April 29, 2008
Ars Technica has a report on Jack Thompson's claim that the sexual content in Grand Theft Auto IV is essentially pornographic.As is his custom, Thompson once again invokes law enforcement by writing to his local US Attorney about the game's hooker and strip club scenes:
Indictments should be returned against Take Two corporately and its Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, along with other Take Two officers. Indictment should also be against Sony and Microsoft which are making this pornographic game available to minors, and openly so, on their PS3 and Xbox systems.
Further, indictments should be handed down against Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, and all other retailers distributing this game to minors at their retail stores, openly, to kids who are only seventeen.
So, lock everyone up, then? Are the feds even talking to Thompson yet? The controversial attorney's rant continues:
Grand Theft Auto IV is the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio.
Since polio...
While Ars Technica concludes that an IGN video (NSFW) which rolls a number of the game's sex scenes into one segment gives Thompson ammunition, we're not so sure.
For one thing, these are animations, not real people. But even so, protagonist Niko Bellic's encounters with hookers in cars (notably unsexy pic at left) and strippers in clubs are all simulated; no genitalia are visible. The participants do not even appear to be unclothed. We've seen more graphic content in any number of R-rated films.
What's more, the ESRB content descriptors for GTA IV list "strong sexual content" and "partial nudity." We're quite sure that, given the industry-rocking 2005 Hot Coffee scandal, both Take Two and the ESRB had their legal experts closely review GTA IV's sex scenes.
Will Thompson get some publicity mileage from GTA IV's sex scenes? Sure. Will anything come of it?
No.
Comments
*cough*
There's a reason why there are Parental Control features on both the 360 and PS3.
So with this, indictment should also be against the parents of those minors since they failed to turn on Parental Control on the consoles?
Geezus, that's a lot of people to be locked up...
Other then that, nothing else has changed, so instead of my normal wall of text about him, I'm going to start using this tag to shorten my comments.
[Insert previous comments about JT]
Test...
Ewwwwwww.
Wow... That'd be a hellof a claim... IF IT WERE TRUE!
At this point, I think Jack just does this for the laughs.
It's telling that even my mother told me that she rolls her eyes now every time she hears one of these ignorant stories about the evils of video games are spouted by silly old luddites.
Jack... do you even have electricity? You are so behind the times.
"There is some accountability that is being forgotten here, which is in the retailers court. They are required to ask for ID when selling M rated games to make sure that the people buying the game are accompanied by an adult or 17 years or older."
This is a common mistake. You see, all carding and such is strictly voluntary. Only pornography is controlled by law. This means children can and do get into R rated films, buy vulgar CDs, and can buy video games. Majority of the industry is on a self-policing policy which, for the most part, works. But there are some outlets which do not care and after having worked retail, I don't blame them. Often you'll turn the child away only to get yelled at by the parent for trying to raise their kid days before they throw a copy of Conker's Bad Fur Day at you from the returns counter (still have the scar below my left eye, cardboard with a circular motion and 2lbs of weight behind it can cut deep...).
So no, there is no responsibility on the retailers side of things because this isn't law. All attempts to make it law have been so retarded (aka, clerk gets a felony charge.. wha?!?), the laws have been struck down. A vast majority of the carding is done strictly on a voluntary basis and most retailers adhere to that volunteer system. This is why when Jack claims stores are breaking laws when the kids manage to get their hands on this, he has to label them "pornography" to get any credence to the claim.
I lol'd. I lol'd hard.
Well, I'm not surprised. He compared the Playstation 2 sales with the Pearl Harbor attack.
Isn't he a bit too late now? The game's already released.
I put $50 down that JT will need to be defibulated after 10 minutes.
That is a GREAT box quote! The greatest-hits release of the game NEEDS to have this on the box.
I know it must be upwards of 100,000
he wants to indite over 100,000 people
and then, then he brings polio into it.....
goddamn, hes got the balls of a bengali tiger
I know I'm gonna go buy a copy of GTA IV simply because JT is so adamant about it. I mean come on! He's comparing this one to Polio... POLIO!!!
...The game must totally kick ass!
That would be so hilarious
Jack is so full of fail it's not even funny.
So we already have a vaccine for this "polio".
I had to work the midnight launch for GTA4. The only IDs I didn't check were of guys with graying hair. The youngest guy we got was 18.
Also lol polio.
But don't worry Jack, I knew how to buy a dance before watching the video.
I'm certain that he thinks the pin-up doll nose art from WWII constitutes pornography, even though most were clothed and are tame even compared to the modern Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.
For some reason this reminds me of an odd bit of Edwardian/Victorian trivia that I learned a while back. Some of the more effluent families would get a special, well, lets call it a collar, for the teenage boys in the family that had a series of pins facing inwards on it. It was worn in a rather sensitive and delicate place and was designed to 'punish' the lad should he 'rise to the occasion'. Strangely enough, this bit of torture of a prudish group makes me think of Jack Thompson as both come from the same mindset that finds all but the "dressed down 2 stages from a nun" attitude about women offensive.
Of course, I'm also reminded of Porky's 2, with the debate about Shakespeare and the bible and how both sides listed sexually implicit verses from both. The truest (and sadest) part about it was that the Reverend would say "So says the shepard..." and was answered with "So says the flock.", similar to JT in so many ways it's less comedy than real life satire.
I think you might mean affluent :-)
However, JT more than frequently skips step one
ANd our future military should be unstoppable with no casualties.
@kurisu
And the US military using giant mecha, man portable lasers, power armor, rail guns, mini-nukes, instant heal medipack, and have the same 5 or 6 faces in an army of hundreds of thousands. Not to mention the whole alien horde invasions, giant bugs, zombies, mutagenic plagues, and the giant Deus ex machina universe ending threats. Yep, video games are 'soooo' much like reality. [/end sarcasm]
http://www.gamingwithchildren.com/2008-04-29/gamerdad-on-wiod-miami-gta-iv/
If I can get a pointer to the audio I'll update the linked page with it.
No surprise here with his absurd claims, and that is pretty much all that needs to be said about this non-existent "controversy."
So we get more hypocrisy from him yet again, but I am not surprised considering how he deliberately dodges questions and points like that. Maybe it has something to do with reminding him of his "success" in cleaning up those industries...
Wonder how far in advanced he had that load of manure written out? I say he probably did another cut and paste job. Still, I'm looking forward to more LOLs at his expense!
And I'm pretty sure I've never had to show my ID to get into any R-rated movies at the theater here.
The retailers are really trying to cover their asses on this one.
"Dear Jacky,
Thanks for the free advertising and bringing in the extra customers. We couldn't have made this much money without you.
-Love,
T2"
But still, I thought his ploy of crying to Zelnick's mommy was a pathetic attempt. This is just ridiculous. I, a 17 year old, plan to pick up a copy either today, or sometime this week. I also plan to NOT use the game as my own perverted means of digital sex. I intend to play the game like any well-adjusted teenager would.
Strip clubs =/= Porn.
If the mere mention and imagery of the main hall of a strip club was automatically pornographic, there would be next to zero TV-13 TV shows on basic channels. At ANY time of day. If strip clubs were porn, then CSI has been corrupting children long before GTA3 was even released.
I'm sorry, Mr. Thompson, but boners do not corrupt children. Images of actual SEX have the POTENTIAL to corrupt children. Last i checked, sex acts don't take place on the main hall area of strip clubs, in real life or in video games.
Did you read that five times now? That's a good boy. Run along now.
It's like waving plastic fruit in front of a starving bum at the street.
Allow me to tweak your phrase to match what puritans and such like-minded individuals would say and believe, including dumbshits like our attorney general John Ashcroft.
"Why is it that if a woman is naked, it's automatically pornography? That's some old bullshit."