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Jack Thompson Sues Microsoft

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the try-not-to-get-laughed-out-of-court-again dept.

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."

6 of 574 comments (clear)

  1. But what can they do by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

    --
    Start a happiness pandemic
    1. Re:But what can they do by Timesprout · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

      --
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      What truth?
      There is no dupe
  2. Wait...what? by amuro98 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  3. Gentlemen, this is a hoax by netcrusher88 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    There's an old saying that says pretty much whatever you want it to.
    1. Re:Gentlemen, this is a hoax by yakumo.unr · · Score: 4, Interesting

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

  4. Should Jack take Microsoft to court... by wilgibson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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!