Fats
09-22-2007, 06:42 PM
Jack Thompson has filed a complaint against Best Buy and Microsoft alleging Halo 3 is a public nuisance.
Florida Attorney Jack Thompson filed a complaint with the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade county Florida on Friday against Best Buy stores and Microsoft over the pre-sale and future sale of the game Halo 3. Halo 3 had been rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB and is not generally to be sold to those to children under the age of 17. It is reportedly the policy of Best Buy not to sell any Mature-rated games to anyone under the age of 17.
In an exclusive interview with GameSHOUT, Mr. Thompson explained that Best Buy settled a lawsuit two years ago over the sale of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to a child under the age of 17 and made it their policy to check identification of anyone who appears to be under the age of 21. According to court documents filed today, Best buy allegedly breached the terms of that settlement when they failed to ID Thompson's 15-year-old son two weeks ago when he easily purchased a copy of BioShock, a 2K M-rated game.
Thompson went on to site his belief that "Halo 3 is a video game that allows the virtual reality player to rehearse violent acts resulting in the death of one’s virtual victims. Lee Boyd Malvo, the younger of the two “DC Beltway Snipers” was trained on Halo to kill residents within Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. His “mentor,” John Muhammad, knew the efficacy of the first Halo video game in this regard, because the Army in which he served used this same murder simulator to train snipers to kill. Malvo learned well on Halo."
Thompson stated that Microsoft is intentionally advertising in venues where teens, especially teen boys frequent and not generally where those who would qualify as "mature" adults would frequent and therefore Microsoft is allegedly intentionally advertising to those who do not qualify to purchase Halo 3. Mr. Thompson contends that this is simply to "assure Halo 3 is the best-selling video game of all time." The documents go on to say "Both companies should be held to the very standard that they themselves say is appropriate and that they say they are honoring but are in fact breaching."
During the interview, Thompson stated that his biggest concern is how easy it is for any child of any age to obtain a copy of an M-rated game through any retail website. He sited the Best Buy website where Halo 3 may be pre-ordered without age verification at all, and further sited the minimal age verification required by some sited such as at Target.com where all a user has to do is answer the question of whether or not they are over the age of 17 with the click of the mouse without any further verification.
If the Eleventh Circuit Court were to find in favor of the complainant, the judge could require an injunction of all sales of Halo 3 within its jurisdiction but would more likely force the issue of requiring state issued identification prior to the sale of Halo 3, and possibly could fine the companies named in the suit.
Source (http://www.gameshout.com/news/jack_thompson_files_lawsuit_over_halo_3/article9565.htm)
I'm getting so fed up with this Rat Bastard.
Florida Attorney Jack Thompson filed a complaint with the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade county Florida on Friday against Best Buy stores and Microsoft over the pre-sale and future sale of the game Halo 3. Halo 3 had been rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB and is not generally to be sold to those to children under the age of 17. It is reportedly the policy of Best Buy not to sell any Mature-rated games to anyone under the age of 17.
In an exclusive interview with GameSHOUT, Mr. Thompson explained that Best Buy settled a lawsuit two years ago over the sale of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to a child under the age of 17 and made it their policy to check identification of anyone who appears to be under the age of 21. According to court documents filed today, Best buy allegedly breached the terms of that settlement when they failed to ID Thompson's 15-year-old son two weeks ago when he easily purchased a copy of BioShock, a 2K M-rated game.
Thompson went on to site his belief that "Halo 3 is a video game that allows the virtual reality player to rehearse violent acts resulting in the death of one’s virtual victims. Lee Boyd Malvo, the younger of the two “DC Beltway Snipers” was trained on Halo to kill residents within Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. His “mentor,” John Muhammad, knew the efficacy of the first Halo video game in this regard, because the Army in which he served used this same murder simulator to train snipers to kill. Malvo learned well on Halo."
Thompson stated that Microsoft is intentionally advertising in venues where teens, especially teen boys frequent and not generally where those who would qualify as "mature" adults would frequent and therefore Microsoft is allegedly intentionally advertising to those who do not qualify to purchase Halo 3. Mr. Thompson contends that this is simply to "assure Halo 3 is the best-selling video game of all time." The documents go on to say "Both companies should be held to the very standard that they themselves say is appropriate and that they say they are honoring but are in fact breaching."
During the interview, Thompson stated that his biggest concern is how easy it is for any child of any age to obtain a copy of an M-rated game through any retail website. He sited the Best Buy website where Halo 3 may be pre-ordered without age verification at all, and further sited the minimal age verification required by some sited such as at Target.com where all a user has to do is answer the question of whether or not they are over the age of 17 with the click of the mouse without any further verification.
If the Eleventh Circuit Court were to find in favor of the complainant, the judge could require an injunction of all sales of Halo 3 within its jurisdiction but would more likely force the issue of requiring state issued identification prior to the sale of Halo 3, and possibly could fine the companies named in the suit.
Source (http://www.gameshout.com/news/jack_thompson_files_lawsuit_over_halo_3/article9565.htm)
I'm getting so fed up with this Rat Bastard.