Take-Two pre-emptively gags Thompson

By Robert Purchese Published 17 January, 2008

Legal shoe on other foot.

Oops: This is a very old story as some of you have pointed out. We are leaving it on the website so you can bask in our stupidity. Ah, the royal we.

Take-Two has decided to strike first and gag Jack Thompson before he can block the release of GTA IV and Manhunt 2 in Florida.

The parent company of Rockstar claims the US lawyer-nuisance is violating its First Amendment rights, according GamePolitics, and that he is essentially acting as a "a private attorney general on behalf of the State of Florida".

Thompson has naturally complained against all of this. Bizarrely his writ filed with the state Supreme Court claims he will be responsible for the firing of all Take-Two management and board members. And save the earth from oversized courgettes sprouting legs and evil intentions spawned by videogames, probably.

"So successful has Thompson been in exposing the fraud and criminal conduct of Take-Two on the national stage," he explained, cleverly talking in the third-person, "that a corporate coup by 46 per cent of Take-Two's shareholders is set for March 23, which nearly all financial analysts ... are predicting will be successful and which will result in the firing of all Take-Two management and the entire board..."

Last October Thompson petitioned against the sale of Bully in Florida, but failed to persuade judge Ronald Friedman that its gameplay or content warranted a ban.

But that's not all. The rent-a-bias-opinion attorney popped up in UK tabloids recently, shaming quiz game Buzz! Schools for proving popular with children and helping them learn.

In other news, Canadian rockers Nickelback like to play Xbox 360 in their spare time. Our local radio station went on about it for hours yesterday. But then games are for children and not adults with jobs.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Raziel #1 4 years ago

    Some part of me wishes some guy would gun Thompson down somewhere in the near future, however, the other part of me knows that such an act would just prove Thompson right in the eye's of the world, and the effects of that would be far worse than what Thompson can achieve by himself.

  • Baronen #2 4 years ago

    Ignore and move on, people.

  • optimusprym8 #3 4 years ago

    unless the gunman never played games...

    can the internet stop talking about him please? Bored now...

    local radio station? Juice "stick on a CD on repeat" FM perchance?

  • jonsaan #4 4 years ago

    If the gaming press took the stance of ignoring and not reporting anything Thompson was involved in then maybe he would go away.

  • JonFE #5 4 years ago

    He won't go away, simply because his audience is not the gaming public, but average Joe's, the perfect ground for the FUD that he sows...

  • schachmatt #6 4 years ago

    People, who openly wish for his death make me feel he could be right.

    I'm rather thankful that the anti-videogame-lobby has such a lunatic running around as their spokesman. He's so radical that sometimes I'm not sure if he ain't paid by Take-Two themselves.

  • MBar #7 4 years ago

    I have a confession.



    I like Nickelback.

    / ducks and covers

  • ccfb #8 4 years ago

    "part of me knows that such an act would just prove Thompson right in the eye's of the world"

    The fact you're thinking this at all lends weight to his half-baked ideas.

  • redlander #9 4 years ago

    I know where he lives and I have made a CS map just like his house so I can practice. Practice going round for tea and being able to found my way to the bathroom that is.

  • t8yman #10 4 years ago

    Nickelback are also responsible for some of the cheesiest, most vomit inducing "music" of the last decade. I would love to find out chad kroeger's gamertag so I could send him dodgy feedback.

  • Raziel #11 4 years ago

    Yes, I'm a bad person :(

    To be honest, I do believe Thompson can make a stand and do right for the world, but the man is an idiot and needs to know which fights to pick and when to shut up.

    Like age restriction, why hasn't he forced Microsoft to add Age Certifcation to Xbox user accounts? If your account says you are underage, it won't allow games like GTA IV to boot up at all.
    Edited by 1 at 17/01/08 @ 10:46

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #12 4 years ago

    going round for tea

    Tea? All Jack Thomson would serve you with would be bile and vitriol.

    And cakes would be made of bullshit.

    Jack would refrain from eating, since he'd be avoiding the big pile of his own words.

  • Lexx87 #13 4 years ago

    Hey Nickleback are ok! "It's too bad too bad!"

    Also...well yes. Thompson should be literally gagged. With a fish.

  • Bumhug360 #14 4 years ago

    Eurogamer has really gone downhill lately :( Anyone reading the whole of the story on Gamepolitics.com will see it was posted on Friday 16h March 2007. Its a 10 month old story

  • Redeye #15 4 years ago

    Dear Jack,

    Please, please, PLEASE, for the love of everything, please just fuck off.

    We asked you once, and you didn't listen. Next time, we send the boys round.

    Yours,

    The rest of the world.

    PS Laughed out loud at the idea of Jack Thompson Bullshit Cakes - someone should send him a box. ;)
    Edited by 1 at 17/01/08 @ 10:56

  • Moz #16 4 years ago

    "I'm rather thankful that the anti-videogame-lobby has such a lunatic running around as their spokesman. He's so radical that sometimes I'm not sure if he ain't paid by Take-Two themselves."

    Now that would be a funny scandle

  • wewillselfdestruct #17 4 years ago

    I love the way this guy talks about himself in the third person. It's only him and Mr T that do that, right?

  • sharpfish #18 4 years ago

    JT is like the small cheeky kid at school who'd throw abuse at you then run behind the teachers back in the playground.

    He needs a good kicking, and if that violence is born from playing games then sobeit, personally I think cheeky fuckers breed violence far more than computer games can.

  • kangarootoo #19 4 years ago

    "If your account says you are underage, it won't allow games like GTA IV to boot up at all."

    Don't the system parental settings do that?

  • kangarootoo #20 4 years ago

    @sharpfish

    You seem to be suggesting that small cheeky kids who are unable to physically back up their taunts (anf therefore have to hide behind hide behind teachers) need beating up by stronger kids more able to dole out the violence?

    How about just not being bothered by hollow insults as an alternative?

    "personally I think cheeky fuckers breed violence far more than computer games can."

    Violence in others? Err.. given your post I think I agree. Not sure where the fault lies though ;)

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #21 4 years ago

    Hello, sorry, my ignorant eyes completely overlooked the date on the news story. I love you all and don't do this on purpose I promise, even if it looks like I do.

    And no we don't copy news from Kotaku, but yes we do use it as a source to see what's happened over night in the US. Like lots of other places. I took this one for granted and bodged up.

  • Rirekon #22 4 years ago

    @ kangarootoo:
    Yes they do, but the kind of parents who buy their 12y/o's 18 rated games are hardly then going to stop them being played are they.

    What Jack should do is campaign for parents to stop buying games for their children which aren't appropriate. The number of times I've seen parents bullied by their brat children into buying an 18 rated game is ridiculous.
    Edited by 1 at 17/01/08 @ 11:33

  • kangarootoo #23 4 years ago

    "Yes they do, but the kind of parents who buy their 12y/o's 18 rated games are hardly then going to stop them being played are they."

    Its a difficult issue. If one perfectly functional tool fails because people don't use it, replacing it with another equally functional tool that won't get used isn't much of a solution.

    Your account would only say underage if the parent had bothered to give it an age rating. If they can't be arsed with using the parental settings on the console itself, I'm not sure whether they would bother ticking any "minor account" boxes when setting up live. That said, the presence of extra choices for the parent does mean that the responsibility on them to not simply ignore them is increased, which is a good thing.

  • Rodney #24 4 years ago

    The thing is with thise whole, dont buy 18 certificate games for children. I agree, an 18 game is not appropriate for some children.

    But come on, how many of us watched Predator or Terminator when we 9 or 10 years old? I remember copies of Mortal Kombat on floppy disk being shared around the class in primary school.

    My point is, yes its important parents know that some games are intended for adults, but at the same time we are kidding ourselves if we think we can prevent all minors from playing such games.

    I will make a pragmatic decision of when my child is old enough to view such material, not stick to some arbritrary, lowest common denominator government rating scheme.

  • fantasticant #25 4 years ago

    fortunately nintendo has spawned a generation of casual gamers to wii on him .....

  • Kryon #26 4 years ago

    "I will make a pragmatic decision of when my child is old enough to view such material"

    I think this is the attitude of most sensible parents tbh. I'll never understand the 18 cert anyway, it's always seemed ludicrous that a 17 year old can get a job, buy a house, get married, have children, drive a car, etc but no, no, no! They must NOT play GTA or watch cartoons like Fist of the North Star. Any rating over 15 should be a guideline only and not punishable by law imo...

  • Slamhound #27 4 years ago

    Terrible news. Nickelback still haven't been run over by a truck?

  • jambolio #28 4 years ago

    Jack Thompson and Nickelback should be sent to Zim's room with a MOOOOSE!

  • Garfy #29 4 years ago

    Funny, I was just listening to Nickleback while playing GTA

    Spooky

  • kangarootoo #30 4 years ago

    "Funny, I was just listening to Nickleback while playing GTA

    Spooky"

    And also unforgiveable......

    well ok, I don't tend to skip them if they turn up on pandora.com; looks like we're all going to hell.

  • john_silence #31 3 years ago

    Not "failed". "Phailed".