Jack Thompson Releases Grand Theft Auto IV Statement

To no one's surprise, controversial attorney Jack Thompson has issued a statement in response to Rockstar's recent announcement of a release date for Grand Theft Auto IV.

The statement, posted on GamePolitics, describes the upcoming game with typical Thompson-style hyperbole, although his threats against Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive are somewhat less apocalyptic than usual. "Take-Two shares have jumped approximately 12 percent today on this news," Thompson said, referring to the release date announcement. "What the market is not factoring in, however, is the downside risk coming Take-Two's way with the sale of this "Mature" game to kids, which is a murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders."

"Thompson will, in the days and weeks ahead, be contacting state and federal officials to stop the improper sale of Grand Theft Auto IV to anyone under seventeen years of age, as any such sales violate state and federal fraudulent and deceptive trade practices statutes," he continued. "Indeed, Thompson has today contact Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who has supported Thompson's efforts in the past."

Thompson's efforts may be even less likely than usual to come to anything, however. Thompson is currently fighting attempts by the Florida Bar to have him disbarred, and his past courtroom antics, such as including gay pornography with a courtroom motion filed last year, have gained him little sympathy in the state judiciary.

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Sigh. Go back to bed, Jack.

Wish they'd hurry up and disbar this nutter.

If GTA4 really does have some big controversy, sales will probably go up, not down.

PLEASE stop covering Thompson.

PLEEEEEEAAAASEEEE... PLease. please.

Stop it.

Sane, us? Surely you jest.

I think therefore I must speak.

Is it just me or does Jack Thompson's brain always lose the race with his mouth and some rubbish comes out before he thinks.

Personally I think Jack doth protest too much and that ten minutes with his hard drive might be pretty revealing...

I wonder how much Rockstar pay him.

Tony Harrison:
I wonder how much Rockstar pay him.

That's exactly what I was thinking, cos they get more publicity from this clown than anything else. Its either the best free advertising in the world or Jack is getting a little of the green on the side from Rockstar to hype up their games.

Thompson:
..simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders.

So Thompson implies women are not innocent bystanders.

Any woman who wants to sue him for slander?

I hear it's more violent when you run over a woman pedestrian rather than the man behind her. Just word on the street.

Well, this time, he's actually making sense. He's asking it not to be sold to anyone under 17, and I think that's reasonable, considering the game will get an M rating.

Funny man!

HalfShadow:
Booyah! I called it.

lol, but that's not a whole lot to be proud of. Calling Jack Thompson protesting a GTA release is like calling the sunrise. :)

strayjay:
PLEASE stop covering Thompson.

PLEEEEEEAAAASEEEE... PLease. please.

Stop it.

15 comments as of my post, with 0 comments on the stories on either side of it.
I expect Jack Thompson gets covered because he gets more attention from us than other things.

Thompson really is a case of "Ignore it and it'll go away". Once we start learning to do that, he'll stop driving ad revenues and no longer be a story worth media coverage.

it's time we as gamers ignore this toolbag.

Don't worry, people these days have learned to take what he says with a grain of sand. Useless tool.

Didn't he protest aginst GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas? How far did he get on those again? And yet games like The Godfather allow you to throw pedestrians through windows and off buildings. Ohh, I hope you can do that in GTA 4.

We, the gamers, might ignore him, but other people, the not-gamers, wont start ignoring him just because we do. They don't even know that we want to ignore him because they're not in our world, hence they only hear what people like Jack Thompson tell them about our world on news and stuff like that. Thompson might be wacko at times, but when he drags some lines between school murders and games which depict violence on the cover then a lot of not-gaming parents usually forget that the games are even getting rated and just go nuts and if there's nobody on "our side" to tell them how things actually are because "our side" is so busy ignoring Thompson and hoping he'll "get it" and leave, then "outsiders" will just get an awfully wrong idea on the subject because I doubt most of them even know how nutty Thompson is - they only hear "lawyer" and "games kill, murder simulators" and that's that.

So do you really think it would be such a great idea to ignore this awful depiction of "our world"? I think not.

Jiki:
So do you really think it would be such a great idea to ignore this awful depiction of "our world"? I think not.

That is very true, now all we need is someone to sue Jack Thompson for harrassment of Take-Two or something like that. It might end up being like that Simpsons episode:

Nelson: "Watch Out!"
Director: "Next!"
*Nelson looks towards mirror*: "Ha, ha! Hey... that hurt. No wonder no-one came to my birthday"

Uhh... is it just me or has Jack actually calmed down a bit recently? Everyone seems to be saying "OH THAT JACK UP TO HIS OLD CRAZY ANTICS WHEN WILL HE GET A CLUE" but while I wouldn't go as far as to call GTA4 a "murder simulator", you can kill plenty of innocent bystanders and police officers, and he's not trying to get the game banned or sue Take 2 or anything, just trying to stop the sale of the game to people under 17 which is, you know, against the law in a lot of places and a good idea anywhere.

He also defended the sensationalist bashing of Mass Effect, so while it remains to be seen if Jack is any less crazy he certainly seems more informed and maybe even open to games now.

But hey, I don't want to upset the status quo so MAYBE HE FINALLY STARTED TAKING HIS MEDS AMIRITE GUYS???

Edit: Defended Mass Effect against the sensationalist bashing, excuse me.

I dunno, making something prohibited for minors just seem to increase the 'coolness' factor of said item. Or maybe i'm just generalizing.

The Jacko is still trying to do this? Oh well, it provides us with entertainment.

DarkKaz:
Uhh... is it just me or has Jack actually calmed down a bit recently? Everyone seems to be saying "OH THAT JACK UP TO HIS OLD CRAZY ANTICS WHEN WILL HE GET A CLUE" but while I wouldn't go as far as to call GTA4 a "murder simulator", you can kill plenty of innocent bystanders and police officers, and he's not trying to get the game banned or sue Take 2 or anything, just trying to stop the sale of the game to people under 17 which is, you know, against the law in a lot of places and a good idea anywhere.

He also defended the sensationalist bashing of Mass Effect, so while it remains to be seen if Jack is any less crazy he certainly seems more informed and maybe even open to games now.

But hey, I don't want to upset the status quo so MAYBE HE FINALLY STARTED TAKING HIS MEDS AMIRITE GUYS???

Edit: Defended Mass Effect against the sensationalist bashing, excuse me.

Aside from the fact that he's, y'know, Crazy Ol' Jack Thompson, his general desire to not let kids under 17 buy a really violent and generally not kid-appropriate game is generally one that I can get behind. Generally. His methods and hyperbole are what get everyone riled up. So yeah, I do sort of agree with you here, but it's too late for the man to ever be taken seriously again. The boy has cried wolf far too many times.

Though wait, he defended Mass Effect from that whole Fox debacle? Where? What? Uh? I think I missed something absolutely mind-boggling, if that's the case.