Gizmodo
Not content in just blaming video games and video game creators, Jack Thompson's now blaming Bill Gates for what happened at Virginia Tech. An exerpt:
As you know, I similalry [sic] went on NBC's Today Show with the DC Beltway Sniper still unidentified and at-large a few years ago and told Matt Lauer and the nation that the triggerman would most likely be a teen video gamer trained on a sniper video game. The tarot card was a clue, but there were other clues. I was right, as Malvo trained on your Microsoft game, Halo. NBC reported that three months later, and it was part of the criminal trial of Malvo.Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill. You knew five years ago that your on-line game, Counterstrike, so clearly figured in the massacre by a student in Erfurt that the event and the game impacted the race for Chancellor in Germany at the time!
More after the jump.
Yet, here you are, five years after "Erfurt," still marketing Counterstrike. having done nothing to disable the server(s) for this mass murder simulator, and it looks like "Virginia Tech" is a consequence. There's more going on in the world than Vista. Just ask the bereaved Virginia Tech families.Mr. Gates, pull the plug on Counterstrike today, or do we need more dead to convince you? "Virginia Tech" was the 9-11 of school shootings, and it appears Microsoft is in the middle of it, in more ways than one.
Jack's still spouting his anti-game rhetoric even though the warrant for the killer's dorm room documented that he had no games in his possession. Not to mention that Microsoft doesn't even have anything to do with Counterstrike other than making Windows. Unless you're going to hold Bill Gates responsible for the killer-trainer that is Minesweeper, we're pretty safe in saying that Bill Gates had nothing to do with anything.
Game Almighty [via l2pnoob]
UPDATE: Warrant Reveals No Games In Cho Seung Hui's Posession [Gay Gamer]
Comments
I think Bill should also be blamed for global warming. Not making OS / apps that doesn't make your computer hot. The heat from the computers are making the ice caps melt.
Really???? (in best South Park voice I can muster). Last i checked, gates didn't have anything to do with marketing, making, or programming Counterstrike. It just plays on his os. And halo has nothing to do with killing human beings, in single player, at least. WTF.
Jesus tap dancing Christ I believe Mr. Thompson should have himself examined.
While we're at it, let's blame Bill Gates for the fact that Virginia has some of the loosest gun control laws in the country (i.e. no waiting/cool down period, 12 year olds can own rifles).
Also, I was unaware that Microsoft developed Counterstrike. Come on Jack, do your homework before opening your mouth.
This is possibly the stupidest allegation I've ever heard, It'd be more just to blame Bush for not having laws in place which would prevent someone from purchasing a gun... thats just my thought...
Jack Thompson is not that smart. And so that Windows causes everything bad, huh Thompson? Operating systems don't cause 32 people to die in a massacre. No wonder common sense is not that common nowadays.
Jack Thompson and "Dr. Phil" believe that videogames are the cause of the Virginia Tech shootings. They're wrong. Cho Seung Hui is the cause. Cho Seung Hui is dead. The buck stops there.
L-O-O-N-Y
Jack really should be locked up in a mental facility.
With this stupid fuckhead every fucking learn?
He's a complete fucking retard. HE himself needs to be shot.
He's killing it for the entertainment business, and his lawfirm himself. He's a complete fucking idiot.
Sniping in Halo is VERY different than shooting in real life, and so is it from CounterStrike.. This guy needs to shut the fuck up.
No one's going to start killing if he doesn't ''pull the plugg'' that he has no control over, it's complete idiocy.
I wish he would just die already.
How about something that will actually surprise someone? Like, the fact that Carlos Mencia isn't actually Mexican? Or that it really isn't butter?
jack is SERIOUSLY showing signs of mental instability. i'm talking hobo-on-the-street ranting crazy. needs psychiatric help for sure.
Playing the blame game again? It's just a game. I'm sure that most gamers actually acknowledge that. Maybe Jack should get a check-up. There are lots of games out there besides Halo, that are shooter games. You might as well sue every game maker in the country for making violent content, if you're going to shoot Mr. Gates just for having a company that made that game.
No! It's true!! Mario made me eat mushrooms and jump on turtles!!
I had some problems throwing fireballs though... man that hurt.
Normally I'm pretty calm, but WTF! (couldn't bring myself to actually post the F-word) Does this dumb ass have anything coming out of his head except shit? Pointing fingers doesn't fix anything. simple as that. But, this s most likely what the media will focus on for the next week or so until this is old news and they switch back to the war in Iraq.
So I guess Pitfall is to blame for everyone that commits suicide
rather than shooting up a skool can the next person just shoot JT, the news would become less full of shit.
(stick a silver stake in him aswell just in case)
Who else wonders how someone so loose can get a national forum for his irrational accusations?
ah, hes just a player hater, prolly jealous because his mum wouldnt late him play pong when he was a (21 year old) kid living at home and he has been seeking revenge on the evil medium which causes much needed embarressment by people who made fun of him being banned from imersing himself in the electronic variation of table tennis.
and all of this because of pong, so who's to blame? Bushnell of course, of course he didnt nick the idea from Baer.
a bit of background... http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051019-5458.html
It's a close race between Jack Thompson and Fred Phelps, for who I think might be the worst human being in the nation, if not the world.
Seriously, Jack, do your fucking homework. MS has nothing whatsoever to do with Counter-Strike. And stop using a goddamned human tragedy to advance your stupid agenda.
MS wrote counterstrike I can prove it
go to your computer with your favorite MS OS on it, hit the counterstike icon and BAM! MS' CounterStrike!
see! it must be so!
what a douche bag
Dear Bill Gates:
I have finished Halo on legendary twice. I have finished Halo 2 on Heroic once. Yet I cannot hit the broadside of a barn with a handgun in real life.
Therefore, please be on notice that I am currently in discussions with my attorneys to recoup my costs for my time, my purchase of XBox and XBox 360, both Halo Games, as well as the pain, suffering and humiliation that I experience everytime someone asks me if I want to go to the shooting range.
Judge yourself accordingly,
HyperEric
P.S. If you adopt me, I will drop my charges.
i'd like to see the gaming scores of these so called trained killers, what's thier xbox live IDs?
i'm sure this is all true though, it's really easy to use a real sniper rifle after playing halo. it's exactly the same reason that kids keep winning at the olympics after playing track and field on the original nintendo.
@ Simple_thinking
not you too, ok now i do believe video games are to blame. when i was 11 i played Mario like 24/7 and after my months and months of playing i craved mushrooms too. for crying out loud BILL kill all games now!!!.
they should also stop Soliter because it makes people gamble...
Jack sounds like he's been attending the Mayor Thomas M. Menino School of Logic.
Frankly, I greatly support this action by Mr. Thompson. It would be absolutely beautiful to see him end up on the wrong end of a libel lawsuit from Mr. Gates as a result of this letter.
Also, every time he sends off another unsupported missive it adds ammunition for his upcoming disbarment case.
Wow... That is amazing. It is too funny that Microsoft doesn't have anything to do with Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike is property of Valve and Counter-Strike: Source is property of Valve and published by EA Games. I guess we should blame Microsoft for porn and every other thing that is considered bad.
Makes me think of all the times I thought "man I would totally go on a killing spree if I had just logged some more time on Halo, I'm just afraid my skillz aren't up to snuff."
The worst part is that the middle American house wife probably believes him.
There was no societal element to this crime. The perpetrator was psychotic. He would have went heywire in any nation. He played the same song over and over again, blamed "you" for his crimes and rediculousness, loved all different kinds of weapons ... case closed.
this guy is really bored... You cant blame everything on video games. They dont teach you how to kill because idk where the heck ima get a plasma rifle and a smg. Even if i did id only shoot the brute ppl cuz they blow up better
In unrelated news, in an anonymous press release, someone has put out a $500 million bounty on Jack Thompson's liver.
Sounds like Jack is just trying to issue payback to Bill Gates for creating the PS3 that he paid $18,000 for on launch day. He just wishes he would have waited because he could get a Zune AND a PS3 for a little over $2,500 on EBay today.
Mr. Gates, pull the plug on Counterstrike today
d-bag, I rest my case.
I second the motion that Jack is a "fucking retard."
Wait a sec, I thought it was the students fault for not fighting back?
Yeah... as if one really needs training to point at something and pull a small lever, and as if video game experience directly translates to firearms proficiency. As far as running around, shooting at a bunch of other guys with guns, yes, you could learn a thing or two from playing video games. But you could learn the same principles from participating in a snowball fight. Lets outlaw snowballs.
wow, all these days of playing counter strike, and i never knew, it was made by microsoft AND i can snipe in real life! i think killing in real life and in a video game is on different sides of the killing spectrum, video games are in no way a simulation on killing in real life, this guy just needs to chill out and realize that if someone kills people it is nobody's fault but their own, it seems everybody wants to put blame on everything
someone should tell jack that openly blaming what happened at VT on one of the richest men in the country [as well as being the guy who's operating system runs most of corporate america] is a bad thing? i mean, bill gates could probably blink off camera at an assistant and 30 minutes later jack thompson would die in a purely accidental way with no one to blame.
oh and jack.... get your facts straight
Using Jackass Thompson's reasoning, we need US soldiers to start scouring Iraq for PCs so that the killing will end. Someone needs to tell that splatter-fart that very few significant events in this world have one cause. Cho Seung Hui was a deeply troubled and dilusional individual who was showing many signs that he was going to do something very bad. Mental illness existed long before video games and it will exist whether we ban video games or not.
Mr Thompson - What caused Jack the Ripper (or any other famous serial killer) to kill so many with such little remorse? Was it video games? If not, how can you be so sure that video games had anything to do with one lonely, sick man's actions in Virginia? Did you know him? Do you have any medical training that would provide you with any semblance of a foundation on which you've built your arguement? I would like to state in advance that while having your head burried that far up your ass may make you an honorary proctologist in some circles, it does not make you trained in diagnosing individuals you've never met.
When someone goes on a killing spree using a keyboard, mouse, or XBox controller, then I'll listen to Jack Thompson.
As someone who plays games and practices real-world marksmanship, I can promise nothing translates between the two.
This man just jumped WAY beyond his league.
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I hope Bill Gates and his greatest lawyers in the world sue the bastard for slander.
HEY JACK,
can you look into this guy and let me know if he plays Video games and if there is a link as well.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/19/BA...
thanks bud your the best for look after us.
oh here is a better source
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18203613/
...damn YOU PONG!!!
start with the roots and work our way out
"Mr Thompson - What caused Jack the Ripper (or any other famous serial killer) to kill so many with such little remorse? Was it video games?"
I must disagree, good sir! It was most indubitibly the salacious parlour games of wanton revelry that was the cause of such tragedy. These devlillish distractions do excite the blood and force men of pure virtue into degenerate lives consumed by gin and sinful vice!
yesterday (according to his MSNBC appearance) over 80% of college student play murder simulators like Counter-Strike.
if 80% of them play it... why isn't every college in America a war-zone?
based on his numbers for amount of players... and then the amount of violent school shooting there are... he seems to be proving himself wrong. i have to imagine there are any number of products that cause more deaths per capita of ownership than videogames. using his numbers and warped logic anyway.
If I ever meet Jack Thompson I vow to slap him in the side of his head with my penis.
After which I will blame my actions on Leisure Suit Larry and Jack Thompson can then go bitch about Sierra Games.
How do these Don Quixote types select their windmill enemies?
What did video games ever do to Jack Thompson?
What did homosexuals ever do to James Dobson, Fred Phelps and Jerry Falwell?
These wacky extremists are far more mentally unstable than the people and objects they seek to eliminate