sponsorship

Jack Thompson is in the news again, this time trying to get Halo 3 declared as a public nuisance. Again blurring the line between lawyer and clown.

So, Jack Thopmson got his 15 year old son to successfully purchase M-rated Bioshock the other day. Shockingly his son was recently able to purchase Halo 3, also M rated. So now, cheaply hiding behind his own child, he hurls accusations and demands Halo 3 be deemed a public nuisance, outlawing it's sale to less-than 17 year olds. Dennis McCauley sums it up pretty well over at Joystiq.

"If approved by the court, the highlighted section would essentially give the ESRB's voluntary compliance rating the force of law. And that has been the effective intent of most of the video game legislation passed (and ultimately overturned) in the United States. Should Thompson's gambit succeed, the state of Florida would have, de facto, a video game content law.

What's more, it would be a law that never underwent legislative scrutiny and was never signed by the Governor.

The good news is that Thompson's strategy is very much a long shot. The merits of the case are completely lacking and the legal travesty that was last October's Bully trial has not likely been forgotten in the corridors of Florida's 11th Circuit.

The bad news is that unless the video game industry pushes the issue, we'll be going through this again the next time a game launches that Thompson decides he would like to censor."

I was buying M rated games way before it was cool for minors to buy M rated games. Back when video games were less an almighty source of martyrdom and more a slight segment of the vast river of popular media in which all our brains drift.

Jack, your kid is but one of the million youngsters who've effortlessly dodged the back-door solution to a problem that has nothing to do with video games. Getting your kid to help you accomplish a shallow publicity stunt is something only a scum-bag would do. Do the world a favor and get your priorities straight.

Hey, Thanks: GamePolitics & Joystiq

games

Comments [ 2 ] Post your comment subscribe to this rss feed

^ back to top of comments ^

Post Your Comment

Games.net's Countdown to...