April 20, 2007
Yesterday GamePolitics broke the news that Grand Theft Auto publisher Take Two Interactive had settled its lawsuit with controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson.An immediate effect was that Thompson avoided a potential jail sentence stemming from his conduct in last year's Bully case.
Almost at once, speculation began as to who got the better of the deal. Financial website TheStreet.com awards the win to Take Two:
The company's new management settled a lawsuit with Thompson, effectively muting criticism and public outbursts from a man who has long been a vocal detractor of its games for allegedly violent and racy content...
Though Thompson has put on a brave front and suggested that the settlement will not end his litigation efforts, it is likely to mute his public pronouncements and lawsuits against the company - a plus for Take-Two on its road to recovery
Ars Technica also seemed to give the nod to the software publisher, in an article headlined, "Thompson stifled by Take Two settlement."
In an interview with GameSpot, Thompson told reporter Brendan Sinclair the settlement was "a huge victory," adding:
They dropped the contempt matter in state court. I got everything I wanted.
Avoiding a contempt of court citation is certainly a plus for Thompson. Then again, it was his own off-the-wall conduct in the Bully matter which handed T2 such significant leverage.
Comments
I personally think it's Jack talking out of his rectum again, you can always tell when Jack is being accurate because he includes a name, like when he contacted the Washington Post, once he starts making stuff up it's easy to tell, because it suddenly becomes 'An FBI agent' or 'A local Sheriff', he never gives names when he fibs, obviously.
sounds like a win for T2 to me
Classic, Jack. Just classic.
And of course he trots out that whole "Everyone is wrong but me! It's a whole big conspiracy" excuse by saying the major entertainment companies own all the news media. I think MSNBC arrived at their conclusions on their own, thank you. I have a feeling after his behavior there that they'll be less likely to invite him back.
Man, there's nothing worse than a sore loser.
damn i never even got a second response from him
"Thompson is not restricted from criticizing the content of T2 games..."
He can "flap his yap" about them all he wants still. Since he can't start a lawsuit against T2 anymore, that's ALL he can do. Expect a lot of "Take Two is trying to shut me up..." type rhetoric. No financial penalties can apply unless he tries to file suit.
Advantages
Take Two:
No more lawsuits from JT trying to get their games banned
no lying to Wal-mart etc.
Avoided Manhunt 2 and GTA IV suits.
Due to the content of court charge being dropped Thompson can't honestly say he was bullied into the resolution
Thompson:
content of court charge dropped
Can still criticise GTA games (which he would probably do anyway)
Can still act as political counsel for states wishing to ban violent games
Can act as legal counsel for individual murder families who are blaming take two.
Still a lawyer.
Can still be a problem for Take Two.
So you see both sides have their advantages to the deal so I say it's a draw.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradycardia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartrate
Jack Thompson's illogical "facts" FTL!
"Are you sure your FBI friend knows his stuff? Children and adolescents tend to have higher heart rates than full grown adults. Adults typically have a heart rate of 70BPM and adolescents (like Weise) tend to have a heart rate of 80BPM. Of course, heart rate varies from person to person, and exercise can lower your heart rate. Mr. Thompson, I am going to assume that you agree that Jeffrey Weise did not look like an athletic youth. If what your FBI friend told you was true, then Jeffrey Weise would suffer from a condition called Bradycardia. This is a condition in which the RESTING heart rate is under 60BPM for an average ADULT. Most people with heart rates under 60BPM who do not suffer from Bradycardia are trained athletes. What I'm saying is that your "Video Games Lower Heart Rate Killing Efficiency" theory doesn't work logically. What you're FBI friend told you was that Weise had a lower heart rate when he was running around shooting people than his heart rate at rest. Doesn't make so much sense now, does it?
As for the excision, Cho's own roommate denies that Cho was ever seen playing video games on his computer. He also stated that Cho was frequently engaged in word processing programs. Compound this statement with the fact that Cho was an english major, and it begins to make sense. Mr. Thompson, whose opinion about Cho's computer habits should I believe, his roommate or yours? Ask yourself that same question.
Finally, I'd like for you to consider for just one second that there are compelling reasons other than video games for these murders. Let's look at the infamous Hi Fi Murders that were committed by Pierre Selby and William Andrews. As you might remember, they imitated a scene from the movie "Magnum Force" in which a prostitute was killed when she was forced to drink a bottle of drain cleaner. There was an uproar over the scene, and many viewers condemned the movie for the murders. During the trial, it was discovered that Selby and Andrews were searching for an efficient way to murder their victims. During the trial, Selby and Andrews admitted they were looking for an efficient way to kill their victims, and if they had not viewed that scene they would simply have chosen another way to dispose of their victims.
I read the MSNBC article you appeared in earlier. You stated that if Cho had not been "trained" by Counter-Strike, he would probably not have killed 32 people. I believe that you are incorrect in this assumption. Had the school been locked down immediately following the double homicide, Cho might not have killed 32 people. Had police been brought in immediately, Cho might not have killed 32 people. Had Cho not been able to legally purchase a Glock 19 and Walther P22, Cho might not have killed 32 people. Had Cho been involuntarily committed (after he was described by a judge as an imminent danger to himself and others in 2005), Cho might not have killed 32 people. Mr. Thompson, you seem to ignore the important facts about the Virginia Tech Massacre, and why it occurred. I believe that if you continue to pursue a link between the Virginia Tech Massacre and violent media, you will only drive your credibility into the ground."
The Washington Post’s Virginia Tech Cover-Up
By Jack Thompson © 2007
Nearly a decade ago Washington Post reporter Michael Isikoff uncovered President Clinton’s “sexual relations with that woman” Monica Lewinsky. The Post stalled on printing that story, which spawned a newsroom confrontation between Isikoff and his editors, so Matt Drudge broke the story out from under the Post and Isikoff. Well, the Post is at its cover-up games again, but this time it’s worse.
On Monday, April 16, at 3:10 pm I was on the Fox News Channel being interviewed by Bill Hemmer about one possible piece of the Virginia Tech massacre puzzle. I explained to Hemmer that the worst school shooting in world history, until Monday, was in Erfurt , Germany , at the hands of Robert Steinhaeuser who literally trained on the violent shooter game Counterstrike to kill 16 and then himself. I said we might find a similar violent video game component at V Tech because, significantly, eyewitnesses said the shooter was incredibly calm and methodical in stalking his prey, just as have other video gamer student rampage killers. That was the case in Paducah whose victims’ families I represented.
The FBI Agent heading the investigation of the Red Lake ( Minnesota ) high school massacre by Jeffrey Weise told me, “We could tell from the surveillance video that his heart rate was not above 60. He had rehearsed this. He was so calm and methodical. .He had done it before. The video games we know he played are the only explanation.”
Tuesday night, the Washington Post published an Internet version of an article which contained the following:
"Several Korean youths who knew Cho Seung Hui from his high school days said he was a fan of violent video games, particularly Counterstrike, a hugely popular online game published by Microsoft, in which players join terrorism or counterterrorism groups and try to shoot each other using all types of guns."
Fox News asked me to come back Wednesday morning and explain, basically, that I had been right and what the significance of this finding was. When I got to Miami ’s Fox News bureau, the bureau chief said to me “ New York is calling. They say they can’t find the Counterstrike paragraph in the Post article.” I said, “That’s because it’s not there anymore. But watch this and please tell New York to do the same thing.”
I went to www.washingtonpost.com, with the bureau chief looking over my shoulder and simply typed in “Counterstrike” in the search engine window. Bingo! Up pops the above paragraph which had been excised from the article. You can still see it now, at the time I am writing this piece at 9:30 am on Friday, April 20 by conducting the same search. The Counterstrike excision is at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/NewsSearch?sb=-1&st=counterstrike&. The Post forgot to excise the excision.
What’s going on here? I asked the Washington Post’s “ombudsman,” Deborah Howell, with a phone message left for her Wednesday. Late yesterday she left the following message on my answer machine, which I shall save until the day I die:
“Mr. Thompson, what you saw was an early version of a story. It was replaced later by more reporting. Several reporters did look at the video game part and concluded that it wasn’t important enough in the whole thing to include.”
This was a story entitled “Shooter Described As Eccentric Loner by Students, Teachers.”
Let’s see now, Cho’s immersion in the specific game that trained Germany’s Steinhaeuser to accomplish what is now the second highest school massacre body count in world history “wasn’t important enough” to help explain how Cho pulled this off, but the following in the new, edited story is? Get a load of this:
“Cho's sister, Sun Cho, graduated from Princeton University with a degree in economics in 2004 after she completed summer internships with the State Department in Washington and Bangkok. A State Department spokesman said Sun Cho works as a contractor specializing in personnel matters.”
What does the above paragraph have to do with Cho’s possible motivation and profile? Nothing. Yet it is precisely the length of the excised or “spiked” Counterstrike portion.
The news media are increasingly owned by entertainment companies. Liberals who infest both worlds don’t want you to think that adult-rated entertainment, containing violence and sex, has any behavioral consequences. The First Amendment protects everything, right? Wrong. The Supreme Court doesn’t say that. Further, the American Psychological Association says violent video game play increases teen aggression.
Cho trained on shooter games to kill 32 innocent people and himself. More “Columbines” and more “V Techs” are on the way. There’s going to be plenty of blame to go around when they occur, and some of the blood will be on the hands of those who cover up the reasons why “V Tech” happened.
Jack Thompson is a Miami lawyer who has spent the last 20 years opposing the distribution of adult entertainment to minors.
Jack Thompson, Attorney
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
GP: DON'T POST PERSONAL INFO
Glad to see JT is still as crazy as ever. He uses a statement he makes to the Post (and the Post rightfully edited for sanity) as evidence that Microsoft is responsible somehow for the VT massacre. His ego has no bounds.
@GameClucks
They are let on national TV because crazy sells.
The matter of Thompson's standing with the Florida bar is a different case that hasn't been resolved yet. This settlement hasn't gotten him completely out of trouble.
In my opinion, this is clearly a win for Take 2. People here seem to think that Jack's being found in contempt of court would have amounted to some big jail time. That is almost certainly not the case. Being found guilty of contempt will usually land someone a fine and/or some trivial amount of jail time, usually an overnight. To be sure, the charge would carry some effect as far as damaging his reputation, but I think his behavior (which led to the possibility of contempt in the first place) has already taken its toll. This settlement will have an overall greater result.
And also, clearly Thompson was the first to "blink". Remember, he dropped his RICO case against Take 2 et al well in advance of this. I believe that this was the first step (or "blink") towards the settlement that came about. Perhaps, in time, that may even be revealed, but I doubt it, as the negotiations behind settlements are often kept quiet.
Jack Thompson will never have a victory in the "game war" he has engaged in.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/
From GTA/T2/Rockstar now to Microsoft/CS.
.....You think Microsoft will stand up for themselfs more unlike T2?
"This a huge victory. I got everything I wanted".
Not going to jail.
No more annoying lawyer on your case.
Take 2 won, though, because Jack will break the rules, and they're really not bound to any rules.
“In fact, the FBI agent in Red Lake said that we could tell by the
surveillance videos that Weise’s heart rate was not above 60.”
Yes - that is why paramedics, doctors, nurses and hell, even lifeguards are trained to instantly measure a person's pulse by simply looking at them through a CCTV.
This is a relatively new skill being taught to aid providers. The secret lies in keeping the eyes completely still and projecting them through the screen and onto the subject's carotid artery. Using a Walmart egg timer, one can be pretty accurate in their readings. Especially if a subject is in motion.
I would love to get the FBI person in there to completely poopcan this 'FBI Statement'
He's the eternal optimist when it comes to anything about himself.
Everything is a "huge victory." I'm sure he goes to the toilet, raises his arms triumphantly, says "what a huge victory!" and then flushes it.
Yuki beat me to it, so instead I'll say that this represents a sea change. The tide is turning and we helped to do it. Our voices DO matter!
"Meanwhile, authorities released a search warrant listing the items found in Cho's dorm room. Not a single video game, console or gaming gadget was on the list, though a computer was confiscated. And in an interview with Chris Matthews of "Hardball," Cho's university suite-mate said he had never seen Cho play video games.
None of this seems to matter to Thompson.
"This is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer," he told MSNBC.com."
You hear that people! Despite that the police found no videogames in his belonging, he's a videogamer! The earth is the center of the universe!
Facts do not matter!
Just finished reading it and I must say, it feels good that finally some mainstream media see Jack Thompson for what he is.
Thanks for the link to the article.
It is really nice to see the media picking apart the claims of old John Bruce.
It seems no matter how many times the facts are shown to him he has a tendency to act like a child with his "Na-uh" responses.
To be honest, it's better for Take Two if Jack doesn't make a Martyr of himself. As much as I consider the man a slimy little bottom-feeder.
I'd rather see him simply agree to keep his mouth shut than being, oddly enough, in the same position as he put 2 Live Crew in years ago, after all, look at all the publicity it got them, I wouldn't want him getting that sort of publicity.
He's still facing the disciplinary hearings before the Florida SC, for reasons that include his conduct over the Bully case. Short of a felony conviction though, the most they're likely to do is suspend his license for a year or two.
Take-Two got JT to shut up, got it as a settlement condition that he'll remain shut-up (at least in the courts -- he still has a 1st amendment right to be a hateful raving nutter) and they didn't have to make a case that Thompson could somehow twist around to a marginally more sympathetic public as a SLAPP suit. T2 no longer has to factor in Thompson as a drain on their bottom line for at least their next big release.
I'd say Jack blinked. T2 FTW.
Why? Because under T2's former board of directors, it's quite possible that the company wouldn't have settled and taken Thompson to his ruin. After the shareholder rebellion though, I'm guessing this was just seen as a piece of business that they didn't want to be involved with and thus, it was quietly dealt with. All things considered, this is an outcome that favors Thompson.
So we can assume he was sleep walking while doing this? bc if at rest is 70 then I can only imagine he would have to be sleeping. lets all ban sleeping!
One of the reasons for this is I think that now thanks to this site, Jack's lies and true behavior are there for all to see. This could also be why he hates Dennis so much, because while he may never admit it publicly, he knows this site has been instrumental in exposing him. This site is being seen by a lot of people, he knows that, and he also knows that we are alerting those in government and the MSM about him, and slowly but surely the word is getting out and privately he's scared by that.
I dunno. They always go through and he always responds for some reason. Granted, he never gives me a straight answer and just resorts to insults and name calling, but that's to be expected.
Maybe you're using an old address. His current one is amendmentone@comcast.net
Especially meaningful when you consider that the average heartbeat of a man is 70 while at rest. The heartrate is usually higher for younger persons, being on average 80 for teens and 90 for children while at rest. I will write again in caps now, AT REST. Heartbeats can be lower in athletes or sport practionners but the Red Lake shooter didnt train for any sports, he trained to kill on videogames. Videogames are much more effective than sports for the purpose of getting your heartrate down. Jack Thompson says so.
And it still hangs on him actually keeping his mouth shut. That's what the contempt charge was basically all about. His inability to keep his mouth shut.
Well now there's financial penalties. If he doesn't keep his mouth shut, except under very specific circumstances, he's in for financial liability.
I can see him going on about other games in the meantime, but I only give him a few months before he starts flapping his yap about T2 games again...
How long is that settlement valid for anyway?
He may not be able to take on Take Two but he has now turned on Microsoft under the misinformed belief that they publish Counter-Strike. So he has not learned his lesson. He has not gained a victory. He simply did not have to go to court.
No, I think you're right. I've been thinking these two things about JT:
1) He doesn't know how to win.
2) He doesn't know how to know he lost.
@A-wel
(*becomes rather baffled by that second reply you got from Retard Jack*)
Okay... Now ask him how can looking at one's eyes determine that person's heart rate. See what he says to that one.
"The eyes of the observer. Are you impaired?"
That doesn't even answer the question.
Wrong. Dead wrong.
"Yes he’ll still be the same. Except that now instead of being powerless to stop the games being released through unconstitutional means, he is even more impotent as he has been told he cannot even attempt to stop their release."
That's not true, though. He loses the ability to attempt to stop TAKE 2's games. Assuming he doesn't try to find some way around that ("...nor is he prevented from acting as counsel in lawsuits brought against Take Two by other parties"), he'll still likely move on to another target. Rockstar's games have always been a favorite because they're so easy to stir up crap about, but I don't doubt for a second he'll move to another target.
@Hayabusa: Under those circumstances, I have to agree with you. I'm reminded a bit of Javert. So obsessed with a pointless crusade that he loses sight of all else.
I await his obvious response. After that, I think I'm done. Frankly, this chicken shit isn't worth my time.
Oh yeah, if anyone's interested, here's his email sig:
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." Voltaire
LOL! Okay folks, have at that!
I consider an ad hominem attack to be one that is both personal AND irrelevant to the arguments in question. As Brokenscope said, it's no secret that the relationship between Jack and his son is strained. Why is it strained? Because of Jack's idiotic behavior and incomprehensible moral set, that's why. If it was strained for some unrelated reason, I never would have mentioned it.
My comment was more of a "see what you've done with your crap" rather than a cheap shot at a man's family life. And with the way he's treated some of us, we'll ALWAYS be the bigger men. (or women)
I guess he 'wanted' to he prohibited from banning Rockstar ever again??
Gah, now my skull hurts....
(*is another guy who wishes for the EDIT button....~_~*)
Film at 11o'clock.