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Sunday, November 6th, 2005
Time
Event
11:14a
GTA modder illspirit alerted us recently to a BBC report that dates back to the GTA Vice City days of 2003.
The half-hour program is an interesting, if fairly standard, look at GTA, Rockstar, and video game violence issues. Most notable, however, is a home-brewed Vice City song by Florida attorney Barry Silver, who seemed to be following in Jack Thompson's footsteps at the time. GP has no idea what has happened with Silver in the interim, although the former Florida legislator apparently is no longer involved in the video game culture wars.
Silver's a capella ditty is sung to the tune of The Association's 1960's hit, "Windy." GP offers it here as a sample of the BBC program.12:02p
As described in GameDAILY Biz, noted designer Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Thief) broke industry ranks at the recent Montreal International Game Summit with highly critical comments concerning Rockstar and the GTA series.
"I'm really angry at the Rockstar guys," said Spector. "...they frustrate me because Grand Theft Auto III... was an amazing advance in game design... And it was wrapped in a context that completely for me undid all the good they did on the design side."
Spector went on at some length on the issue, as summarized in yesterday's GamePolitics report as well as reports in the Canadian press.
Culture-crusading attorney Jack Thompson, engaged in a bitter court fight with the video game industry in an Alabama lawsuit, wasted no time in seizing upon Spector's comments. In a motion to be filed with the Fayette County Court tomorrow, Thompson contends "...the words of respected video game developer Warren Spector... show that defendants' characterizations to this court of the Grand Theft Auto games are misleading... Mr. Spector even highlights the killing of 'cops' in the game as a disturbing element... He calls the Grand Theft Auto games 'mindless pathetic killfests' and 'the ultimate urban thuggery simulation.' The court will recall that Take-Two/Sony's counsel, Ms. Ward, assured the court that the Grand Theft Auto games are most assuredly not 'murder simulators.'
In a message posted yesterday on GamePolitics, Thompson wrote, "Warren Spector just got himself a free plane ticket to testify in the Fayette, Alabama video game murder lawsuit, for plaintiffs. Trust me."
EDITOR's NOTE: It is highly unlikely that Spector could be compelled to testify in Strickland vs. Sony against his wishes. And it is unfortunate that Spector can't speak frankly without being drawn into something he'd no doubt rather avoid. But that's the current state of politics in the video game arena...
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