http://www.gamespot.com/news/6159812.html
[quote]Earlier this week, Florida lawyer Jack Thompson heralded "a historic ruling" to members of the press in a complaint he filed against Take-Two Interactive over its upcoming game Bully. Judge Ronald Friedman ordered Take-Two to provide a copy of the game so that he could review it behind closed doors on Thursday and see what all the fuss was about himself.
"It appears that finally the violent video game industry is going to be held accountable to someone," Thompson wrote in his Wednesday announcement.
However, things didn't go Thompson hoped. This morning, gaming site Destructoid reported that the judge ruled on the matter, saying he didn't see anything that should prevent Take-Two from shipping Bully.
"There's nothing in the game that you wouldn't see on TV every night," Friedman is quoted as saying. The judge added he wouldn't want his kids to play the game, "but that shouldn't mean that the game won't ship."
[UPDATE] Later, in an open letter to Friedman that was circulated to various game-press outlets, Thompson decried the decision using typically fiery language. "What you conducted in your chambers, Judge, was the equivalent of Iran leading UN weapons inspectors around the country taking them to places where the illegal activity was not occurring," he said.
Thompson also had some strong words for the judge himself. "Now that you have consigned innumerable children to skull fractures, eye injuries from slingshots, and beatings with baseball bats, without a hearing as to the danger, let me tell you a few things, with all respect for your office and with no respect for the arbitrary way in which you handled this matter," he wrote. "The way you conducted yourself today helps explain why a great Dade County Judge, the late Rhea Pincus Grossman, could not abide you."
The letter went on to:
a) Accuse Take-Two lawyer Rebecca Ward of "lying in [Friedman's] courtroom when she told [Friedman] that a 'Teen' rating is an age restriction at the point of sale." Indeed, such ESRB ratings are only enforced voluntarily by retail outlets.
b) Blast Friedman for "not allow[ing] a hearing to occur because the media there would have seen how you railroaded this entire matter--at the expense of children's safety." Specifically, Thompson made mention of a Miami Herald reporter in attendance.
In conclusion, Thompson said, "How dare you, Judge, promise a hearing today and then prevent that hearing from occurring. How dare you, Judge, petulantly order the production of the game after it is released on Tuesday morning. I didn't even ask for that. You did that out of spite, and you were smiling when you did that. You really enjoyed that one, didn't you, Judge? Next time you promise a 'hearing,' I'll bring a parent with me whose kid is in the ground because of a kid who trained to kill him or her on a violent video game. Try mocking that person, I dare you."
The letter can be read in its entirety on Kotaku and Game Politics. Bully ships on October 17 for the PlayStation 2; an Xbox version was canceled earlier this year.
Please! Think of the children! Before they're conceived. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If you don't have time to raise your children to have wholesome values and a healthy conscience, then don't have children. Parents are to blame for juvenile violence, and parents are to blame for underage gamers playing games that are too violent or otherwise explicit for them.
The ridiculous thing is that this game isn't even remotely like what Thompson thinks it is. And the best move by Rockstar is not to deny it - this is the best kind of publicity for them. I know that after doing more research on the game after all of this I'm a lot more interested in picking it up than I was before.
there is no such thing as bad publicity.
even bad publicity is publicity none the less, which makes it publicity. and normal publicity is good publicity
know what im sain?
No. There is very much a thing as bad publicity, in that if it ****es off the majority of the population it's BAD.
And yet, they still call him "The King of Pop." I thought you needed to be popular to be in any way associated with "pop."
He is incredibly popular. :confused:
That's not how I think of him. I think of his amazing dance moves. No one does the moonwalk quite as well as he does.
I just saw the commercial for this for the first time right before I came downstairs and read this thread. Honestly though, I really agree. If you can't instill competance into your child, you don't deserve to have a child. The only people that take video games like that, or Television such as that, are mentally unstable and probably sociopaths who would endanger themselves and others eventually. I'm more interested now than I was, that's for sure.
We can't say the only people who are influenced by video games are susceptible people to start with, because I know after a session of a game I'm really into I come out of it feeling angry or psyched or whatever. The difference is that I don't then act on it.
The ridiculous thing is that this is nothing like GTA. At all.
ha. Not a chance.
And this would all be solved so easily if (all) stores just required ID's to buy M rated games...
MICHAEL JACKSON IS A VAMPIRE PEDOPHILE LET'S BURN HIM AT THE STAKE
The difference is that ESRB ratings aren't enforcable. BBFC ratings are.
Well thats the **** up right there. Christ why isnt it in the first place?
Because video games are for children!
Don't forget the PEGI ratings carry even less weight than the ESRB ones.
Yeah, I honestly never saw any problem with what Jack proposes. All he really wants is the same system Britain has.
What? Not that I've seen. What I see is downright nocensical censorship as his manifesto, rather than wanting a sensible rating system and parental education.
What I want out of one of Thompson's lawsuits is the Judge to say 'I agree this game could end up causing violent youths to become more violent. We need a stronger system in place to ensure this does not happen, but so that mature adults can still enjoy this type of content.' And then strengthen the ESRB and launch an awareness campaign.
I'm sure that Rockstar and others would be happy to sponsor such a campaign.
EDIT: PEGI ratings are completely optional for retailers to obey.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6160340.html
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Well, now Jack Thompson seems to think that homosexuality is a reason to further demonstrate against the game. I'm sorry, but if you can have guy-on-girl in the game, why can't you have guy-on-guy? That's discrimination right there. ****ing dickhead.
Because fags aren't Christians. Duuuuuuh. :rolleyes:
I love this. Further progression in choice in games.
Too bad it's only one kid. He better be cute. :mad:
I'm sure I read over on GayGamer that it was quite a few.
EDIT: [quote]Armed with my trusty PS2 and a brand spanking new copy of Bully, I set forth to find the boys who are available for kissing. I know of four, but the one I found first was Trent, one of the “white shirts”.
[COLOR="Yellow"]What are you doing reading GayGamer? lol, jk.[/COLOR]
All of a sudden I've got a chesty cough and can't seem to answer your question.
LMAO.
Anyway, this Thompson guy's an idiot. It's not the game's fault that kids are violent, it's the kid's own d*mn fault.
Done.
[quote=Princess Fate][COLOR=skyblue]Too bad it's only one kid. He better be cute.[/COLOR] :mad:
I thought girls typically found gay sex nauseating?
Think about it.
Do guys find lesbian sex nauseating? Of course not!
jack thmpson has to look at the bright side of bully. it teaches the values of self defence and making new friends hahahaha.
[quote=Fate][COLOR=skyblue]I don't seek it, but it doesn't make me grossed out or anything. I don't know about other girls.
Plus, gay kissing is different from gay sex.[/COLOR]
If you don't think kissing is sexual then you're probably not very good at it. ("You" as in people in general, not you specifically)
This adds whole new levels of hilarity to my theory on who fate really is.
It's not that funny. A lot of people see it that way. A lot of other people just aren't bothered at all. I don't see what you're getting at.