Jack Thompson Decides He's In GTA IV

[VexnadFett]

I commend Rockstar for constantly pulling this bothersome rodent out of his hole to reveal himself more and more to be a know-nothing ass...

[Mr_Biggs]

i feel sorry for that one kid of his, he's 15. he got sent into a best buy to buy a copy of bioshock. they sold it to him. Thompson went ape-$#@!, saying take-two sells games to kids under 17.

[VampDude]

Is there anything this guy hasn't said or done to block the release of a game?

[ish420ism]

this is funny stuff. i want to play that game and do that mission

[bah]

Since when is using a likeness for parody not protected?

Noone is confused that perhaps the guy in the game is REALLY Jack Thompson, and would confuse anything the character in-game does/says with coming from the man himself.

http://iplaw.hllaw.com/2007/06/artic...ody-protected/
http://www.chillingeffects.org/protest/faq.cgi

Its just more 'Videogames are destroying the world. I'm Lawyer-man, I'll save you, through litigation!'.

[goliath182]

i feel sorry for that one kid of his, he's 15. he got sent into a best buy to buy a copy of bioshock. they sold it to him. Thompson went ape-$#@!, saying take-two sells games to kids under 17.

LOL its MA15+ in Australia (The highest possible rating for a game)

[bah]

LOL its MA15+ in Australia (The highest possible rating for a game)

Thats a good thing and a bad thing. The US at least has an adults only rating, it just seems to be a kiss of death to any game as stores wont carry them.

If they could just get their acts together and create an R rating for games and have stores stock them (as they do DVDs), I could have my 'pornstars decapitating people while being ****ed by well hung midgets' game.

Seriously though, it's just stupid to ban games because there is no equivalent of a movie's R18+. I don't even like games like manhunt but I don't think they should be banned.

GTA4 better not have any problems, making them take out being able to screw the hookers in gta3 (or was it vice city) was just odd considering the content of the rest of the game.

[Eyedunno]

I think that the worse he could do is try and sue them for libel, but tbh he'd have a very shaky case. For a successful libel case Rockstar would have to slander him in some way and looking at the mission detail it doesn't look like that at all.

Last time I checked it was OK to parody someone.

Whaa? Okay, first of all, libel and slander are separate forms of defamation, so slander is by no means a part of libel. Libel is in durable media (books, newspapers, or games, thus it would be appropriate here). Slander is when there's no tangible record of the defamation left afterwards, as with spoken words.

Anyway, for either form of defamation, it has to be shown that the actions in question were false, were presented as true, and were done with the intent of damaging the target's reputation. The standards tend to be higher with regard to public figures and parody, and since Thompson is such a media $#@!, he already faces an uphill battle, but the fact that the character is not Thompson and is clearly an act of simple parody that nobody could possibly confuse with the truth pretty much destroy his chances of winning completely. What a jerk.

GTA4 better not have any problems, making them take out being able to screw the hookers in gta3 (or was it vice city) was just odd considering the content of the rest of the game.

Well, you know, kids aren't bothered by dead soldiers, weeping mothers, and other little kids getting their arms blown off in Iraq. But a poorly animated sex scene seen with an Action Replay will scar them for life!

Edit:
Oh, I just looked up this Emmy Award winner on Wikipedia. Seems he's been in a little trouble recently that may limit his ability to harass game developers.

In February 2007, the Florida Bar filed disbarment proceedings against Thompson over allegations of professional misconduct. The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them. According to the complaint, Thompson accused attorney Cardenas of "distribution of pornography to children," claimed that the Alabama judge presiding over the Devin Moore case "breaks the rules, even the Alabama State Bar Rules, because he thinks that the rules don't apply to him," and sent a letter to Blank Rome's managing partner, saying, "Your law firm has actively and knowingly facilitated by various means the criminal distribution of sexual material to minors." Thompson claims that the complaints violate state religious protections because his advocacy is motivated by his Christian faith.

Oh, isn't that lovely. You can break all the rules and just generally act like a complete hosebeast, as long as your actions are motivated by religion. Seems Thompson likes to twist the First Amendment in whichever direction seems appropriate at the time.

[bah]

Hahaha, that is seriously pathetic.

As if it makes any difference whatsoever what religion his is, surely no judge, no matter how religious, would allow themselves to accept that argument.

Jebus hates the videogames, I must stop them, I will o' lord.

[Spotfist]

This guy is an idiot, irronically he alone is an excellent example of why games should be rated correctly and enforced what kind of person gets upset at the fact that some1 uses the same words as they do in a game?

I would like to sue all games containing english cuz they clearly poke fun at me personaly! Every1 is out to get me cuz Im so great!

douche!