
Jack Thompson is losing it. In his latest letter we received today, he begins by referring to himself as "John Thompson, attorney at law", before continuing with his dreadful threats of filing suit to prohibit the sale of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV to miners minors. Gosh, who could have seen this one coming! As usual, his threats are directed at publisher Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Paul Eibeler, and at Rockstar Games, who should be releasing GTA IV in mid October 2007, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Luckly, Thompson managed to keep this one rather short, so we'll publish his letter in full below:
"Dear Mr. Eibeler:
Please be advised that I shall be filing shortly a lawsuit to prohibit, by injunction, the sale of Grand Theft Auto IV, scheduled for release by your company on October 17, 2007, to minors.
The lawsuit I filed against you all and some retailers, such as Wal-Mart, against the sale of Take-Two's Bully to minors was a dry run for what is to come. As it turns out, I was absolutely correct about the appropriateness of that lawsuit, as the National Institute for Media and the Family, headed by Dr. David Walsh, proved that Bully is a Mature game fraudulently masquerading as a Teen-rated game. You were able to dodge that bullet by having Take-Two employees lie to Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman.
There is absolutely no chance that GTA IV will be rated anything other than "Mature," so good luck in having your Blank Rome lawyers trying to persuade a court of law that it should be sold to minors, especially in light of the United States Federal Trade Commission's findings that 42% of the time underage kids can buy "Mature-rated" games.
If Take-Two does not, by written agreement, promise not to allow sales by retailers of GTA IV to minors by March 9, 2007, then I look forward to your winning MarketWatch's "Worst American CEO Award," which you won in 2005.
I will secure that injunction, and then all sorts of other wonderful things will fall into place.
Regards, Jack Thompson" I bet they're all shaking at Take-Two right about now, fearful of "all sorts of other wonderful things"...
UPDATE: Wait, there's more! Just now we got another mail from Thompson, in which he gives the EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association) an ultimatum to comply with his request, that Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV not be sold to kids under 17 years of age by EMA's retailers:
"This summer and this fall, respectively, Take-Two is going to release Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Both games will be rated "Mature", and just as surely they will be sold to kids under 17 years of age by the retailers who are the members of your organization. Those fraudulent sales must not occur.
I plan to seek injunctive relief prohibiting your organization's member retailers from selling these games to anyone under 17. I believe I will secure that court-ordered relief. Violation of any court order in that regard will result in contempt findings.
Your members can avoid that consequence if they will enter into an agreement not to sell either of these harmful products to anyone under 17 years of age.
Please let me hear from you by March 9. Thanks." The plot thickens...




