Thompson v. The Florida Bar

Filing 310

Plaintiff's MOTION for Judicial Notice by John B. Thompson. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit News Release - Retailer Pulls SLAPP Bar Complainants' Game)(Thompson, John)

Thompson v. The Florida Bar

Doc. 310 Att. 1

Immediate News Release ­ Nov. 6, 2007
Target Pulls Hyperviolent, Sexual Game Manhunt 2 from All Stores
Miami attorney Jack Thompson, an activist against the marketing and sale of Maturerated video games to minors, commends and thanks the Target Corporation (NYSE ­ TGT) for its decision to pull the incredibly violent and sexual Manhunt 2 from all of its retail stores nationwide. It has also ended all sales via its Internet site, www.target.com. Manhunt 2 is banned for sale even to adults in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and yet it is being sold to teens in this country by Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, GameStop, and other retail dealers. In the last week it was discovered that certain adult content left in the game by the game's maker, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., and by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) can be unlocked and seen in the PSP version of the game! The ESRB is a game rating board wholly controlled and funded by the video game industry. Manhunt 2, in addition to the incredible violence, contains "Strong Sexual Content," and yet it is being sold by other retailers to 17 year olds, which may constitute a criminal act in violation of state and federal "sexual material harmful to minors" statutes. This fact alone--the pornography in the game--may have caused Target to pull Manhunt 2. This decision by Target is an historic step by a major U.S. retailer to draw a line for corporate responsibility in refusing to sell this game. It features coming up behind victims and killing them with baseball bats, manhole covers, and syringes jammed into eyeballs. The game can be played on Nintendo's new, kid-friendly Wii platform, in which the player hold motion capture devices, and thus the player performs these virtual kills with his own body. The behavior modification by such a system, psychologists tell us, is more likely. The player can make the kills more "gruesome" if he so desires. Thompson appeared on three national television programs last week warning American parents of the dangers posed by this game, as did parents' groups. It is absolutely thrilling that Target has heeded the warnings of Thompson and others that corporate responsibility begins, in this case, in its corporate headquarters in "family values" Minneapolis, Minnesota, the home also of Best Buy. Best Buy continues to sell this murder simulator to teens on-line and in stores. Thompson's own 15-year-old son was able to buy a Mature-rated video game in a Best Buy store in Miami, with no questions asked as to his age, despite promises by Best Buy to stop this practice two years ago.

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