What a Guy... Jack Thompson is Ready to Help EA with T2 Takeover Bid
What a Guy... Jack Thompson is Ready to Help EA with T2 Takeover Bid
March 1, 2008
Describing himself as a longtime Take Two shareholder, controversial attorney Jack Thompson has written to Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello (and, naturally, cc'd several media outlets) with an offer to assist EA in its effort to acquire the Grand Theft Auto publisher.In a long, rambling letter, Thompson spills most of his ink painting T2 boss Strauss Zelnick as a villain (which EA probably wouldn't disagree with, at least in the deal-making sense) and concludes with:
I am delighted to work with Electronic Arts to evict the Zelnick Trojan Horse from within Take-Two’s corporate walls. In doing so, I can get the new Take-Two into the clear as to the trouble I and others can send its way.
Zelnick is the source of trouble headed Take-Two’s way, not I, and EA can make the case, with my help, that such trouble can be avoided.
It's not the first time Thompson has referenced being a T2 shareholder, although we suspect his stake in the company is possibly as small as a single share. He claimed that he purchased T2 stock in late 2005 because it would allow him to attend - and speak at - T2's stockholder's meeting. That meeting eventually came and went without his input, however.
GP: This is, of course, another Thompson publicity stunt. Beyond that, the GamePolitics archives reveal that even before the vitriolic attorney was a T2 stockholder, he was a Sims 2 basher, making silly, Hot Coffee-like claims against EA's flagship franchise in July, 2005:
[The Sims 2 contains] "full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair. The nudity placed there by the publisher/maker, Electronic Arts, is accessed by the use of a simple code that removes what is called 'the blur' which obscures the genital areas.
In other words, the game was released to the public by the manufacturer knowing that the full frontal nudity was resident on the game and would be accessed by use of a simple code widely provided on the Internet...
This was all nonsense, of course.
Comments
2. Work with EA to take over T2
3. ????
4. Profit!!!
IT'S A TRAP!
I have spoken to Dennis on this matter. Dennis posts less than 5% of the crap John Bruce sends his way. The other 95% is just meaningless crap that has no relation to gaming in the slightest.
The only reason you see as much as you do is because of the mass valume of crap sent Dennis' way.
I don't blame you.
- Warren Lewis
I don't think the whole "Ignore Jack and he'll go away" theroy is working all that well. He always comes out with more ridiculous claims every time. (Suing NIU, Adult Picture Book to Florida Bar, VT shooting)
Except the Madden fanboys who wouldn't care either way, would just continute to buy Roster Update 'XX at full price.
@GoodRobotUs:
Reminds me of a picture I saw of the 'Document of MGS2' that shows what naked Raiden really looks like... I imagine the Sims must be equally as featureless in that respect.
(And I still don't know how he manages to keep his job... hopefully judge Tunis(? I don't remember her name off the top of my head, sorry) will pull through and end our misery once and for all.)
@Pierre-Oliver:
Tell me about it, I mean I don't really care for Madden, but I really love NFS:Carbon on the wii (heck, since they didn't include the concept Camaro like in TF, I just made my own... but my wii's in for repairs, so it'll have to wait till it gets back. :P)
@Toxicity^2:
But that's what got us here where he can say whatever the f*** he wants and most people'll listen (FOX news, anyone?)
@Walkonwater:
Well didn't they go to bat when Faux news let that know-nothing whats-her-name bash Mass Effect only knowing from secondhand word of mouth? (I do remember her name, but as far as I'm concerned her 15 minutes are over and I refuse to acknowledge her a second more.)
@Benji:
Exactly why I'm in the latter camp. If we don't call him at every single turn he'll just get away with doing/saying whatever he wants, true or not (usually not, given his track record.)
@Elomin:
Don't mind him, just another one of his delusions of grandeur...
@EZK:
Which just makes his continued existence as not being disbarred all the more puzzling. o_O
@Matriculated:
Ah, I was right... (Anyone wanna plunk down for a muffin basket on 4/22 if it does happen? :P)
No kidding, but lets not forget this is the same guy who -- the company making all those "cop killing simulators"....
Yet unlike hypocritical Jack Thompson, he was actually addressing the violence issue with T2's games through reasonable means!
So he smears the name of an outstanding citizen actually doing something to save lives, and damaging their reputation for trying to do what Jack wants to(but not through reason, understanding, or logic).
But we do have to thank Jack, it is hilarious that he thinks that EA is going to do any of his dirty work or anything he suggests, and even more LOLs seeing that --if this takeover/merge does happen-- this is only going to make T2 stronger...
Do you think the people (read: idiots) who watch Faux News also read GamePolitics? I doubt it. And even if they did, would GamePolitics convince them that their bullshit "news" channel is wrong? Doubt it.
Point taken... I guess I'm just sick of having GP just be 'preaching to the choir' in regards to JT and his shenanigans. (Not that I don't appreciate the news, which I do.)
But as long as they're here to dispel every fallacy he comes up with (Which is a lot, as he seems to average one fallacy for every time he opens his mouth.) at least we'll know better.
i'll say it again: JT is working with a videogame company.....
Or use him for characters in video games like clowns and other goofy characters that Jack would fit right in for.
I'm sure EA is all ears over one share of stock on their side.
Maybe EA will remember this and tell him to shove it.
Warren Lewis
GP: Warren, they won't even acknowledge it, they shouldn't acknowledge it and he well knows that. It's just a excuse to bash Zelnick with several paragraphs of insults (which I won't deign to print)...
Even if he helps them, he'll give them the role of villains sooner or later.
He really thinks EA will be "better" from his perspective? EA will kill the GTA franchise and Rockstar? Sure they will.
This is not madness. This is JACK THOMPSON!!!
[boot into chest]
He doesn't think of it as a way to kill Rockstar. He probably thinks of it as a way to discredit Strauss Zelnick even more.
But that was quite a while ago, and having an alliance with Thompson will support both parties unless EA is telling the truth about having individual companies be able to release their games under their title. I Personally think they are blowing that one out of their ass.
But back to the point. EA will get T2, and Thompson is freely allowed to keep one of his "mortal enemies" in check. Keeping that in mind, do you think EA wouldn't be forgiving Thompson for his comments a few years ago, knowing that this could tip the balance vs a grudge. I think not.
@Pierre-Olivier
Oh yeah.
Remember the saying, A cheetah never changes it's stripes?
"Oh yeah.
Remember the saying, A cheetah never changes it’s stripes? "
Joke post?
I don't think EA would even want to ally themselves with this man. Talk about losing the respect of your peers and your employees. Not to mention your consumers. (Just imagine the backlash the consumers would have against any company having such an ally) I think he is just talking out of both sides and still fails to realize he is fighting a losing fight in his senseless war on video games.
EA would lose its customer base entirely if it worked with Thompson, and they know that :)
Why is Jack even doing this? Isn't there a guy that say video games turned him into a murderer that Jack should be helping?
He must have passed that at least 3 years ago -_-
Yeah, he's drooling - a bigger company might be willing to 'settle' more, eh?
Not that it would accomplish anything, but it sure can make a lawyer some $$$
The funny thing about the Sims event was that it was based on a hoax, and Thompson was told by the hoaxer that the the statement was totally inaccurate before Thompson ever released it, but even the fact he had been told it was complete tosh wasn't enough to stop him releasing it, kind of like his court filings.
I'm pretty comfortable with the fact that EA know exactly who and what Thompson is, and they certainly know the damage he would do to the company, Jack Thompson has turned on every single ally he has ever made, on one occasion even accusing one of them of phoning him up whilst drunk and calling him names during the Louisiana game-law hearings. So, as GP said, this is just another 'Look at meeee!' action by Thompson.
He is not a reasonable person. The only reason he wants to help out with the TT takeover is so that he can claim "victory" by standing on someone else's shoulders.
If it does occur, which I doubt it will, I bet he'll finally attend a share holder meeting,and before he even sits down "I vote that we cancel the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 and recall all companies of Manhunt 2, even those already purchased, and all copies of bully and all copies of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas" "But we can't recall what's already been purchased..." "We'll get the police to do it"
No good can ever come of it. Only money EA got from me was The Sims
What's next:Jackie boy being the CEO of EA (or Disney)?
It's not a complete hoax. It's a hoax that the developers themselves added that. Since The Sims is so open source, people added their own full frontal nudity because they wanted it, it in no way comes prepackaged.
So, what sort of "help" could he actually give? Sell his share to EA? Is there anything else he actually could do?
Half-rhetorical, half-I-actually-don't-know.
Whilst the Sims 2 can be modded to remove the blur and see the Barbie-dolls if you really want to, EA built no facility into the game to remove the blur in the first place, the person who contacted Thompson wound him up for a while, but when they said 'You can remove the blur and reveal Barbie Doll features', Jack, on the spot changed it into that quote about genitalia etc, and the hoaxer even tried to tell him that it was false but Jack, not having even seen the game, decided his description was more accurate, you really did have to see it to see just how comfortable Jack is with knowingly lying.
Mods can remove the blur, but EA provided no such facility in-game, Thompson tried to imply that they did, and that what was under it was far more revealing than it was.
Thompson backpetaled when he was confronted with that knowledge by others. Saying something along the lines of copyright infringement or some other nonesense.
-Auto
Not earlier than a month ago, they were defending their games quite fiercely so I don't think they'll team up with someone that attacked another of their games.
1) That one share you own is meaningless. Even if you sold it to EA at their asking price, it would still be meaningless. Even if you showed up at a shareholder meeting with your one vote, it would still be meaningless.
2) If EA does manage to complete a hostile takeover of Take Two, EA is still going to go ahead and publish Bully for the 360 and Grand Theft Auto IV, which is expected to be one of the best selling games of the year. Why would EA pay $2 billion (or more) for a company only to remove its most lucrative franchise?
3) You're an idiot, and an incompetent soon-to-be-disbarred hack of a lawyer.
Cheers,
Dog Welder
That's what I've been saying, Jack Thompson just needs to be ignored by the media and he'll shut up.
He bought one,and the only reason he did was so he could have a chance to cuss out the CEO.
[I]I wouldn't change a line of code in "BioShock" nor would I in "GTA" or "Max Payne"... what we would do is sell more of it.
John Riccitello, CEO - Electronic Arts[/I]
Why would you want to team up with a man who wants to sell MORE copies of GTA Jack?
I know you have a deep hatred for T2 and Zelnick but it seems like you're cutting off your nose to spite you face.
Not a vendetta at all...... ;)
Also just shows how much Jack believes his own opinions of the Gaming Industry.
I thought it was because of the GTA "murder simulators". Suddenly the games are ok if he is out of the picture? How does that work?
Besides the "trouble" is good for business. :)
Hey GP! You could always offer up that service on the side! "GP: Idiot translator - $200 dollars an hour, will translate what idiots say so normal people can understand. Thanks to Jack I have years of experience in this."
"With JT's assistance, EA was able to take over take two!" lol
Sure one vote but suddenly it makes it true and can be use in future press releases of "helped take down T2".
And now, Jack wants to hand over the control of GTA to a company that is much worse that Take two, a truly evil company that cares more about making money than any other publisher (sure they all want o make money, but EA's the worst of them). What happened before would happen again; when the leaders change hands, Jack will hound the new leader and will get his ass handed to him and Jack will then seek to destroy the new company. Only this time, instead of dealing with a more competent CEO then the one that got kicked out, he's got an even more powerful company to deal with.
In the end, Jack's efforts to destroy rockstar through the publisher are utterly useless (though you could say that about all of his tactics)... GTA is a popular series that makes tons of money... no matter who is publishing it, no matter who is leading the company, they will never be listen to your desire to destroy rockstar
I'm certain I'm not alone in seeing the hypocrisy.
now it's Strauss Zelnick,
soon John Riccitiello will be Jack's personal Satan
About the Sims 2 accusation, Jeff Brown spokesman for EA at the time put it best. “Reasonable people understand the San Jose Mercury News is not responsible for vulgar things that people doodle into the margins of the paper.
Dennis posts less than 5% of the crap John Bruce sends his way. The other 95% is just meaningless crap that has no relation to gaming in the slightest.
umm after his bout of calling you sweetie how much is love letters and gay porn lol (im sorry i had too)
Heh, won't surprise if that becomes reality if this fails.
"Your takeover failed because you didn't listen to me!!!"
Judge Tunis' decission about Jack's disbarment is due April 21st.
I really don't think Jack is going to be in any postion to help EA (not that he is now).
Careful what you wish for, Thompson. I hope you don't go blind from all the masturbating you are undoubtly doing as you read another topic about you...
man i cant wait till gta 4 comes out
And as far as JT goes, Ignore him and he'll go away only to be replace by another nut. We need to take a firmer, NON-FOAMING stance. And I was looking forward to the rant :(
Y'know, i really do think people are seriously jumping to conclusions about EA when they imagine GTA being released each year... i mean really, other than EA sports has EA done that with ANY of their other games. Hell, one of their biggest titles was the Sims and that only went up to Sim 2... haven't seen much on squels after that, only expansions... Ya sure, EA would only serve to damage GTA, but it won't be as bad as what they did to sports games
The Sims thing wasn't a hoax, I just spun the facts in the same manner he did during Coffeegate. ;)
And, actually, EA did include a method to remove the blur. Before the patch/add-on released after the whole fiasco, you only needed to type "intProp censorGridSize 0" into the console to get rid of the pixel cloud..
Hypocrite thy name is Jacko!
As far as Jacky Boy's latest publicity stunt goes, he's in a no-win situation.
http : / / www . petitiononline . com / nodealea / petition . html
Sign this petition. Sony should buy them not EA!!!
NO DEAL EA
This Thompson guy is not normal.
With Jack Thompson pushing EA to do this, what does this really say about Thompson's views on videogames? "They're OK, as long as they're not made by Take-Two". Now he's trying to use his enemies to destroy each other it, seems.
It would be suicide for EA to follow through with his idea. At least they more common sense than Thompson.
I think EA acquiring T2 would be a bad thing, and no, not because of Jack Thompson.
Thanks for the info, I stand corrected in that case, I was under the impression the blur required a 3rd Party executable. I suppose 'hoax' was probably the wrong word to use, possibly 'satire' would be more accurate. I suppose the thing that got me about the whole ordeal though was the way he took one set of words from your own information and changed them into something completely inaccurate in order to promote his 'mission', I think that was one of the most telling windows on Mr Thompson's motives that I've ever seen.
Thompson is actually Navi.
HEY! LISTEN! (repeat ad nauseum)
http://www.petitiononline.com/nodealea/petition.html
Rebel 1: I give the Combine a lot of credit, they're tough competitors, a real class act.
Rebel 2: Shut up!
-Half Life 2: Episode 2
A message to Jack: GTA by EA means a new GTA every year. I might be wrong, but I don't think that's what you want.
I'm not Dennis, but I think I can give an idea of what's going on here. Dennis runs a news site and, like it or not, Jack Thompson makes news. If you go to other sites where Jack hasn't been banned, the man is a press release writing machine, cranking out press releases, bluster, court filings and the like at a Superman-like pace.
Given that, I would daresay Dennis puts up about 3% of all the crap Jack does. And in this case, he filtered out a bunch of the bile Jack spews at people.
Yes, there is the argument that Dennis is giving Jack the attention he seeks, but I think a happy (erm...unhappy) medium has to be reached somewhere.
Many games including the "Lord of the Rings" games (especially Battles for Middle-Earth), The "Medal of Honor" series, the recent James Bond games (especially Nightfire and Everything or Nothing) and BioForge (one of my favorite old-school game). But I agree that some of their games (like Reboot) aren't that good.
And I'm sure it's no coincidence that they show up nearly as often as he goes to the bathroom... and are just as worth it to everyone's time, actually.
Let him thrive in FOX, it's where he belongs. They're the same kind of sh*t. And forget about him. He just doesn't add anything to the site.
No, ignoring him is what would allow him to get away with what he said about things like V-Tech and NIU shootings.
And like I have said before, other news media(like MSNBC) are starting to question and speak up about the likes of Thompson jumping on such events to push their agenda & speculations when nothing about the killer is known yet.
Yes he is getting attention, but unlike early in his carrier, attention & the internet is not always his friend.
@ parketep
When you don't like reading about JT, don't read any of the news about him. It is Dennis' decision what he posts on GP. When someone doesn't like reading about JT, then don't. And then also don't post that you hate reading about him. There is enough other news than just JT on here as well. I never understand why people have to complain about something they don't like when they can easily just ignore it all together.
Anon is right in that ignoring JT doesn't work. It has been done before and JT will then always appear on tv. When you ignore the guy he will try to find an outlet so that he does get heard. The guy is a sucker for attention. Ignore him and he will try twice as hard to get into the spotlights through other means.
If Zelnick is a trojan horse, where do the hundred greek soldiers fit? He doesn't look big enough to hold them all.
Ahh roll on late April, I'll get 3 great events. Jack gets the boot & turns into a nutjob WITHOUT professional credentials, I'll get presents for my birthday & then GTA4 on the 28th. If thats not a sweet way to end a month I don't know what is.
Hope that EA will see though this and reject Jack's offer.
Blame Take Two for school shootings, depress stock, buy stock, repeat, wait for massive publisher to make take over bid at 60% premium, get rich!
Jack isn't a psychotic, massacre chasing freak, he's a greedy, psychotic, massacre chasing freak.
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see those nice young men
In their clean white coats
And they're coming to take me away ha haaa
You thought it was a joke
And so you laughed
You laughed when I said
That losing you would make me flip my lid
Right? You know you laughed
I heard you laugh. You laughed
You laughed and laughed and then you left
But now you know I'm utterly mad
And they're coming to take me away ha haaa
They're coming to take me away ho ho hee hee ha haaa
To the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds
And basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes
And they're coming to take me away ha haaa
I would not blame you because EA has betrayed me and several other people when they decided not to release Thrill Kill only 2 weeks before the game would come out so they could have a nicer image for their company.
If they work with Jack Thompson then they will be the most hated video game company.
He is working with a video game company to attack Take Two. He's done that before, since his particular crusade is directed at Take Two first, above all else.
If I find that you have used Jt's share votes, or in any way acted in accord with JT, I will boycott your games completely (and I will do whatever I can to get others to boycott you as well).
If you dare to get into bed with JT, you are slapping your target audience in the face and deserve whatever backlash is levelled at you..
I'm sorry you thought your plan would work.
Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you.
Maybe EA will.
(THAT WAS A JOKE.
Ha ha! FAT CHANCE.)
Anyway, this cake is great
It's so delicious and moist..."
...
...
...
...to do custodial work. ^_^
THAT TOMORROW THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS GOING TO BEHEAD JACK THOMPSON
AND BAR HIM FROM ANY MORE LEGAL FILINGS....AND THEN THE FEDERAL COURTS WILL FOLLOW, AND LIKE NORM KENT, THE LAWYER WHO HAS BEAT HIM UP IN COURT SAID,
THE ONLY PLACE LEFT FOR JACK WILL BE TO ADDRESS 14 YEAR OLDS IN NEW ZEALAND ON GAMING BLOGS
SO GET READY FOR WACKY JACKY TO POST MANY MORE ITEMS ABOUT THE NEWS...HE WON'T BE IN ANY COURTS......
"Damn, I’m always late in replying to these bombshell stories…"
Same here, brother.
Anyway, I, personally, am surprised that he's planning this. Sooner or later, he's gonna turn on them and work with T2 to bring down EA. Then what? Well, someone had better off him. *looks up* Countin' on ya, buddy!
cause I'm guessing they have not.
I'm sure many important people at EA read his letter. They probably made a drinking game out of it. It's a great way to spend a Friday/Saturday night.
take spore for example,
earlier video's featured blood and procedural mating
i havent seen either since 2006
That is basically what Thompson is these days. A puppet, a clown that amuses us.
They do know how to treat their employees. I have a friend who works at EA's Florida establishment and I got a tour last year. I saw a model of Metropolis used for Superman Returns. They get arcade games in the break room, get to watch movies using the meeting room's projector, that place is awesome. In fact, Icer, the Nesticle programmer, works there and he gets a year's worth of work done in a week and they let him take the rest of the year off.
Sorry for going off-topic.
Think about it, GTA is a game about commiting crime, Jack Thompson spends his life publicising the fact.
It honestly wouldn't suprise me if he was on the payroll.