jack-thompson posts

Telltale Games' big Adventure Game Bundle 2010 deal is coming to a close on Monday but before it does the developer has decided to unlock the sixth and final game for everyone who has or who will purchase the bundle. It's Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space, the second "season" of Telltale's episodic game series. Telltale was going to wait to add Sam and Max until it sold 5,000 bundles but apparently decided to unlock the final game ahead of time.

Besides Sam and Max the bundle has the following games, all of which are available for the bundle price of $19.95: The Whispered World, Jack Keane, King's Quest Collection (with several games in the King's Quest series), Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 1, and Puzzle Agent. 25 percent of the proceeds will still be going to several charities including Child's Play, The World Wildlife Fund, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Nyota e.V., and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

It's been a while since a state has proposed regulating sales of video and PC games (perhaps because all of the previous attempts have been deemed unconstitutional) but the state of Rhode Island now has a bill going through its state legislature that, if passed into law, would impose fines and perhaps even some jail time for retailers that sell games that are rated "M" or "AO" to minors.

As expected, GamePolitics reports that the Entertainment Software Association has already announced its opposition to the bill, saying, "This bill is the same as all the other legislative proposals found unconstitutional by numerous federal courts." What is unexpected is that the bill is also opposed by former Florida attorney and video game critic Jack Thompson. He's quoted as saying, "Since 1930, it has been unconstitutional to restrict the sale of entertainment products to anyone based upon a private sector standard, which the ESRB ratings are." However he hasn't made a big change in his attitude towards games. Thompson will be giving his advice to Rhode Island lawmakers in an attempt to make their bill pass muster.

Most of the PC and video game sales laws that have attempted to be passed by local and state governments have concentrated on the games themselves. These laws tried to make sales of games with violent and/or sexual content illegal to minors. All of those laws have been shot down in the court system so far under First Amendment free speech

Now a new bill in the Utah State Legislature is taking a different approach, The bill, HB 353, is targeted at retailers who have enforcement policies on the sales of games. The bill will allow people to file a lawsuit against retailers who pledge not to sell certain rated games to minors but then are discovered to have done so anyway.

The Salt Lake Tribune web site reports that there are a number of exceptions for retailers in the final bill, such as exempting stores from being sued that have employee-training programs. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Michael Morley, was originally written with assistance by none other than game industry critic and disbarred attorney Jack Thompson, according to Game Politics. The bill passed the Utah House Tuesday with a vote of 70-2. It now goes to the Utah Senate for their vote and if passed will finally go to Utah's governor for the final signing into law. It's unclear if the game industry will attempt to fight the bill in court if it does become law.

Last September the single most outspoken critic of the game industry, Jack Thompson, lost the right to practice law via a decision from the Florida Supreme Court last September. At the time we expected Thompson to appeal the decision and we were correct.

Game Politics reports that Thompson will make a plea to the US Supreme Court to appeal the Florida court's decision. In fact Thompson was granted an extension beyond the normal Christmas Eve deadline to make such an appeal. Thompson now has until February 18 to file what is known as a "petition for a writ of certiorari" to the court. Even with this ruling in his favor, it must be noted that only 1 percent of the US Supreme Court's 10,000 court requests every year actually gets a hearing before the full court.

With all of his bluster, his harsh statements and his criticisms, Florida attorney Jack Thompson can sometimes be entertaining with his almost always inaccurate assessment of the PC/video game industry. He has been a huge force in the mass media's coverage of games, stating that titles like Doom and the Grand Theft Auto series directly cause people to commit crimes and even murder. Today he lost a massive and prolonged battle in court to keep his law license.

Our sister site Joystiq reports that the Florida Supreme Court has finally disbarred him and has the full court decision in a gallery feature. It states Thompson made false accusations and constantly harassed opponents among the many actions described in the final decision. The decision becomes final in 30 days but you can bet Thompson will make all efforts to appeal. Even if his appeal is unsuccessful you can also bet Thompson will continue to rant against the game industry as a civilian.

How many times have we read a story about a murder or other crime out there that is blamed on the alledged criminal playing video games? From Doom to Mortal Kombat to the Grand Theft Auto titles, people and attorneys love that kind of blame game. In the real world we know crimes are committed for a ton of other real reasons but a attorney (not Jack Thompson) says that the 'blame games" defense can actually work in court.

In a story for the Palm Beach Post web site, llinois attorney James H. Waller states, "While I don't believe that violent video games tend to have any negative effects on otherwise healthy people, my job is to present ANY theory to a jury that would explain why my client did the things he did." He says placing blame on outside forces, including the playing of violent games, "humanizes the client and shifts the culpability." The defense works, he claims, mainly on "an unsophisticated, typically older, somewhat more rural jury pool or judge."

However, game publishers have to take a little responsiblity, according to Waller. "The manufacturers do everything they can to make sure that they are a household name, if not cartridge. Restricting supply to create buzz, sensationalizing their own violence to the media, doing idiotic things like leaving the "Hot Coffee" code in the game...the jury knows that a lot of kids today are playing this Grand Theft Auto game and that it's very violent or adult before we even walk into the courtroom."

Jack Thompson began circulating emails today stating that Judge Dava Tunis, the referee during his November 2007 trial, has recommended a life-time disbarment.

"I got the always helpful Dava Tunis' final Referee's Report today," Thompson said in one email, "recommending a life-time disbarment (my life, not hers). The Bar only asked for ten years."

Thompson sent another email to the Florida Supreme Court informing them that "[Judge] Dava Tunis, the one who does not have a federally-mandated loyalty oath even to be on the bench, just today issued her final Referee's Report in the above matter, and she rejected The Bar's recommendation of a ten-year disbarment for me and instead is asking you to disbar me permanently with no opportunity ever to apply for reinstatement."

This story will doubtlessly continue to expand as the day continues. Stay tuned for any pertinent updates.

Infamous anti-games attorney Jack Thompson is still defiant after having been recommended guilty on 27 of 31 counts of professional misconduct by Judge Dava Tunis, who presided over Jack Thompson's Florida Bar trial in 2007. The case will now be remanded to the Supreme Court of Florida for further ruling.

In his closing argument to the court, Thompson has stated that he will continue his fight against what he calls "the distribution of adult material, pornographic material, violent material, adult rated material to children", even after the point of disbarment, if that should be the eventual result.

We're curious to see whether or not his muckraking and glory-seeking will be as successful once he no longer commands a position of authority. It's difficult to demand respect as a janitor.