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Jack Thompson Seeks Talk Show Appearances Over Oblivion Re-rate:Occasionally we receive a press release that's just too good to not publish, but this is the first time we've ever received one from a representative of Jack Thompson.
Probably because GamesFirst operates GamesFirst TV out of Buffalo, we received an e-mail this morning announcing Jack Thompson's availability for Talk Show interviews in regards to the Oblivion re-rating.
Normally we would just ignore this e-mail. However, reading over the details of the "talk show guest" offer, we couldn't help but notice some huge errors in their statements. You want to know why the mainstream media keeps getting the details all mixed up over issues like Hot Coffee? It's because of press releases like this.
It includes this sort of thing:
"This is not a modification or "mod" of the game by gamers. It is an unlocking of content that was put there by Take-Two with the unlocking code provided by the developer!"
If you're up for a laugh, or maybe just being a little pissed off, take a look at this press release. Any news agency willing to accept a guest speaker based on this information needs to reconsider their methods.
The Press Release:
"Last summer the video game industry was rocked by revelations that Take-Two Interactive, the makers of the hyper-violent Grand Theft Auto games, had illegally embedded in GTA: San Andreas graphic interactive adult sexual material. Take-Two lied and said it didn't do it.
The undersigned then prepped Senator Clinton for her "Hot Coffee" press conference, and all Heck broke loose. The House of Representatives voted 355-21 in asking the Federal Trade Commission to whack Take-Two for the fraud.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ordered a recall of all of the Mature-rated GTA: SA games, slapping an Adults-Only rating on it. The fraud cost Take-Two, conservatively, $50 million, which loss has resulted in class action shareholder lawsuits because of a plunge in Take-Two stock value.
You would think Take-Two would have learned its lesson, right? Wrong.
Its popular and newly released Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has now been re-rated "Mature" and recalled by the ESRB because Take-Two and its co-publisher have been caught embedding nude figures and scenes in the game which can be unlocked with a code provided by the developer. This is not a modification or "mod" of the game by gamers. It is an unlocking of content that was put there by Take-Two with the unlocking code provided by the developer!
Expert guest, attorney Jack Thompson (and author of Out of Harm's Way, an expose on violent video games) is available to be your Talk Show interview guest to discuss this new scandal that has just exploded. During your interview, jack explains that this game is an even worse disaster than last year's' "Hot Coffee" scandal in that it has resulted in the re-rating of a "Teen" rated game that kids of all ages have already bought and secondly because it shows that the Take-Two and the ESRB and the industry as a whole learned absolutely nothing from last year's scandal.
Specifically, the ESRB has now admitted that it rated this game "Teen" without even reviewing the entire game, unlike the movie industry rating system that is based upon a movie seen in its entirety. The ESRB, which is supposed to be the guardian of kids, simply didn't even try to do its job.
The ESRB, once again, has been caught with its pants down. What Senator Clinton said last year, with the undersigned's help, is now more true than ever: "The entire video game rating system is broken."
It is also clear that Take-Two corporately and its senior officers, including CEO Paul Eibeler, individually, must now be prosecuted criminally for the knowing distribution of "sexual material harmful to minors" which is a felony in most states and nationally. The undersigned intends to work toward that end immediately.
Thompson, a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, where he was a classmate of former Vice President Al Gore, shares with your audience how violent videos have a brain-altering effect that can lead to deadly results. During your interview, Thompson also gives antidotes from his new book, "Out of Harm's Way" (Tyndale House Publishers).
In Jack Thompson's new book, Out of Harm's Way, Jack puts the powerful video gaming industry in his cross hairs. Pointing to medical, scientific, and law enforcement evidence, the author shows how unhealthy and dangerous this popular "entertainment" has become-and how violent video games have been linked to the increase in school shootings. Lest the video gaming industry think Thompson is not capable of opposing their powerful stranglehold on the entertainment business, his history strongly suggests otherwise.
In Thompson's engrossing memoir-an account of a modern-day David's battle against the entertainment business, there is a much needed call to arms. Writing as one who has been at the front lines of the culture war for the past two decades, often standing right in the line of fire, Thompson explains the moral, legal, ethical, and racial implications of this battle and why it is vital that parents-and anyone else concerned about the health, safety, and well-being of children-understand it-and join the battle to stop violent video games-dead in their tracks.
VIDEO GAMES TARGETED BY JACK THOMPSON:
All the Grand Theft Auto games
The Warriors
Halo 2
Blitz: The League (Jack was on Anderson Cooper 360 about this game)
Brothers in Arms
Earned in Blood 50 Cent
Bulletproof True Crime
New York City Bully (not yet out)
25 to Life (not yet out)
ABOUT JACK THOMPSON...
A 1976 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, where he was a classmate of Al Gore, Jack Thompson is a former "hands-off-business libertarian" and "First Amendment absolutist" who subsequently became convinced that the entertainment industry must be forced into taking responsibility for the brain-altering and deadly results of the violence and indecency it is spewing into millions of homes, families, and minds.
An attorney specializing in litigation against the entertainment industry since 1987, he has been interviewed for hundreds of radio and TV programs about the link between violent video games and teen violence. His legal successes include: securing the first FCC decency fines (1989); securing the first verdict that a sound recording is obscene (2 Live Crew case in 1990); forced Time Warner to pull rapper Ice-T's "Cop Killer" from store shelves worldwide (1992); and received ACLU's "Top Ten Censors of the Year Award" (1992).
Recently, Thompson has represented parents of three girls shot at a school in Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old video gamer. He also got shock jock Howard Stern kicked off all Clear Channel radio stations and Clear Channel fined $495,000 for illegal indecent broadcasts. He also successfully predicted a "Columbine-type" incident on national television one week before it occurred, and he also predicted that the DC Beltway Sniper triggerman would be "trained on a sniper video game."
A frequent speaker on college campuses, Thompson lives with his family in south Florida where he is a lay leader in his Presbyterian church.
Suggested Interview Questions for Jack Thompson, author of "Out of Harm's Way":
Jack on Video Games:
* Do you really believe violent games lead to violence? What proof do you have?
* Can video games really permanently alter a persons brain?
* Isn't this really just a parent's responsibility, not the government's?
* Are you opposed to all video games or just some?
* Tell me one story that would be most likely to cause a listener to share your concern that video games cause violent behaviors?
* What is the solution to the play of so many violent games by kids?
* Are violent games really being sold to minors?
* Didn't you play cops and robbers as a kid?
* Are all violent games bad or just some?
* Do you think we're going to see more laws against the sales of violent games?
* Is this a Republican issue or a Democratic issue?
* Aren't Republicans supposed to be opposed to more government regulating our lives?
* Where does your regulation end? Aren't you putting us on a slipper slope of censorship?
* What are some of the video game companies that you believe are acting irresponsibly?"
Is there anything even left to discuss?
