"We will show you how to safely gamble, bet and play online."
B. Paul, Editor, Bonusgambler.com
|
Game Industry Person of the Year comments on PS2 cheat
Winners of the "Game Industry Persons of the Year Award" are dealing with PS 2 Game Cheat. The award comes from GameDailyBiz. The site published an article on the award winners, Paul Eibeler and Jack Thompso in their industry news-section. The story is related to Paul Eibeler and his view on PS2 game cheats. Read the details below:
"Game Industry Persons of the Year" award goes to Take-Two Interactive CEO Paul Eibeler and arch nemesis anti-game attorney Jack Thompson. Controversial? Yes. Are we insane? Quite possibly. But think about it; there was no story in 2005 with bigger implications for the video game industry than the "Hot Coffee" scandal. Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games' and Mr. Eibeler's complete fumbling of the entire situation allowed the story to spin out of control. Eibeler and Rockstar repeatedly insisted that the content was from an "unauthorized third party modification".
Instead of admitting that they left the content hidden on the disc, the company attempted to blame the mod community. It finally became clear that Rockstar did indeed leave the sex mini-game on the retail copy of the game when it was discovered that the PS2 version of San Andreas could also access the Hot Coffee scenario through a cheat device.
At that point, the entire situation had already gone out of hand. Take-Two had essentially lied to everyone, misled the ESRB (which had to reassign the game an "AO" rating) and undermined its integrity, and put the video game industry firmly in the crosshairs for the mainstream media and politicians nationwide. Hillary Clinton called for a federal investigation by the FTC, numerous states introduced violent games legislation, and more recently Hillary and Joe Lieberman presented federal legislation before congress, which could result in annual reviews of the ESRB if it becomes law. Ultimately, if the government gets its way, it could be regulating video games instead of the ESRB.
Furthermore, Take-Two's CEO was named Worst CEO of 2005 by a MarketWatch columnist. Bravo, Mr. Eibeler.
As for Thompson, he's long had it in for the video game industry and especially Take-Two. The "Hot Coffee" scandal was just the fuel he needed and he pounced on the situation, propping up Hillary Clinton for her actions and scolding ESA president Douglas Lowenstein, whom he'd once compared to Hitler, calling him a "bully" and a "thug".
It seemed as if the antagonistic Miami lawyer grabbed headlines every week, whether it was "Hot Coffee", EA's The Sims 2, Rockstar's Bully, his feud with game comic mainstay Penny Arcade, or anything else video game related. The sad part is that people in the mainstream were taking his words seriously, and that further fed his big fat ego.
And admittedly, by recognizing Thompson in this article, we're helping to feed his ego (which we hope not to do anymore in the future), but as 2005 went on it appeared as if his dive into obscurity had already begun. Thompson's combative nature (funny that he should call people in the game community "pixelantes") and constant threats/attacks finally caught up with him as people who would normally be on his side distanced themselves.
In October, the National Institute on Media and the Family's Dr. David Walsh renounced NIMF's association with Thompson and asked that he should no longer use the institution's name. Then in November, Thompson was kicked off the Alabama wrongful death suit involving GTA. "Mr. Thompson's actions before this Court suggest that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practice in this state," said Judge James Moore. There was even talk of taking away his license to practice law.
At last, even non-gamers began to realize something wasn't quite right with this man. But good ol' Jack hasn't given up his quest to bring down video games. His most recent tactic was to actually become a Take-Two shareholder so that he could face Paul Eibeler directly during shareholder meetings. I'm sure they will truly enjoy each other's company..
But for all Jack's attempts to demonize gamers and the industry, it's our belief that his efforts had the opposite effect. It seems as if the video game industry has pulled together in defense of his tirades and is now better for it. You know, "Whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger". So thank you, Jack.
Source: BonusGambler.com Editors' Choice
|
Gambling Help Resources:
