Free Republic

A proposed ban on the sale or rental of violent games to minors is another step closer to passing the Louisiana legislature this week, as The Shreveport Times is reporting that HB1381 has been approved by the Senate Judiciary A Committee and will now go to the Senate for final debate. According to the report, representative Roy Burrell, the Democrat who authored the bill with the help of Miami attorney Jack Thompson, showed the committee a sampling of gameplay from the Grand Theft Auto series. In the clips, the player fought with police officers and attacked a woman with a...

A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a Michigan law attempting to make the sale of violent video games illegal to those under the age of 17. While such rulings have become commonplace, the specific language used by Judge George Caram Steeh sets a variety of interesting precedents. Judge Steeh actually demonstrated a surprising understanding of certain aspects of video games that have been either misrepresented or outright twisted by many of the proponents of laws restricting game sales. One of the arguments frequently used by gaming's detractors is that the interactive nature of video games makes them less eligible to...

Alabama suit against gamemakers and retailers proceeds as state's top court denies appeal; Jack Thompson promises case will "destroy Rockstar." The jostling for position continues in the civil suit that pits the estates of killed cops Arnold Strickland and Leslie "Ace" Mealer of Fayette County, Alabama, against the makers and sellers of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. In a criminal case that made national headlines in 2003, carjacker Devin Moore, in police custody at the time, grabbed one of the arresting officer's guns and shot and killed that officer and two others. Moore later told investigators, "Life is like a...

Democratic Senators from New York and Connecticut are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate "impact of electronic media use." A handful of US senators who are longtime foes of the video game industry took a first step Wednesday toward a future government crackdown....

Jack Thompson will give $10,000 to charity if any videogame company makes and releases a game based on a scenario he created. Miami, Florida Attorney Jack Thompson, a long-time outspoken critic of violent and sexually explicit videogames, has done something totally unexpected. Thompson today actually proposed a violent videogame, and will pay $10,000 to the favorite charity of Paul Eibeler (the Chairman of Take-Two Interactive) if any videogame company will "create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006" based on a scenario he created. Thompson's proposal is titled A Modest Video Game Proposal and has been sent to...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The creators of the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" want a federal judge to dismiss a $246 million lawsuit filed by the families of two people shot by teenagers Rockstar Games and its New York City-based parent, Take-Two Interactive Software, said the victims' families were trying to hold them liable "based on the expressive content of the video game." Retailer Wal-Mart and marketer Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., are also named in the lawsuit. Aaron Hamel, 45, was killed and Kimberly Bede, 19, was seriously wounded when their cars were hit June 25 by .22-caliber bullets...

Controversial attorney thrown off of GTA lawsuit November 21, 2005 - Controversial Miami-based attorney Jack Thompson has been removed from a lawsuit filed by the families of two slain police officers and a police dispatcher against Sony, Rockstar Games, and game retailers. Furthermore, the judge in the case revoked Thompson's license to practice law in the state of Alabama citing Thompson's behavior as the cause of the sanction. In our previous coverage of the trial, we reported that Thompson had voluntarily withdrawn from the case because he felt that the "other side [meaning the trial defendents] wants to make me...

Jack Thompson has a new book. Maybe you heard... Out of Harm's Way is currently available on Amazon.com as well as other booksellers. GP can't comment on the tome's quality, since our copy hasn't yet arrived. It is pretty clear, however, that the book's early days have been plagued by bad Amazon reviews. It's possible - likely? - that many of the "reviewers" are reviewing the author, not his work. Most of the reviews have been of the one-star (out of five) variety, accompanied by negative, even nasty commentary about Thompson himself. Out of Harm's Way has likewise been plagued...

GP has never seen an attorney put out a press release hyping the opening day of a lawsuit before, but we've just received one from Jack Thompson. It is a quite remarkable document in many ways, and reads in part: "This Thursday, November 3, 2005, at 1 pm the Alabama fireworks ignite in the Fayette County Courthouse. This may make the OJ Simpson trials look like quilting bees." "Defendants Sony, Take-Two/Rockstar, Wal-Mart, GameStop, and cop killer Devin Moore have all been sued for their respective roles in the June 2003 murder of two police officers and a dispatcher. The corporate...

Jack Thompson, a Florida lawyer who became infamous in 1988 for accusing Janet Reno of being a closeted lesbian with a drinking problem and a strong candidate for blackmail, has recently been making waves with his crusade against the video game industry. Earlier this year, he launched a wrongful death lawsuit against Take Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, claiming that the video game was directly responsible for 18 year-old Devin Moore's shooting of three police officers in 2003. Jack recently appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes trying to drum up support for his efforts....

First VGCats, now Penny Arcade: Penny Arcade's rather expensive jab at Jack Thompson has caused the Florida attorney to go off the deep end. He has enlisted the Seattle Police Department in a desperate bid to get even with the creators of the webcomic. Yes, you read that right, folks, Jack Thompson is calling the cops on Gabe and Tycho for donating $10,000 to charity. Part of a letter Jack Thompson faxed to the Seattle chief of police Gil Kerlikowske reads as follows: "A Seattle business by the name of Penny Arcade... employs certain personnel who have decided to commence...

Florida attorney and anti-videogame campaigner Jack Thompson has come under fire from America's National Institute on Media and the Family for claiming to have the support of the group in his regular open letters. The decision of the group to distance itself from the attorney and his headline-grabbing tactics comes despite the fact that like Thompson, the institute is a vocal critic of games such as Manhunt and 25 to Life for their violent content. The institute's founder, Dr David Walsh, wrote an open letter to Thompson, a copy of which was obtained by US website Game Politics. The letter...

Jack Thompson will give $10,000 to charity if any videogame company makes and releases a game based on a scenario he created. Miami, Florida Attorney Jack Thompson, a long-time outspoken critic of violent and sexually explicit videogames, has done something totally unexpected. Thompson today actually proposed a violent videogame, and will pay $10,000 to the favorite charity of Paul Eibeler (the Chairman of Take-Two Interactive) if any videogame company will "create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006" based on a scenario he created. Thompson's proposal is titled A Modest Video Game Proposal and has been sent to...

ex-ex-ex-ex FReeper and legal gadfly Jack Thompson on ABC Evening News   Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before legal gadfly and ex-ex-ex-ex FReeper Jack Thompson would re-surface in the media. The only question would be who, what cause and how much money he would be suing for. Tonight, the answer was given to us in a report by ABC NEWS (one of many appearances made by Jack) on the Army's War Simulation software, America's Army: Operations. Seems Jackpeace (aka BatJack), doesn't want America's youth shooting computer guns or something of the sort. He's been busy...