Rockstar sued

[GeorgeS]

Check this out:



here (http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-video-game-lawsuit,0,2579371.story?coll=sns-ap-n)

it says:



By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer

October 22, 2003, 3:56 AM EDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A $246 million lawsuit was filed against the designer, marketer and a retailer of the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" by the families of two people shot by teenagers apparently inspired by the game.

The suit claims marketer Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., designers Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, and Wal-Mart, are liable for $46 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages.

Aaron Hamel, 45, a registered nurse, was killed and Kimberly Bede, 19, of Moneta, Va., was seriously wounded when their cars were hit June 25 by .22-caliber bullets as they passed through the Great Smoky Mountains.

Stepbrothers William Buckner, 16, and Joshua Buckner, 14, of Newport, were sentenced in August to an indefinite term in state custody after pleading guilty in juvenile court to reckless homicide, endangerment and assault.

The boys told investigators they got the rifles from a locked room in their home and decided to randomly shoot at tractor-trailer rigs, just like in the video game "Grand Theft Auto III."

In a suit filed Monday in Cocke County Circuit Court on behalf of the victims, Miami lawyer Jack Thompson and local lawyer Richard Talley alleged the game "inspires and trains players to shoot at vehicles and persons."

"These kids simply decided to take the thrill of that game out to Interstate 40 and started pointing at cars," Thompson said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Thompson, who said he sent letters to Sony and Wal-Mart to drop the game before the shootings, said, "It's not like this is coming out of the blue, they chose to ignore this danger."

San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony and Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart did not return calls for comment Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges the retail giant sold the game to the Buckners about a year before the shootings.

Douglas Lowenstein, president of the industry Entertainment Software Association, called the shootings "an unspeakable tragedy" but said blaming a game played by millions for the boys' actions was "misguided and counterproductive."

"There is no credible evidence that violent games lead to violent behavior," he said. "While video games may provide a simple excuse for the teenagers involved in this incident, responsibility for violent acts belongs to those who commit them."

Thompson has made similar claims in the past and lost, notably a $33 million lawsuit against video game makers stemming from the 1997 school shooting near Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old boy.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case last year that it was "simply to far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom."

[modmyxbox]

you know what's wrong with this generation of kids no one takes accountability fo anything anymore. god damit bring back the 50's

[maquereautin]

for one thing this game is gay. theres no point to it, its not hard, looks like it was put togeather by some 5 year olds with some PCs running windows 3.1. and then trown on the PS2, which made it look worse, im not suprised that this game inspired some one (or two in this case) to go out with some guns and shoot at people. there should be a ban on games like these, ones where the point of the game is to go around like a drunkin dumb ass with a gun and kill people. There was game that came out a few weeks ago, where all you did was go around and kill cops, gays,and people who were not born in america. i saw they throw these kids in a room, and let the parents of the two guys who were killed say what they think. if they sell tickets to say your two cents ill be the first one in line to buy them.

[Sin]

OK I see a fine line being crossed by both sides of this recent event. On one side I see those like myself that say we are smart enough to make up our own minds about what we can and can not play. The world is full of people looking for an excuse to do somthing that by all accounts is morally wrong. Should we believe that by saying the devil made me do it that there is nobody at fault? I personally believe that those who do such stupid and hatefull acts have to look no farther than the ones who are suppose to be their guardians for the truth behind their agression. And to say that AC/DC's music or the movie natural born killers is th reason is nothing more than a miss pointed finger leading to nothing but a fat pocket book for being the first to sue them.
On the other side are the ones who are content with average games and feel that a single game or the words spoken by a single person can somehow convince others to go out and be stupid without having a past in violent thought or behavior. At the same time people on this side of the fence also play games like halo Listen to Marolyn Manson.
I am not interested in starting a debate on this subject my real reason for this rather long responce is to say man it sux to be famous and to ask: so what happens to the soon to be released GTA dual pack? Because I will be rather crossed if I dont get to play it on my xbox.

[pEEpiNg toM]

Ill just say what needs to be said....
It is bullsh!t

[Hoppy]

The kids weren't old enough to be playing the game to begin with. Hopefully that fact alone will be enough to get the suit thrown out of court.

[GeorgeS]

You would think this lawsuit is bull**** and will be thrown out, but remember this is the USA, anybody can sue anyone. I recently saw an article about a teen girl that sued Mcdonalds succesfully for millions. She slipped on a spilled soda and broke her tailbone. The funny part is she had just thrown the soda at her boyfriend!

[popo]

This is all quite amusing...not to mention, three 14 year olds were just arrested in a county close to "Memfrica" Tn, not to mention my house, where they shot 5 vehicles. Chopper 5 found the b*st*rds with their infrared vision. I am curious to know if any of this is related to the game?? I swear I could hear the shots when I picked up the kid from the sitters. I thank god nothing happened. I agree, the kids should not have been allowed to play the game, but it is B.S. You should be stable enough to separate the virtual world from the real world. M.F.'s need to go back and play Atari.

[xeno]

The parents who bought the game for 14 and 16 yr olds are the ones who need there ass sued.

[stampeder]

no worries, gta double pack should still be coming to the box, unless of course there is a seize and desist order put on production and product delivery which I highly doubt. The GTA games have been appropriatley rated which forwards the question of liability of juveniles "POSSESING" the games to either the vendor that sold the software or the parents that provided the software. To say that Rockstar games is directly liable for the incidents mentioned above, would be like saying the media is responsible for any given violent act which is copied from a previous broadcast-- ie: "Columbine Copycats". I could mention a ton of other examples, but you get the picture. The true questions are what was revealed from the phsycological assesment that would have taken place soon after the individuals were apprehended? What kind of peer group or groups were they hanging out with? What was the quality of life at home?

[modmyxbox]

Amen. Amen to that brother. Sorry my hulkamaniac side had to o come out and play.. lmao

[lizzardo]

How many remember the suit against Judas Priest because some ill-in-the-head drugged-addled teenagers tried to kill themselves after listening to "Stained Class"? (One succeded, the other just blew part of his face off, but ended up successfully suiciding some years later.)

Judas Priest ended up losing, because one of the songs had a chance combination of sounds (guitar pick sliding on string + singer inhaling) sounded like the phrase "do it." An accidental subliminal message.

Of course, it was the subliminal part that accounted for the loss. I can't recall any lawsuits over explicit messages.

Everyone is a victim these days. No one takes responsibility for their own actions. "I'm fat because McDonalds MADE ME eat all those Big Macs, with fries, giant milkshakes, and an apple pie for dessert." Or maybe "My son burned hiself to a crisp because he saw Terrance and Phillip light a fart."

You can't even buy a GUN these days without it having a stamped warning on the barrel, "This is dangerous and you could get hurt." I mean, GET REAL! IT'S A GUN! It's DESIGNED to be dangerous.

When I was a kid, if we got hurt doing something stupid, the only response we got was, "If yo udon't want to get hurt doing stupid things, don't do stupid things." Duh.

We don't need more laws (like censorship of "bad" games). We need to admit that we have free will, and are responsible for ourselves.

Raise your hand if you jumped off a building after watching "The Matrix." Yeah. I thought so.

Enough ranting for now.


lizzardo

[Sin]

Lizzardo you are a man of my own kind I do remember the problems with Judas Priest and AC/DC it was all a poor attempt at blaming sombody else other than themselves for their problems.
OK I already spoke my mind but this topic frost my tit I am sick of society not being able to accept the fact that there are just stupid brain dead people all over the place that are reasponible for themselves.
I will shut up now:cool:

[lizzardo]

Originally posted by Elf
I will shut up now:cool:

Yeah, right. I'd say that's about as likely as ME shuttin' up. I'll try to stay on-topic though ...


lizzardo

[Sin]

Originally posted by lizzardo


Yeah, right. I'd say that's about as likely as ME shuttin' up. I'll try to stay on-topic though ...


lizzardo
No really you watch I will not say another word on this thread.

[Sin]

I swear I wont. Not another pepe.;)

[stampeder]

If I remember correctly, Judas Priest and CBS records were in fact found not guilty in that particular case-- I followed that one very closely. Yep I remember also the controversy also with Ozzy's "suicide solution", and all of Tipper Gore's ignorant blatherings.

[lizzardo]

OK. I looked it up. Judas Priest and CBS were exhonerated. It was found that they didn't purposely put subliminal messages in, even though there did appear to be an accidental part that sounded like "Do it".

I followed this closely, but I'm old, and my memory has faded. More recent outrages have pushed aside older ones.

I do remember that during the trial, JP admitted using "backwards masking." They said they did it because it sounded cool. When asked what the reversed message was (to the best of my recollection), Rob Halford sang in court the bit they used. It was something like, "She asked me if I had some peppermints. I said I had some peppermints." Of course, in his usual shreiking voice.

And I just read something about some kid in the UK dying because he was pretending to be Tarzan, swinging from his treehouse.

Kids these days ...


lizzardo

[maquereautin]

can we all agree that america is full of dumb ass s? i mean really, lizzardo, i bet you could walk down the street, and ask 10 people if they thought guns can kill people, and i bet 1 out of the 10 would say, "lol you can kill some one with a gun? get out of here!!" its getting to be where im ashamed to say "yea im a american" cuss i know there are countrys out there that are rolling on there ass at how stupid we are.

[lizzardo]

I just wrote a big message ranting on even more about this, but have now deleted it. Rewrote it and deleted it again.

Stupidity is the birthright of all humanity, not just Americans. Our government just seems more intent on protecting us from our own stupidity.

When I buy a motorcycle helmet, more than 40% of what I pay goes towards liability insurance. People have sued helmet manufacturers for big bucks, and won. In at least one case, the plaintiff WASN'T EVEN WEARING IT. Should have been easier to wear, or some ****.

And most other countries that feel negatively about the US don't do so because of our product liability laws. It's our foreign policy that makes us reviled in an ever-increasing segment of the world populace.

Here I go, spouting off again. Now, I'm gonna go to bed, and tomorrow, I shall argue no politics, but instead will play video games with one of my pals. Probably start off with Brute Force, and then, once we're sufficiently gelled, get into some serious Serious Sam.


lizzardo

[popo]

It has pretty much been covered at how f'n stupid some of these american kids and politicians are (parents too). Everyone is so damn quick at pointing fingers at people because they are so ignorant to the fact that there children might be f*ck ups. If there is nudity or profanity on T.V., don't ***** - turn the channel. If you gave 2 cents about what violence your child may be getting from a video game, don't buy the M.F. What is the answer these days? Sue, sue sue. Let's get some money, it can't be MY child that has a problem. I would like to extend a big F*CK YOU to all the morons who make this country tainted. If you don't like it, move to towelhead country.

[xeno]

Its getting to be just as bad over in the uk guys so broaden ur opinions to include the planet coz there are fu*k ups everywhere and Judge Judy aint helping

[conmebol]

I think XBOX need more games like Shenmue installment rather than the GTA franchise. It's a lot better IMHO without any excessive violence.

[TrUePlAyA]

its 2 dumb ass kids dont go saying video games are corrupting EVERY youths mind

[conmebol]

don't get me wrong, i'm not blaming rockstar for the shooting. I'm just saying that gta is a bit overrated and not nearly as good as shenmue II. Again it's only my opinion

[TrUePlAyA]

GTA is freaking awesome
if you think shenmue is bettter you must be takin somethin i sure aint never had

[conmebol]

i don't know how good gta is going to look on xbox, but the one that i played on ps2 didn't impress me too much.

[stampeder]

Originally posted by xenomorphic
Its getting to be just as bad over in the uk guys so broaden ur opinions to include the planet coz there are fu*k ups everywhere and Judge Judy aint helping
It's getting bad in Canada too, but at least we tolerate marijiuana and don't have Jerry Falwell; the UK also came up with the Teletubbies so they must also be fairly tolerant to Marijiuana.

[alterego]

All right, all right, I am the forum reader who never responds, but this fries my a__ when people do not take accountablility for things that "sound like the fun thing to do at the time." Just like Aerosmith's video where the two boys steal the car and crash it into a brick wall (just to have the air bags pop out and be saved at the last second) today's youth feel like they are untouchable by the law and consequences. That is to bad for people like me who enjoy fantasy, steal 'em, drive 'em, wreck 'em, shoot 'em up games. (Where else can I misuse a hot, souped up car???) They appeal to my make believe, lawless side. I know that the scenario can never be real. nor would I want it to be, that is the point. Look to the guardians of these children, perhaps they are the ones who have failed teaching fact from fiction. That is all that I am saying.

[stampeder]

Welcome alterego, always feel free to post whenever you want.

[Sin]

Well it is nice to see you post alterego and a fine first post it is to.
We hope and ( I know) we will see more of you on the site.:cool:

[DiamondWolf]

I use 2 be like u alterego. Just read the forums but just started posting one day. suddenly I'm over 100 posts.

[popo]

I still think this is something that would have occurred in Arkansas...Oh, I'm sorry, they can't buy the games on food stamps.

[pEEpiNg toM]

all this type of sh!t pisses me off
everytime i see this thread i get mad at how stupid people are
such as "im suing McDonalds cuz my kids got fat from eating there" well no your f*ck!n kids got fat because u let the sorry b@st@rds eat to f*ck!n much
people need to start taking responsibility for their own actions

also one more thing there are a few people i would like to beat the sh!t out of right now

1st: the judges who have ruled these cases because he should be removed from the seat he has the privledge of sitting on for being more stupid than the people who are actually trying to sue

2nd: the dumb@$$ muth3r****3rs who bring these cases about in the first place.. i kan say if i honestly met or saw one of these dumb@$$es i would honestly beat the sh!t out of them
and if not
they wouldnt like to hear what i had to say

[InTeTsu]

You know this case just open up a can of worms. Not to say the can has already been open but in another form.

Just because it is a "Game" in general doesn't mean it entitled for all kids. That's why they have ratings such as mature. It's actually the parents or buyer's fault on this one. Since all games are rated. I can't believe they pulled a fast one and hit the big pockets.

Shame.. That it things like this are possible and can be achieved.

But you have to take something into consideration. They wanted to ban GTA for longest of times. i guess this is the reason they needed.

If GTA falls .. Their is other games out their that does pretty much the same thing.

I don't know why the court system tried to erase the problem. They should work with it and prevent the situation like this from happening. Through education to minors and less thoughtful individuals.

[biqsuwwi]

has anyone here ever played postal2 ? if they're gonna sue rockstar why not everyone else. why dont they sue nintendo for when Bobby landed on Jimmy's head trying to squash him

[Sin]

Postal 2 is at the outer limits it goes well beyond the whole this should shock them thing and goes directly to you aint never seen this type of stuff in a game. I played the whole game not real sure why it sux bad but it was so sick and so against the grain of all other games I just had to play it.
And I would like to mention that I don't pee on people walking down the street to make them puke just because I could do it in the game.

[biqsuwwi]

i had to stop right after the court order

[tk375]

Micheal Jackson?

[HarroSIN]

To do that kind of thing, the kids are obviously retarted.