffing your chest, threatening people (he threatened to sic the police on Penny Arcade [gamespot.com] after a spat about a charity donation), and abusing the legal system, you can get whatever you want." Which is probably a worse example for kids than the Bully game would be, since Jack (as far as I can tell) is a real live person.

    Good job.

  • ok, cool (Score:3, Funny)

    by XO ( 250276 ) <blade,eric&gmail,com> on Wednesday August 16, 2006 @12:11PM (#15920243) Homepage Journal
    And they have until 5:00 on TUESDAY to supply ME with a copy, just so I can play it.

    Who the hell demands free software? besides the FSF ...

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