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Thompson Sues ESRB, Best Buy
Well known anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson is following up on his clever sting operations against Best Buy. He's filed suit against the consumer electronics retailer for allegedly selling M-rated games to underage gamers. He has also included the ESRB in that suit. GamePolitics reports: "As we reported, the claim against Best Buy suit looks as if it will be going nowhere. Thompson has also apparently named the ESRB in the suit. That looks like a non-starter as well. His explanation: 'The ESRB has been sued by Thompson because it is well known that it a) is owned and operated by the video game industry, b) does not even play the games it rates to conclusion, c) routinely mislabels games as to age appropriateness, per testimony before the U.S. Congress, and is engaged in representations to American parents that the age label are accurate and are keeping "Mature" games out of the hands of kids.'"
And neither is Jack Thompson.
Ok so the ESRB is at fault because it makes faulty ratings, and WorstBuy is at fault because they do not enforce the aforementioned faulty ratings? Which is it, do they need to be enforced or are they invalid?
"an email from Attorney Jack Thompson stating that his 15-year-old son purchased the Mature-rated game BioShock from a local Best Buy."
Jack's son: if you're reading this, don't worry. We know your dad forced you to do it, and you're not as much of a tool as he makes you out to be. In another three years you can move out, and we'll all pretend this crap never happened.
Anyone can sue anyone, but that doesn't mean they'll win.
There is no law on the books that states an M-rated game cannot be sold to a minor, in fact, everytime this legislation is attempted it is shot down as unconstititional.
-Bill
I used to hate Jack Thompson, but the more I read about him, the more I look forward to hearing what his latest stunt will be. He's become a larger than life comic book villain who will do anything, no matter how outrageous, to get himself publicity or to take down a force much bigger than he could ever hope to stop. Watching his latest absurd attempt to make everyone look at him and trying to figure out what he'll do next has become more entertaining than many of the games I've played. I've gone long past considering him any kind of threat and now often wonder if he is for real or can reasonably believe that any of his ideas are going to work. He's more and more like an incompetent Mr. Mxyzptlk, but more fun to watch.
I'll say this for him, he's consistent
The job that pays his bills is medical malpractice suits. He's pretty much arm in arm with actual ambulance chasers. In fact, worse, he's the guy chasing ambulances to see if he can wring money out of the EMTs in it.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Unfortunately, the rules of civil procedure have really tilted things so that you need to sue everybody who could possibly at fault at first and then sort out who's really at fault by the time it comes to trial. Otherwise, you run the risk of the statute of limitations running out in the time it took you to find out that it's really the other guy's fault.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I envision a game called Ambulance chaser. Your whole job is to catch the ambulance so you can hand them court papers. Extra points for every illegal move you make in the proccess of catching said ambulances. Then afterwards you get to choose your idiotic statement towards the arguement that we need to sue the ambulance guys because the may have saved my life, but in the proccess they broke my foot.
Surely he knows he's not likely to be legally effective; the only reason he keeps doing shit like this is to get attention, both for his ego and his "vidjamagames are evil" meme.
So: stopgivinghimattention
If he actually has a chance to pass a stupid law or get a stupid ruling, then we can pay attention. The US, however, has this thingy called a "Constitution" that makes stupid laws kind of hard to pass. So this is just a case of some crazy jerkoff being a crazy jerkoff. Nothing to see here, please move along.
Has anybody ever seen both of them in a room at the same time?
I read the internet for the articles.
I hope Jack got the copy of Bioshock back before his kid was exposed to it. You know how impressionable teenagers are - a few hours of playing, and Jack Jr. might have been inspired to craft complex literary-political allegories that investigate the nature of humanity.
It encourages kids to violate the laws of physics!
One thing I am curious about is - how does this guy earn a living?
I mean, he keeps filing lawsuits, but a) not for specific damages for him, and b) he never wins. He definitely doesn't have a chance to actually practice law or anything...
Or is he just on a retainer for people who want games banned/people who don't want games banned and realise that having a nut like JT doing all the talking is doing their cause wonders?
Between the falling angel and the rising ape