Deja-vu all over again...

Today I was browsing on GameSpot and saw news about how video game violence is making its way back to the spotlight. Laws are being proposed, and a 60 minutes segment should be airing on TV soon featuring good ol' Jack Thompson. I was aware of the "GTA triple murder" for a little while now (for those of you who don't want to search, 18-year-old gets caught in a stolen car, brought to the station, kills 3 cops and escapes in a cop car before getting caught for GOOD), and I'll agree that the nature of this crime is OBVIOUSLY similar to the kind of things you do in any Grand Theft Auto game.

The problem is that Jack Thompson is going WAY overboard filing lawsuits left and right. He's suing the company that made the game (obvious), the store that sold the game to the boy (kinda pushing it, but understandable), and Sony also managed to get on the list for making the boy's PS2 (WTF?!?). I wonder why Jack isn't as interested in finding out what kind of family environment (or lack thereof) the boy grew up in. Considering the GTA series' popularity, I'd think that cases like the GTA triple murder would be more frequent, no? I guess it COULD be the kid that's just messed up.

Instead of focusing on that, Jack instead sues SONY?!? Whatever happened to personal responsibility? If I get fat by drinking milkshakes, can I sue the cows? I think ALOT more focus should be put on the kid's parents. I'm 100% in favor of giving parents all of the tools necessary to do their job properly. I'm 100% against having some 3rd party do the parents' job for them. If you don't think that the ESRB rating system is effective enough for keeping violent games out of kids hands (an understantable position), come up with other tools. Don't go around insulting people's intelligence by implying that Sony is somehow responsible for the death of 3 policemen in Alabama. The boy might have been 18 when he shot those 3 cops, but this happened in 2003, and GTA3 was released in May 2002.

To sum it up, this whole situation blows, and I REALLY hope that Jack Thompson's blatant attempt to get "the big verdict" no matter what the cost doesn't succeed.