Jack Thompson does it again!!!

[Will]

Jack is now writing to game publishers parents.

Dear Mrs. Zelnick:

Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t know), is Chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countries but sold to children here.

Your son last week was reported to have said the following about Grand Theft Auto IV, due to be released Tuesday, April 29: “We’ve already received numerous [GTA IV] reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores. My mom couldn’t write better reviews…” Taking your son’s thought, I would encourage you either to play this game or have an adroit video gamer play it for you. Some of the latter gamers are on death row, so try to find one out in the civilian population who hasn’t killed someone yet.

What you will see in your son’s game, if this iteration of GTA is anything like its predecessors, is incredible interactive violence aimed at police officers (whom you can shoot in the head and see the blood spray), innocent bystanders (whom you can run over with your car just for the heck of it), and of course the plentiful female prostitutes you can have sex with and then filet with a knife or stomp with your feet in order to get your money back. Experts note that the recent plethora of cop killings is caused in part by your darling son’s entrepreneurial energy. There are three policemen dead in Alabama because of Grand Theft Auto. I was on 60 Minutes about it. I hope Strauss has provided you with a flat screen tv to see the grief of the bereaved families that fills the screen.

The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers’ children, but, hey, your son Strauss has recently assured the world that he is “a Boy Scout, everybody knows that.” I’d love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge? If so, your loving son deserves one now. It should be red and green, for obvious reasons.

With Passover having just come and gone, it is appropriate to note the following from the Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6:

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children? Any kid can go right to little Strauss’ corporate web site and buy GTA IV with no age verification. Strauss is even marketing the new Grand Theft Auto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions of kids. If you trained up Strauss to do this, then shame on you.

But maybe the explanation for your son’s corporate sociopathy is to be found in Old Testament Proverb 29:15:

“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”

Maybe you, Mrs. Zelnick, were so taken by your handsome son that you spared the rod and spoiled the child. That would explain why he has brought you, by the way he presently acts, “to shame.”

There’s another mother you would do well to talk to. Mrs. Crump in Alabama had a son who was a police officer. He’s now dead because a teenaged boy unwittingly trained himself to kill him on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She has a grief she carries every day that only a mother can know.There are other such mothers in the heartland of America whose inhabitants your son simply sees as commercial targets.

Your son, this very moment, is doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be “a Boy Scout.” More like the Hitler Youth, I would say. Happy Mother’s day, Mrs. Zelnick, which this year is May 11, two weeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers’ boys. I’m sure you’re very proud.

Sincerely, Jack Thompson

 

[TdC]

the guy should be locked away. end of.

 

[nath]

Lol - so he's banned from making more lawsuits against them so instead writes to the chairmans mum. I think it's restraining order time.

 

[Ch3tan]

LOL. The crusade continues.

 

[Binky the Bomb]

Enlarged Image

pls note the bottom left corner of the box.
How many 18 year olds you know that are children? (Not 'Act like a f*cking child' mind).

 

[TdC]

the guy's lunacy is so apparent that I'm surprised they've not locked him away for his own good

 

[Furr]

He has such issues... But on the plus side he provides no end of hilarity for the gaming community and continuously tarnishes the image of the anti-gaming lobby. Win win.

 

[Mabs]

hes a waste of oxygen and a gene pool pollutant

freedom of speech is wasted on some people honest to god

 

[taB]

He's a great advocate for gaming tbh, imagine if they had a competent legislator trying to ban stuff. They may actually succeed!

 

[Sar]

the guy should be shot, hung, drawn and quartered, then cremated. end of.

Fix0red.

 

[Munkey]

He makes a legitimate point! I trained myself to kill using GTA, however everytime I beat someone up they dont drop a gun

And when i did finally get a gun, I couldn't find the L2 button to target anyone Plus when I went in a paintshop, the police weren't fooled.

But seriously, what a freaking idiot. He's as bad as the evangelists. The man should be locked up and put away somewhere where he can never talk to anyone again. Perhaps on an island similar to Gruinard, pre-clean up.

 

[FozzySon]

He should just fuck off, that's my take on it. He's got such an hard on over the GTA series, probably because he couldn't get his dirty claws on the amount £££ ($$$ for the yanks ) it makes. ****. Notice he says nothing about Combat simulations or anything else that involves killing people/animals. He's just an attention seeking nobhead who should just quit while he has the chance.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

Personally I think Rockstar et al must love the likes of Jack. Ranting and raving about the "depravity" of a game is great advertising for them. Take a look at Manhunt for example. That game was simply absolutely shit and deserved terrible sales figures, but because of the attempts to get it banned ended up making big profits...

 

[nath]

Personally I think Rockstar et al must love the likes of Jack. Ranting and raving about the "depravity" of a game is great advertising for them. Take a look at Manhunt for example. That game was simply absolutely shit and deserved terrible sales figures, but because of the attempts to get it banned ended up making big profits...

You're absolutely right - rockstar absolutely love to court controversy. However I'm just worried that lots of people might not realise just how full of shit Thompson is, and actually start to believe that computer games might be responsible for violence rather than thinking maybe JUST MAYBE people that are violent already will go and play violent games. The game may well have 0 effect on them whatsoever.

 

[Aada]

It's all down to bad parenting at the end of the day.

When i was getting Bully from Gamestation a few weeks ago this bloke and his kid who must have been around 6-7 he bought Bully and as soon as he paid he handed the game to the kid and they walked out.

Now either he knew what content was in the game or he didn't have a clue either way my view is most parents wouldn't let their kid watch a porno but they seem fine for them to play any game they want and not care about what they are actually viewing in the game and this is the issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[nath]

I think a lot of parents aren't quite realising that computer games are universally for children any more. This is perhaps something that needs to have more attention - it needs to be made clearer that certain titles really aren't suitable for kids.

 

[ECA]

I think a lot of parents aren't quite realising that computer games are universally for children any more. This is perhaps something that needs to have more attention - it needs to be made clearer that certain titles really aren't suitable for kids.

Like the 18 label on the box they are buying?

 

[nath]

That's all well and good, but they may assume that despite that, how bad could it be? It's just a 'puter game.

On the other hand, if parents are buying 18 rated games for little Billy, they have no right to complain when he turns in to a little sociopath.

 

[Sar]

I think that was pretty much the conclusion of the Byron report - Parents don't take enough of an interest and have to be made aware that some games aren't suitable for ickle kiddies.

 

[Mabs]

That's all well and good, but they may assume that despite that, how bad could it be? It's just a 'puter game.

On the other hand, if parents are buying 18 rated games for little Billy, they have no right to complain when he turns in to a little sociopath.

i honestly thing they dont actually care. chav culture etc, rules are for other people
and hey, if it does happen, we can sue SUE SUE!!!1111 an we can get more satelite tv for our housing scheme :/

 

[nath]

i honestly thing they dont actually care. chav culture etc, rules are for other people
and hey, if it does happen, we can sue SUE SUE!!!1111 an we can get more satelite tv for our housing scheme :/

No doubt there's a large supply of fuckwits like that, but I'm sure there are decent enough parents who genuinely don't realise.

 

[Mabs]

No doubt there's a large supply of fuckwits like that, but I'm sure there are decent enough parents who genuinely don't realise.

either dont know or dont care, id hardly call either "decent"

 

[Furr]

Games with violent or other non child suitable content have to go though the same certification as films in this country. If a game has a rating such as 18 then the parent shouldn't buy it for their child, and the shop shouldn't sell it to a child. But its probably a mix of lax parenting, or parents who can't say no to something their child wants, in which case the kid is buggered anyway.

 

[DaGaffer]

No doubt there's a large supply of fuckwits like that, but I'm sure there are decent enough parents who genuinely don't realise.

Sorry, don't buy that. Unless they're fucking Amish or something, how could anyone NOT notice the regular flare-ups of Daily Mail type ranting about "teh evul gamez"?

As it happens I think games ratings are pretty irrelevant in most cases anyway, and 99.999999% of kids are quite comfortable separating games from reality. Are some violent games tasteless? Absolutely. Are they "murder simulators?" of course not, unless the kids are fucked up already, in which case games are the least of their problems.

 

[chipper]

the shops should warn parents that the game really isnt suitable for young children and point out the gaming certificate. parents really do need to start realizing games are no longer the domain of teens.

however that said games dont make ppl violent it may desensitize them but hell tv has played a large part of that for a good 50 years its just a new scapegoat that someone can use to get away with crimes if you shoot someone its not cause a game made you do it that person did it of their own free will.

 

[Tom]

http://www.gamepolitics.com/images/legal/JT-GTA4-ltr.pdf

 

[Mabs]

its the last line i love...

"Govern yourselves accordingly, or else"


or else what ? you will do exactly what ? stupid fuckwit

 

[nath]

Oh man I *really* hope that lawyer execution is in the full game

I checked out the review on gametrailers, it looks phat yo!