G4 announces G-phoria winners, books Jack Thompson

Cable television network names Elder Scrolls IV Game of the Year, invites vociferous game critic to appear on Attack of the Show. [UPDATE] Debate footage now online.

[UPDATE: Thompson's G4 appearance is now on G4.]

If you're a gamer and you read the news, you are probably familiar with Jack Thompson. For years, the Miami-area lawyer has waged a crusade against "murder simulators" and "pixelantes," as he derisively calls games and gamers.

Thompson remindes pixelantes everywhere that they're damned for all eternity.

Thompson's myriad criticisms of the game industry have made him the subject of much media attention and have led to appearances on CNN and 60 Minutes. He has also gained notoriety among game journalists for his frequent mass e-mails, which he often laces with biblical references and theories about covert law-firm machinations.

Soon, gamers will be able to see Thompson argue his case in a court (of sorts) run by gamers. The G4 cable television network has announced that the fiery attorney will appear on tonight's episode of Attack of the Show, which airs at 7 p.m. EDT/PDT on G4. Those on the West Coast with access to the channel's East Coast feed can watch the program at 4 p.m. PDT.

Thompson will face off against X-Play host Adam Sessler and GameDaily CEO Mark Friedler on the topic of violent games. Specifically, they will address Rockstar Games' announcement that its controversial title Bully will be released this October, despite Thompson's calls that it be banned.

"Not bad for someone who, according to bloggers at Game Politics and elsewhere, has nothing relevant to say in the culture war battle over violent games," Thompson boasted in a series of rapid-fire e-mails sent to journalists. "Oh, and so much for the patent lie that I am afraid to confront my critics. I've confronted more critics than Northern Israel has confronted Hezbollah missiles."

Thompson also used the e-mail to take a potshot at the head of the Entertainment Software Association game-industry lobby organization. "[ESA president] Doug Lowenstein, of course, will be nowhere is (sic) sight. Reason: Cowardice."

In other G4 news, the network has announced the winners of its G-phoria Awards for excellence in gaming. Selected by G4 viewers, the awards were once the subject of a glitzy ceremony in Los Angeles but have been scaled down to a lower-key televised event this year. The G-phoria winners--which are selected on only one platform--are as follows:

Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Xbox 360. Publisher: 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks

Best Voice Over: Kingdom Hearts II, PlayStation 2. Publisher: Square Enix

Best Alternative Sports: Mario Baseball, GameCube. Publisher: Nintendo

Best Action Game: Shadow of the Colossus, PlayStation 2. Publisher: SCEA

Best Graphics: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Xbox 360. Publisher: 2K Games/Bethesda

Best Handheld Game: Mario Kart DS, Nintendo DS. Publisher: Nintendo

Best Multiplayer Game: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Xbox 360. Publisher: Ubisoft

Most Original Game: Guitar Hero, PlayStation 2. Publisher: RedOctane

Best Role-Playing Game: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Xbox 360. Publisher: 2K Games/Bethesda

Best Shooter: Call of Duty 2, Xbox 360. Publisher: Activision

Best Soundtrack: Kingdom Hearts II, PlayStation 2. Publisher: Square Enix

Best Strategy Game: Star Wars: Empire at War, PC. Publisher: LucasArts

Best Traditional Sports Game: Fight Night Round 3, Xbox 360. Publisher: EA Sports

299 Comments

  • VGLeo34

    Posted May 30, 2007 9:32 pm PT

    This is true!
    His phone number is:
    305-666-4366

  • digimrm2004

    Posted May 5, 2007 1:17 am PT

    Why in the world would he associate biblical references with any of his claims. He is much dumber than I thought because he is now trying to throw his own beliefs at everyone else and he just loses himself in his own words. Even if video games cause aggression in some people, other people experience calm relief from it. It's better to shoot and kill on a game than in real life.

  • foxy42

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 1:22 pm PT

    Playing games makes me happy, seeing thompson makes me want to kill. I wonder if I can get a bill passed to censor the plonker...?

  • Poshkidney

    Posted Oct 24, 2006 1:20 am PT

    no selling bullets in wallmart that teachs anyone to kill

  • styx56

    Posted Oct 9, 2006 7:51 am PT

    jack is the stupidest politic I have ever seen. oh yeah and IT'S NOT POSSIBLE TO TRAIN TO KILL SOMETHING ON D00M3!

  • Nosnitsttam

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 1:29 am PT

    Anyone else hear jackie boy say "takestar". He can't even get the names of the companies right. How did some kid train to shoot people by playing DOOM? anybody who's handled any kind of gun (paintball, pellet, real) can tell you there's a DISTINCT difference between pressing control on a keyboard and shooting a gun. And how in the hell did he "predict" columbine? Even if that's true, how did it have anything to do with Bully or videogames in general? Not to mention that, although people playing violent video games do show increased levels of aggression (how high the increase is, however, is never disclosed), the same can be said of reading a violent book or watching a violent movie, listening to angry music etc. There are things much worse and all he's doing is complaining about a video game. He should truly be ashamed of himself.

  • sZZZlepy_101

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 4:35 am PT

    hey Jack.......why not go against M rated shows or porn other than video games. i mean like, not much ppl play games more than TV................

  • trevorj

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 7:54 pm PT

    Fight Night Round 3 is so repetitive. I never hit any body. the controls are so dumb.

  • portugal806

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 2:12 pm PT

    YEA KH!

  • FlashNovice

    Posted Aug 19, 2006 2:04 pm PT

    This was STAGED!

  • Scorpion16

    Posted Aug 19, 2006 3:30 am PT

    Thompson is such a tool and he loves to twist research to his own liking. That APA thing he brought up linked violent videogame play to "aggressive behaivour" not violence and murder. Also you have to look at these studies before you cite them. I once saw a study that linked violent games to "aggressive behaviour" simply because the violent game player identified violent words more frequently. If that's not flawed logic than what is?

  • titoserbianhero

    Posted Aug 17, 2006 7:23 pm PT

    I hate Thompson thats why I bought a sword

  • vitz3

    Posted Aug 16, 2006 10:31 pm PT

    I just called him from up here in Canada just to leave some foul language on his voicemail. Nothing threating mind you. Just the same stuff you'd hear in a fight between to cab drivers etc. Does that make me evil?

  • hart704

    Posted Aug 16, 2006 8:42 pm PT

    I have tons of M rated games. Come and arrest me too! Come on! I'm beggin' ya, Thompson! Make me famous!

  • Bladerunner89

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 3:22 pm PT

    Like Adam said, Jack Thompson needs to play the game and get a true feel for what it actually is before he starts blasting it.

  • pungaboy

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 11:04 am PT

    I'm no expert, but it really doesn't sound like Jack Thompson is trying to censor anyone. It seems more like he's just interested it having game ratings be federally controlled and enforced. In my opinion that makes total sense! The big issue with the current rating system is not that it is inaccurate or poorly conceived, it's that retailers have no incentive to enforce it, or rather, they have every incentive to NOT enforce it. I think that until game ratings are enforced and applied more like the MPAA's rating system, it's going to be hard for mature games to gain any legitimacy as an art form or, for that matter, do anything other than stir up controversy.

    The truth of the matter is simply; violet videogames may very well cause or encourage violent behaviour. We simply don't know. In 90 percent of cases, it probably doesn't. In 9.9 percent of cases the violence is probably to the degree of one kid punching the other on the arm. And maybe in .1 percent of cases the violence is worse. Videogames certainly aren't to blame for the majority of violence in our society, but they may well be a contributing factor.

    That being said, it seems ridiculous to advocate full-out censorship of violent or mature videogames, when violence and mature content are available from so many sources in our society. I mean, there really must be other forms of media or entertainment that are bigger culprits. For instance; the internet has given child pornographers almost limitless access to their fetish. How many cases have we heard about where someone met a sexual predator in an online forum or chat room? I'm sure there are terrorists out there chatting on MSN Messenger right now about how they're going to blow up a government building. Should we shut down the internet?

    Satellite TVs brodcast violent movies and porno 24/7. I'm sure there are kids out there getting seriously messed up watching this stuff from a very young age. Should we shut down the satellite tv and cable companies?

    I think that the key to ending the videogame violence debate is not going to be censorship, but giving parents the knowledge to make good choices for their children and also in giving parents the support of retailers to help ensure that their children don't have access to inappropriate content.

  • Ubawalla

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 10:47 am PT

    just let his 15 minutes of fame run out then we can focus on poverty and the border issues instead of video games

  • spoogan

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 8:36 am PT

    nice, Fight Night won =]

  • TrueHighlen

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 9:17 pm PT

    who who ada who how do

  • SteveTwo

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 3:00 pm PT

    Just remember, old outdated people like Jack Thompson will soon be dead. Eventually it will be us, our children, and our children's childred who make the rules.

    He is a poor man who is desperately strutting his last strut on the stage of life. Once he and all the other 'old boys club' idiots die of old age, the world can progress alittle further.

  • sleepy1978

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 1:06 pm PT

    I found the following quote from another article on gamespot to be relevant here.

    "...video games are undergoing the same kind of ostracizing effect that all expressive mediums endure when they first emerge. And though certain religious texts and political manifestos are responsible for more human lives lost than Grand Theft Auto could possibly imagine, there's certainly no justification for banning books on the whole; rather, it's necessary to merely educate people about the contents within them."

    From http://www.gamespot.com/features/6143438/index.html

  • ElementalFire

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 12:13 pm PT

    Sessler had good points, but he seemed so hyperactive.

  • x-wing20

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 12:06 pm PT

    I just watched it on the G4's website. Jack thompson is seeming more beilveble it's like his picture they show wikiedia he looks like a guy who would do no harm just you average family man. but when you read or hear what he says, he is a phychopath. But know he seems mor lucide which is very troubling.

  • rocafelon1001

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 11:36 am PT

    Adam did quite well while Jack justy kept repeating himself. LOL

  • sportsgamer8892

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 11:31 am PT

    Yes this definetly comes down on the irresponsibility of many parents. it's ridiculous how ignorant many parents are. i hear 7 year olds quoting R rated movies or talking about M rated games. The parents are the ones who are responsible for what they're children play, not the gaming developers who make the games.

  • Legendaryscmt

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 10:49 am PT

    Someone should just make a really violent WWII game, then have Tompson say that it's too violent, so that the whole US would hate him for saying killing Nazi's is a bad thing.

  • HinataHyuga

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 9:02 am PT

    Kingdom Hearts II is rumored to be a better game than Kingdom Hearts and plus It now have New Disney Characters like Chicken Little and The Lion King.

  • vitz3

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 8:01 am PT

    TakeStar! HAHAHAHA I hope that one sticks.

    Coming soon from TakeStar games...

    HAHA!

  • Dav_id83

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 5:42 am PT

    That Adam Sessler dosn't have a clue I live in the Uk and I'm 22 over the years I've watched and read in newspapers. How kids aged between 11 to 16 have either killed themselves cause they can't handle it can't tell there parents.

    Now no games where the cause of this but when this bully comes out kids over here are going to take the ways the game attacks kids. It happend with ManHunt one kid lured his friend and he killed him anyways I think he has a point and over here we do have a rating system. But it dosn't work as much cause kids send there parents to buy it so. Oh and that host of that show is an a**hole and ignorant git.

  • Nostradennis

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 4:35 am PT

    Too short for an honest debate. Adam Sessler is not a polished debater. He actually looked foolish and out of place in that debate.

  • Day

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 10:15 pm PT

    Heh heh. McCarthyism's a funny word.
    Man, discussions like these are frickin' pointless, sometimes.

  • Weeoo_86

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 9:27 pm PT

    Adam just doesn't like Jack Thompson

  • YourOldFriend

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 8:01 pm PT

    Wow, Adam is a total tool. I'm sad to say that JT came off INCREDIBLY better than him. The middle guy and JT should have just gone at it, they were the most interesting/valid to listen to. The middle guy had a good point about responsibility and I would have liked to see that gone into and not interrupted by d-bag #3. I can't believe Adam argued "No, England doesn't have any sort of free speech laws!" I feel misrepresented by him, but at least the middle guy was intelligent.

  • Karjah

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 5:10 pm PT

    adam was horrible to watch he needs to just SHUT up and let mr. thompson say his entire point before responding. Interupting your oponent during a debate is not only rude but it makes you look very very bad.

    What surprised me was when mark plainly put it. "It's up to parents to watch and control what their kids are exposed to"

    Jack: "That's not the issue here."

    Then I have to ask if children being exposed to this and parents taking responsible roles in what their kids watch and play isn't the issue then what exactally is?

    Making sure that no one under 18 buys bully? there's already laws in place for that to occur. ones I personally agree with if you really want the game let a parent buy it.

    I would like to thearby suggest that mr. Thompsons issue must then lie with this every being released in the first place. At which point arn't we really talking about the right of free speach here?

    That's what bothers me most in this whole issue really is the lack of free press issues. People IMO have the right to put out whatever they wish to put out and enforce the ratings and let the parents decide.

    that's what it all comes down to here. It's up to the parents to take an active role in their kids entertainment,.

    Ignorane is what causes outcast or fusterated children which in turn will breed violent people.

    Case in point.

  • madcapper248

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 4:45 pm PT

    I think it all depends on the parents. I'm only 16 and I've had to ask for M rated games before. I asked for San Andreas right after the rerelease on Xbox and after I explained to them about needing third party software and the changed content from the old version they were okay with it. I think that if all parents were better informed much of the controversy surrounding the situation would go away. Saint's Row also looks like the kind of game that's going to get a lot of attention for its content, in particular the ability to smoke and drink.

  • Slaveways

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 3:42 pm PT

    Adam was kind of embarassing to watch. Doug did a good job though.

  • Amathyne

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 2:17 pm PT

    In the 1960's it was comic books they were going after. in the 1990's it was music lyrics. Now it's video games. The world is full of people who want to stick their nose into other people's business "for their own good." I don't understand them, but they will always be there.

  • Nintendo_Ownes7

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 12:49 pm PT

    I saw it, it was okay I noticed he called Take-Two Take-star once.

  • wenbin09

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 9:55 am PT

    i think he will move on to movies review in future..

  • racer360

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 8:15 am PT

    Fat_jonny
    Its funny how at the end Jack wanted to say something and they just cut him off

    lol that was great

  • K1LLSWITCH

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 2:16 am PT

    I agree with you mrbojangles25 about Adam Sessler interrupting Jack mid-sentence, but Adam is a goof just like Jack. They both babble incoherently about nothing.

  • mrbojangles25

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 12:14 am PT

    I was very suprised by Thompson's behavior, I was expecting him to be "sinner" there and "brimstone" there, but he was very even-tempered...I see now how the more gullible people of this country can buy into his misguided attempts to limit our freedom. In the end, however, I saw him as an ego-mongering and misguided man who thinks he has grabbed hold of something that will make him remembered. We may know who he is now, but in 5-10 years he will be forgotten.

    I also thought that the guy in the middle (forgot his name, but the Game Daily guy) provided some very good points, especially what he said about parents ("if you want to stop your kids or relatives from playing games, thats your right but dont stop other people from doing what they want to do.." or something like that). Its too bad that Adam's stuttering and Thompson's incorrect information prevented him from contributing more to the conversation.

    I was a little ashamed of Adam Sessler (but not suprised) because he kept interrupting Thompson. I know its tough to ignore what people say sometimes, especially when they state opinion as if it were fact, but Adam was on the offensive immediately, interrupting Thompson and essentially not helping the rights of video gamers.

    It occurs to me that most of these so-called "Violent Game Crimes" or whatever you call them are performed by young people (under eighteen). Therefore, it is my belief that in the end, after you take account of everything, the sole responsibility lies with the parent. If your kid is unstable in some form, you dont give him some pills and and violent video game (as was the case in the Oregon shooting). Instead, you spend more time with him, take him to therapy, or (if you dont have the money) buy some books and learn how to help him. Likewise, if your kid comes home from school depressed or bruised, ask him or her whats wrong. Dont ignore them. The problem arises when video games are a substitute for parents.

  • dragon_king64

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 11:59 pm PT

    Adam Sessler just owned Jack Thompson. That was priceless.

  • JuiceTheGreat

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 11:33 pm PT

    This debate was really good with the views of an extreamist, the middle man, and the gamer. Jack needs to take some riddlin and stop being paranoid that children and teens are going to blow up the world because they shot a person that doesnt even exist in the real world. The reason there is violence is because of the weight of the world on children. (peer pressure, bullys, school work, famliy life, financial situations, and phychological problems with children and even more pressure on teens) if a parent is afraid of violence lets just home school the kid and hid him from the violence, buuut who knows stupid "solutions" could lead to the same problem (a kid has no social experiance and people make fun of the kid for being weird and then the kid gets angry about the teasing and doesnt know how to deal with it and snaps) result same problem violence its everywhere and its there all the time, you cant stop it so dont try to break down video games so there is only 999,999 different problems with violence instead of 1,000,000.

  • Jerrymiru

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 10:46 pm PT

    Even though I would like to see Thompson fall off the face of the Earth, I do have to give him kudos for even showing up to this debate. However, this farther proves that he is nothing more than an attention hog.
    I think Buzz Lightyear said it best:
    "You are a sad, strange little man. And you have my pity"

  • GameDestroyer88

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 7:36 pm PT

    Once again good ole' Jacky Thompson gets OWNED, this time on live tv. Seriously....that opinionated zealot needs to find something better to pass his day. Hell I say the loop should have lasted half an hour....this way Sessler could have had his way with Thompson. It also struck me funny that Sessler was so pissed with Thompson he looked as if he was going to have an epileptic seizure, but then again I know how he felt when he was sharing the same disscussion with a complete moron.

  • wade36

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 7:30 pm PT

    Adam nailed it. "Wasn't there violence before Pong!"

  • acidic_dude

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 5:42 pm PT

    i was watching that i was rofl as soon as i saw jack, he is so stupid i was like stfu jack get over yourself, he said he was a parent and if he dont want his kids and relatives playing games then he should not let them.

    p.s. I dont think its us on drugs, i think its jack on dust.

  • HyperMetaDragon

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 4:58 pm PT

    I really dislike Jack Thompson. He should end his feeble attempts for suits and bans of games and companies.

  • JPatlakis

    Posted Aug 12, 2006 4:31 pm PT

    I really don't care what Jack Thomson thinks or even says. He's failed many times on trying to ban games from the market and he will continue his many failing attempts without success, unless he tries to buy out parts of congress.

    Jack Thompson, you will NEVER succeed!!!

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