Jack Thompson Sues Microsoft

An anonymous reader writes to mention that Jack Thompson, in his latest bout of zealotry, has set his sights on Microsoft for their recent release of Halo 3. GameAlmighty has posted the letter to Bill Gates. "Here's the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3."

But what can they do

[gbulmash]

First, the title of this article is a misnomer. He's threatening to sue. He hasn't sued yet.

How is Microsoft supposed to take drastic measures to ensure retailers don't sell its games to people under 17? I wouldn't be upset if Microsoft started a "17 means 17" program, where if they received proof of a retaler selling "M for Mature" games to people under 17, they would cut off that retailer from all shipments of Microsoft products for 6 months. But is it practical?

If it was Wal-mart, would Microsoft cut them off or give them a stern warning? When I was young and working temp gigs at Disney, I spent a few days calling video stores that had broken street date on video releases, getting a store manager on the line, then handing them over to a Disney manager to chew them out and threaten them with not getting future releases.

But one thing that was interesting was one of my co-workers told me how Costco got away with it all the time. They were such a huge retail channel for Disney videos, Disney couldn't afford to threaten Costco, so they just had to take a "grin and bear it" posture in those cases, filing a protest but unable to make threats.

I'm sure Microsoft doesn't want to see young kids getting their hands on violent games and they're not doing tobacco industry style strategy sessions on how to sell "Halo 3" to 10-year-olds. OTOH, how much can they actually do when they're not the ones actually controlling the point of sale?

Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I have to support Microsoft because there is someone even slimier.

Oh God, Where to begin

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, where to begin, first, This guy is clearly a media whore looking for the next journalist to blow, using sensationalist terms like "hyperviolent", someone get this guy a dictionary. He's probably threatening microsoft because they're big and thhey don't wnat bad press, they haven't done anything yet! It's a threat based on what may or may not happen a few months from now.

Secondly he apparently did this to bestbuy, guess what, NOT THE SAME THING! Bestbuy is a shop, microsoft is a programming company, they will not get sued for selling to under 17s cos they only sell to businesses, they don't actually retail anywhere near a decent %age of the games. It's not up to them to enforce the law on the retailers, it is the retailer's obligation, no one elses and certainly not this random lawyer.

Thirdly, why is this relevant to the public? It doesn't concern us, we should not be sent a copy of this, why has he done this? May I suggest he is advertising this n order to further his reputations and to try and pre-empt microsoft in anything they do in their media campaign?

Finally, who is he to be sueing anyone, it doesn't affect him remotely, the nearest he's got to violence from video gmaes is videos of video games played in order to illustrate how just his cause is not giving the full picture at all.

I feel i could have written this better, but I'm in a rush (as all 16 year olds are), just illegaly downloaded Halo from the pirate bay and can't wait to see that cool real gore!

Re:But what can they do

[Timesprout]

Thats what I was thinking initially. Their Lawyers can't just come out and rip him a new one because it looks bad. Forcing a 'solution' on all their distributors is just impractical. I imagine the first response will be a nice spokesman coming out and making all the right noises about how MS are concerned about kids being exposed to violence and all the measures they take to prevent this and that because they are concerned members of society their games are not really 'violent' its just a tiny part of the gameplay and while they respect and share Mr Thompson's concerns they are currently doing everything in their power to prevent improper sales etc.

However after all the public bs I and considering that gaming and the XBox is going to make them quite a bit of money over the next few years I expect Thompson will find MS much more abrasive and confrontational should he do anything they feel is going to threaten their margins.

Wait...what?

[amuro98]

I seriously hope that idiot goes through with this. It'll be amusing to watch Microsoft counter-sue idiot into oblivion.

Isn't there a law about threatening a lawsuit? Could this finally be the last straw that causes idiot to be disbarred entirely? Not that he couldn't still hire another idiot to act as his attorney, but I suspect it'll become more expensive for idiot to continue threatening companies in this manner.

Re:The Media Should Ignore Him

[Anonymous Coward]

Because it's fun. It's like watching a train wreck. Or maybe more like the "cringe factor" you get from watching reality TV. The guys a real life Don Quixote. Personally I can't wait to see what stupid stunt he'll pull next and love watching him slapped down. No will ever take him seriously. Come on! He's sued Microsoft and he's going to represent himself. You have to admit that's hilarious!

The JT

[GustoGaiden]

I can't figure out whether I want the media to just ignore the guy, or to put a camera on him 24/7. He always seems on the brink of doing something so incredibly awesomely stupid that it will permanently ruin him. One of my favorite things about Jack Thompson is that he ALWAYS references his past accomplishments. "I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers---". Instead of firing off pointless lawsuits, that only attempt to bully game makers and retailers, why don't you set up an infrastructure to INFORM non-gamer parents what games are acceptable to buy for your kids. If you are going to attack microsoft, you obviously have the time and money.

I've heard it before

[itsmilesdavis]

It's the same argument that has been used against gun manufacturers. Look, you shouldn't sue the manufacturer for providing a product that is used to hurt others -- n.b., in the case of video games, there is no 'hurt' involved. Sue the god damn person that SOLD the product, if you need to sue anyone. Better yet, Jack Thompson should just forget about halo 3, and do us all a favor: STOP EXISTING. The responsibility is not the one who made it, but it is the one who gave/sold it to the offending party. I'm sick of morons.

We should be happy about this....

[HerculesMO]

Because as we all know, the louder people yell and scream, ALONE -- the stupider they look.

Just ignore him and let him do whatever he wants -- it's almost a non-issue.

On a related note, if you are a parent whose child is buying things without your knowledge that you wouldn't approve of well.... you suck ass as a parent. Go shoot yourself now.

Gentlemen, this is a hoax

[netcrusher88]

How do I know?

* The writing style is juvenile, and though Thompson may be a fool, he is a lawyer, which means he knows how to write official-looking documents, and that was too casual for even a professional memo.
* Who the hell has ever heard of GameAlmighty? Attention whores like Thompson don't CC legal threats to unheard-of small gaming blogs with about a hundred readers. They CC it to NBC or something.
* Who the hell has ever heard of GameAlmighty? Claiming to have received a letter from Jack Thompson is an extremely effective way to get hits.
* Thompson already sent a letter to Bill Gates, about Counter-Strike. If he was going to send a letter about Halo 3, it would likely go to Steve Jobs.
* Again with the writing style. It just feels very, very wrong. Can we get a literature/psychology professor/professional to analyze these?

I know I'm going to get modded down for this, but I'll be the one laughing. Or maybe you will, and I'll be laughing at myself. I could be wrong.

At What Point in Time?

[Hercules Peanut]

At what point in time did it become the company's responsibility to enforce the law? Shouldn't JT be going after the Justice Deparment or Police Departments or something like that? If a law is not being enforced it's the law enforcement entity's problem.

Of course, if it isn't a law and it's just an industry accepted practice, shouldn't the industry that is committing the offence be held accountable? Why hold MS responsible is Walmart sells something in a way they shouldn't?

Can someone please explain this without using the word chewbacca?

Re:Gentlemen, this is a hoax

[yakumo.unr]

you have seen the emails Thomson sent to vgcats right? http://www.vgcats.com/jack.php [vgcats.com]

Re:Gentlemen, this is a hoax

[timmarhy]

"I could be wrong"

it's more then likely.your applying logic to someone who is irrational at the best of times. he likened people sending him flowers to death threats.

Should Jack take Microsoft to court...

[wilgibson]

it would be one case I would hope Microsoft wins. Seriously, Jack Thompson is a blithering idiot. I find it quite funny that there are many games out there far more violent than the ones he chooses to single out, yet it is like he is oblivious, Oh wait, that's right... he is!

What really amazes me is the man hasn't gone after the Wii(at least to my knowledge). Come on, a game like Red Steel should be a big fat target for this guy. Not to mention Metroid Prime 3, which is a game that is making some buzz. You would think the controls used in these games would seriously disturb him, those Wiimotes are more like guns than any 360 or PS controller could ever be!

Class Action Suit?

[Selott]

Why hasn't someone started one against J.T. for wasting the court's time and the public's money on frivolous suits? With this guy's case record, he shouldn't be allowed near a court room again.

If only Jack was a fool for one month

[kinglink]

Jack is the biggest joke in the game industry already but he also costs people millions in litigation for his causes. You remember that old line "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" it's become "it's all fun and game until someone litigates" and Thompson has proven he's willing to do that.

Hell just when you think Thompson might give the public a break for a month, he comes out again such as this.

Re:If only Jack was a fool for one month

[adona1]

I found that the idiocy was illustrated most by the quote As you also know, Lee Boyd Malvo trained on Microsoft's Halo to further enable him to become the remarkably efficient "DC Beltway Sniper." That was reported by NBC News at the time and was noted in Malvo's criminal trial.

Maybe I'm too much of a n00b or something, but how does fiddling with a gamepad match up with skill with a sniper rifle?

Re:If only Jack was a fool for one month

[Talgrath]

It doesn't, the DC Snipers never even played video games, to my knowledge. One of them was a trained military sniper, hey, wait! We should ban the mliitary because they cause violence!

Re:May fools?

[Torvaun]

I believe it's called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Some people clean things. Some people count. Jack Thompson sues game manufacturers.

Also, the fact that he can attempt to wield the power of the courts to enforce his warped perception is not scary in the least. The fact that you feel some people should not have access to the courts as arbiters is very scary, and if you were someone with even a modicum of power over the courts, it would immediately upgrade to scary as hell. The courts are the perfect place for this. Let Jack Thompson sue Microsoft. Microsoft will eat him. I would love to see them just skip to the third 'E' here. He should be able to do everything in his power under the law to force his views on the world at large, because now the world at large gets to apply massive backlash.

Re:May fools?

[yahooadam]

The whole thing is pointless because the parents will just buy the games for the underage kids anyway - so either way their gonna get the game, but if jack Thompson succeeds hes just gonna piss off a lot of regular people

He should just give up now and die in a hole

Re:May fools?

[sulfur_lad]

Initially I thought this was April Fools because it's actually snowing here in Calgary today, but I digress.

You have to admire his tenacity, but his target is questionable. They create SAW movies with far greater frequency than Halo games, and SAW movies are I think just as (if not more-so just because more people sell them) accessible as Halo games. The violence in the SAW movies is also I'd argue far worse than anything you'd see in a video game just because it's real actors portraying it. (Yes, I'm ignoring the interactivity argument, but still...)