OMG I AGREE WITH JACK THOMPSON EVERYONE RUN TO THE BUNKER THIS MUST BE A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!!!!!*speaks in tounges and goes into a seizure*

My guess is that he learned a lesson from the Sims faisco a few years back that he was involved in. He went on unreliable information (which turned out to be from a gamer with a chip on his shoulder) that the Sims promoted pedophila. Not unlike the massively uninformed opinion about Mass Effect we've recently seen.

I guess he's just gotten more particular about what games he goes after now. But that comment someone made about calming down while waiting for his disbarment trial verdict is probably on target too.

@Michael Brooks

The Devil's also set up an ice hockey game on the frozen lake of fire between the '76 Philadelphia Flyers and the 9/11 hijackers.

And I agree with whoever said that this can be used against Jacky Boy whenever he complains about GTAIV or any other game.

Who are you and what have you done with Jack!

Didn't know it was cold enough outside for hell to actually freeze over. But in all seriousness; if Thompson says the "controversy is absolutely ridiculous" then you know... well... the controversy is absolutely ridiculous.

.....Someone hold me, Im scared.

Personally, I think the man is just misguided. He should be focusing his efforts on retailers rather than publishers when it comes to selling/marketing grown-up games to minors.

Actually scratch that - he's part of the religious right "moral majority", isn't he? So backwards, so reactionary.

>JB

@ Azzedar

But it also shows that a thaw is coming on Sunday. Does that mean that he will change his mind by then?

I'm no fan of Jack, but he is right on this and when you're right you're right. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the GP community reacts to this one.

*sings* It's the end of the world as we know it!

Jack dared Kotaku to report on it.

They did.

Ok, Jack. What's next? You've been keeping a semi-low profile since the trial. Afraid you're going to tick off the judge who's going to decide your career fate?

Samrt. Very smart.

Oh no, Night has become Day! Black is now White! We're all gunna die at the nearest Zebra crossing for sure. *faints*

Uh, but yeah, the irony of JT knows no bounds.

@Azzedar

I've actually been to Hell, Michigan..... The name is quite fitting. Not because of intense heat or cold but because actually living in that "town" would most likely be complete torture. Then again, all the place is, is a bar and a gift shop it's one of those "blink and you miss it" when in a car type places hell you could probably run past it in ten seconds or less, maybe there's more now but I kind of doubt it.

JT saying that something is ridiculous is like Hitler calling people 'bad'.

The funniest thing here to me is that Jack thinks it's some kind of big dare for for Kotaku to print that he says the Mass Effect controversy is contrived.

Of course it is, and he's right about it. The stopped clock is right twice a day after all.

The thing of it is, all of his controversies are equally contrived.

Pointing it out here, there are a few possible motivations:

1. To make himself appear more sane in the light of his ongoing possible disbarment.

2. As others have said, because his vendetta is with Rockstar.

3. Kind of related to #2, Bioware is owned by EA now, and the fact that EA is striking back at the media over this might be intimidating Jack away from the issue. EA's a much bigger fish than Take Two in the big scheme of things.

Wait, that "guy"? Could be he didn't hear the story, or he's thinking that the guy that defended Mass Effect?

*picks up phone* Uhh, hello, operator? Yeah, can you give me temperature in Hell please? ... wow, completely frozen over? Thanks. *hangs up*

it must be an imposter!

They could use that as evidence against Jack. He's against one form of expression such as GTA, yet he's for another in Mass Effect. Kind of like that Simpsons ep where Marge was against Itchy and Scratchy, yet had no problem with Michelangelo's statue of David.

EZK: "The Guy Game" is illegal. :)

To me, this statement from Thompson just shows me how much of an hypocrite and attention-grabber he is.

Mass Effect is rated M but Fixed News claims it is sold and marketed to kids. Thompson claims the same things about GTA and Manhunt. He even goes as far as claiming that the selling of GTA constitutes "unfair and deceptive trade practices". Why does Mass Effet get a free pass? It's not a Take-Two game.

Thompson showed outrage at the "pornography" in Bully, boy on boy kissing. Mass Effect has lesbianism, PG-13 explicit of course, but for Thompson a contrevorsy about this is ridiculous. It's not a Take-Two game.

I think Thompson lacks self-definement to the point that he wants to be the only "enemy" gamers have. Like "McCullough and Fox? Ridiculous, I'm the one gamers have to worry about".

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

He's playing possum, but I won't let my guard down, no sir.

I guess JT is more against violence than "customizable sodomy" in a video game.

LEAFS WIN THE CUP! LEAFS WIN THE CUP!

'Nuff said.

"I don’t see any problem with [Mass Effect]. The guy who shot his mouth off about it [on Fox News] had no idea what the Hell he was talking about… This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous. Report that, why don’t you?"

Who are you and what the hell have you done with Jack Thompson? Also, did he just call Cooper Lawrence a dude?

Finnaluy JB you use reason instead of jumping on the blame train. Kudos to you.

I am not surprised by JT.

In his mind he believes violent games are murder simulaters and will turn people on too violence.

He feels playing Mass Effect will not make people want to have sex, not a sex or a rape simulater by any stretch.

Makes sense.

I, for one, want to hear JT's response to Sexy Beach 3

/popcorn

@ Davcube

I completely agree with you. This simply shows that JT has a personal vendetta that is really against Take Two and R*. You could possibly link it in with FPS and human on human violence, but I personally won't make that leap. There just isn't enough information to make it.

All of us know JT is far from an ally to gamers.

Maybe this is Jack backlashing against Fox News because HE wasn't invited or setup as the expert versus Cooper Lawrence? Just a thought.

Hmmm... let's point out the irony in JT's quote, shall we?

First off, the commentor was a woman, not a man, and him going off about them being misinformed is appropriately ironic.

Secondly, JT is almost always misinformed about the games he crusades against, also ironic for him to lambast someone else for it.

Thirdly, him being critical about someone going on a new program and not knowing what they are talking about is equally ironic, as he does that all the time. In fact he considers those as ''victories" for him.

Fouthly, after the whole Sims 2 controversy he created, he has no room to say that any unfounded controvery is rediculous.

Maybe he just found he was good at the game. And got owned hard in GTA?

I've said this before in the other thread but it bears repeating:

"Jack just doesn’t want someone else stealing his limelight. He isnt defending anything at all, he just wants headlines to himself."

Is this the REAL Jack Thompson? Or Jack after medication?

Seems alittle akin to the character at the end of the book '1984'.

@ Nitherean

OK, you're going to have to clarify that. There were alot of characters at the end of '1984'.

Also, it's been a few years since I read it.

I'm sure it was the real Jack Thompson. Apparently he e-mails kotaku regularly. This wasn't an out of the blue e-mail.
Also, it seems like Jack is more concerned about violence then sexuality in the games. Mass Effect really doesn't have THAT much violence in it. At least no more then Star Wars and less then James Bond. After that, he probably saw the video's when the game was first released.
I think that the main difference between the people who try and villianize the game and those who shrug it off as nothing is what they thing the video is of.
The detractors think it is an ad, a sample of what the game has. 'All this and more can be yours' type thing, meant to hint at what you get when you play the game.
The people who realize that it isn't much know that is ALL there is. That movie is ALL the sex in the entire game. The worst sexual content in the game is FREE and AVAILABLE to watch on YouTube. Most of the clips don't even have the objectional content flag, you don't even have to click an "Over 18" button to see it.

*News Flash* Most people saw the Mass Effect sex scene at work without even violating company policy within a day or two of the games release. Shows that ARE marketted to kids for reviewing games, and during prime time, have shown the scene, and only blurred out about 2 seconds of the whole clip just to stay on the safe side of censors.

@ZippyDSMlee

Very true.


@All

Makes one wonder, does he let his son play Mass Effect at all? And if so, then he should also let him play Halo 3 out of all fairness.

It's Rated M (17+)

Something big is about to happen, to the fallout shelter!

he isnt dead yet???

@ Mogbert

I'd disagree with Jack being more preoccupied with violence than with sex. When the Hot Coffe sotry first broke in GTA:SA, he was one of first peopel to rush to condemn it.

As far as violence goes, Halo 3's violence level probably wasn't that much more than Mass Effect's and was also on par with Star Wars, but that didn't stop him from condemning it and trying to get it listed as a public nuisance days before it was released.

No, Jack's dismissing of Mass Effect is simply because he was not involved with it. He was not asked to appear on FOX to discuss it, and in his mind he's got bigger fish to fry in the form of Take 2 and Rockstar. Also as has been pointed out, he's in deep doo-doo with his law license and he doesn't want to focus any undue attention on himself.

Its because Mass Effect isn't a Rockstar/Take-Two game, that or he's just trying to cover his ass and kiss up so he doesn't get disbarred.

SKY IS OVER

OK first finland wins eurovision song contenst and now this!
Harmageddon is near peoples!

yet Jack freaked out about the main character from Bully being able to kiss other boys.

I really think Jack Thompson could really do something about underage kids playing mature rated games if he would realize, as another poster said, he should be focusing on retailers and making parents aware. I really think the gaming community would back him if he stopped attacking games, gamers, and the gaming industry. I, as a gamer, do not want my little brother playing games like GTA and Manhunt, but realize that he is mature enough to play Bully. There is a big difference between GTA and Bully.

It's all just a stunt for the judge if you ask me. This was probably a tough cookie to swallow for Mr. Thompson. I can imagine his awkward face while he was typing that up.

Of course he has no problem with Mass Effect; Rockstar and Take-Two had nothing to do with it.

I bet he's laughing his ass off reading these comments right now.

@ E. Zachary Knight, regarding your comment about Australia banning games.

Complete & utter over-exaggerated nonsense. Australia on average bans about one or two games annually and looking at the number of classifications handed out to games over the last few years (over 1000) it's really an insignificant number. Although I despise censorship and the classification system for games is obviously severely handicapped, Britain bans about the same number of films as Australia does games. Games are routinely banned, censored or simply not submitted for a rating in places such as Singapore or Germany. Comparing Australia to countries such as those is just plain ignorant. Mass Effect was released totally uncut in Australia with a 15+ rating and there has been absolutely no controversy regarding it. You forgot to mention New Zealand which has banned Postal 2, Manhunt and Reservoir Dogs. Censorship exists within every nation on Earth, even the USA, so before you go spouting your mouth off insulting other nations why don't you take a look at your own?

Sure government imposed censorship in regards to media isn't rife, but because of the sheer prudish nature of Americans, self censorship is all over the place. American TV is arguably the most censored in the Western world, you have retailers, publishers and console manufactures preventing developers from creating truly adult games. You have retailers and theatres treating MPAA ratings as though they carry legal restrictions. You also have the government telling you it's OK to own a gun and go to war before your 21, but you can't buy or drink alcohol WTF? Self-censorship is far more lethal because there is nothing to prevent it from stepping over the line and in the end the consequences are far worse. Sorry buddy but the USA isn't any more free than any other Western nation. I'd hate to bring you back into the real world for a second but, in the end it doesn't matter whether it's self-censorship or government censorship, the end result is exactly the same. Your precious Bill of Rights doesn't mean anything when non-government organizations are playing the de-facto censor role.

What you fail to realize is that the majority of games with extreme content do get released in Australia totally uncut. For example, Gears of War, Saints Row, GTA San Andreas, Doom 3, Resident Evil 4, The Suffering (1& 2), God of War (1 & 2), Killer7, The Warriors, Condemned: Criminal Origins, True Crime NYC, Dead Rising, Mortal Kombat (all games to date), SOF 1 & 2, Mass Effect, The Darkness, Fahrenheit, the Hitman games and plenty of others have all been released in Australia with a 15+ rating. Which is lower than what they have been released with in the USA, Britain or New Zealand. Most of these games have been banned or censored in Germany and not even submitted for a rating in places like Singapore.

In all honestly, the whole "Australia bans everything" is a statement often spouted off by ignorant journalists and people like you who DON'T ACTUALLY know what you're talking about.

Mate, take a step into the REAL world please and get off of your computer for a day......Americans are no more "free" than Australians. Hey at least our nation doesn't go into turmoil because someone's boob gets shown on TV.

@adamJ

While I do agree with alot of the things you say, there is such a thing called being nice.You can make your point, but don't make too much of an impact with you 2 cents. Not many people like the feeling of get a speech from somone who sounds like a douch to them.

Anyway, adamJ kind of hit it on the spot. Compared to other coutries, America is kind of a censorholic, one "offencive" thing and the fur flys. Don't even get me started on seperaton of church and state, I personly think that we are doing a BAD job on that.

Note: got to go no time to spell check.

Wow...

there is hope for planet earth yet...

I think Jack finally did some of his homework (Research) on this one....

Or it might be the case that Jack Thompson finally saw some sense to play though the game before bashing it...

Or maybe Jack has gone so insane that he is starting to contradict himself.

I am sure that if Mass Effect was anything like GTA or perhaps made by Rockstar or published by Take Two, perhaps Jack Thompson would have bashed the game without even playing it himself...

But this is really surprising, or just a publicity stunt that old Jack is trying to get some credibility back from those who bailed on him after his loss from Bully case.

Wait a minute Thompson is actually agreeing with us and NOT using misinformation to take undeserved potshots at the game industry.

Either Thompson doesn't like Fox News, or this is a sign of the Apocolypse.

Be on the lookout for Bush declaring War on 3 more countries. For Bubonic Plague and/or Aids to wipe out whole cities, for unexplained deaths of billions of dollars worth of crops, and for people to spontaneously kick the bucket.

Either that or look out for more criticism of Fox News from Jack.

I think he's gona try and parlay this in to some sort of credibility when GTA IV comes out.

@ adamj

Sorry that my sarcasm was lost on you.

Annnnd cue the 4 horsemen.
Possibly attention seeking, who knows?

We have discovered a hint of kindness in his heart.

Cookie to whoever gets that reference.

In statistical measurements, Johnny Bruce Thompson's reaction would be considered an outlier in his overall average of being off the mark the other 99% of the time.

C'mon guys, there are plenty of guys named Jack Thompson in this world.

@Johan

He has more of a personal vendetta against Rockstar and Take Two. Otherwise God of War or possibly 25 to life would get mentioned.

It's more liek he has a problem with a game when it's conveniently for him

@JustChris

Would that reference be Scrooge or the Grinch?

I...

Wow.

I think we entered the twilight zone.

Aside from irony and hypocrisy, I don't know what's going on here @_@

Of course Fox's expert didn't know what they were talking about. If Fox had wanted a real expert, the obviously should have contacted jack Thompson.

I think Satan is getting irritated about the delay on his order of ice-skates and winter woolens.

Just thought I'd toss that in there for flavor =P

Jack, this is why we love you. Sure, you have a feud with Rockstar, but, you have more sanity than all of those idiots put together! Good luck, mate!

Holy Shit! I'm so fucking cold!

Ummmm... I had to check my calender and make sure it wasn't April 1st...

man.... this is very eerie.... It kinda feels like when the guy over at the icecream stand sells and hands out hot chocolate to people Xp

no comment.

and altair i get it.

TIME PARADOX!

I'm not sure I want to play Mass Effect now that Jack Thompson says it's ok.

Maybe that's his strategy, gamers won't play games that he endorses!

He's perfectly fine with "sex" in video games,... just not violence