'Grand Theft Auto' Makers Fight Lawsuit

yahoo.com | Nov 11, 8:19 AM | DUNCAN MANSFIELD

[freepatriot32]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The creators of the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" want a federal judge to dismiss a $246 million lawsuit filed by the families of two people shot by teenagers

Rockstar Games and its New York City-based parent, Take-Two Interactive Software, said the victims' families were trying to hold them liable "based on the expressive content of the video game."

Retailer Wal-Mart and marketer Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., are also named in the lawsuit.

Aaron Hamel, 45, was killed and Kimberly Bede, 19, was seriously wounded when their cars were hit June 25 by .22-caliber bullets while driving along Interstate 40.

Stepbrothers William Buckner, 16, and Joshua Buckner, 14, were sentenced in August to an indefinite term 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."

Responding Oct. 29 in U.S. District Court, Rockstar and Take-Two contend that such ideas and concepts as well as the "purported psychological effects" on the Buckners are protected by the First Amendment's free-speech clause.

A lawyer who represents the victims dismissed the claim, saying he would seek to move the case back into state court for consideration under Tennessee's consumer protection act.

___

On the Net:

Take Two: http://www.take2games.com/

[dead]

I ate my own brain after watching "Hannibal."

[Chewbacca]

Considering the game is for adults (NC-17), I think this is a case of bad parenting and no parental supervision.

[New Horizon]

GTA III is an excellent game.

However, the recommended prerequisites to playing it should be that you have a shred of common sense and the ability to separate fantasy from reality.

[dead]

I've never played it, but the same can be said of any game, even ones you don't need a computer to play.

We played "Kill the Guy with the Ball" when I was a kid, but we didn't actually murder anybody. Just bodyslammed them and maybe kicked them a couple of times.

[joesnuffy]

garbage in
garbage out

[Democratshavenobrains]

I ate my own brain after watching "Hannibal."

Back to DU with ya!

[mhking]

Idiots.

BTW, current rumor is that "GTA4: San Andreas" (tenative title) is due late 3rd Quarter or early 4th Quarter of 2004.

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Quick1]

Watching the movie Entrapment made me want to steal jewelry, and slap Catherine Zeta-Jones' ass.

Playing Simcity 4 made me want to balance the local budget.

Playing Pacman made me want to eat little pills while running around a dark room with loud music playing.

This case will get laughed out of court.

[gridlock]

Weplayed "Kill the Guy with the Ball" when I was a kid,...

Funny, we did too. We didn't call it that, though.

Another part of our cultural heritage (such as it is...) lost to PC.

[Terpfen]

4th Quarter 2004, according to Rockstar's shareholder's conference.

Also, it's not GTA4: that name is being reserved for the title coming out after this next one. The next GTA (where'd you get San Andreas from? Rockstar hasn't announced anything related to the game's setting) will be a side-story type thing, like Vice City.

Oh, yeah, the lawsuit... I wonder where all the lawsuits against HBO for airing The Sopranos are hiding? Dumb morons...

[Born Conservative]

I rarely use abbreviations, but this comment deserves a big OMG, ROTFLMAO!!!!

[Axenolith]

Whoa... That kinda puts the kibosh on my gathering together a mechanized army and invading France after playing Panzer General II...

[hchutch]

Sheesh... the folks trying to run GTA's makers into bankruptcy are as full of it as Sarah Brady.

[hchutch]

Or hopping into an F-4J, waxing MiGs over some foreign land, and strafing the pilots that eject from the MiGs in their chutes after playing USNF `97.

[Poohbah]

Paging Mr. Xander Cage...

[kinghorse]

"Kill the Guy with the Ball"?

You're showing you (young) age.

That game is well known by any 8 year old boy born prior to 1960 as "Smear the Queer". We meant about as much harm as Jeremy Shockey meant when he called Parcells a fag. It's a sports term for girly boy.

Oh wait.

My brain hurts.

Out.

[Poohbah]

"He also wants video games banned because he believes that they're destroying education.......come on Dick, it's the only education we got."

[gortklattu]

If I was the lawyer on this case, I'd want the trial held in Littleton, Colorado.

[hchutch]

"Dick, you're a bad man, and you know what we do to bad men? We punish them."

[IYAS9YAS]

Hey, I was born in 1969...we still played Smear the Queer.

[Poohbah]

"You're about to enter...the Xander Zone."

"OK, coming in hot with a side of bacon!"

[AppyPappy]

garbage in garbage out

Yup. Where did that garbage come from?

[ConservativeMan55]

Best Reply of the day!

[dead]

Wow! I'm young!

You're right though. I played "Kill the Guy with the Ball" in the seventies. "Smear the Queer" is definitely a funnier name.

[JoeSixPack1]

Being old as dirt... we called it "dodge ball" but we never used a chrysler! Honest!

[dead]

"Dodge Ball" is a different game, where you throw a ball at somebody.

Kill the Guy with the Ball or Smear the Queer is when one kid has the ball and has to run for his life. If he's caught, he gets slammed to the ground and dog-piled. Then it's some other kid's turn.

[Poohbah]

Being old as dirt... we called it "dodge ball" but we never used a chrysler! Honest!

I was supervising some kids at our church's 4th of July party, watching them play dodge ball.

I asked the pastor if there was a game called "Plymouth ball."

Ever see a guy in a Roman collar snorting Pepsi out his nose?

[lelio]

When will we get to see Grand Theft Auto: FRepublic Edition? Democrats coming at you with steel pipes, Clinton calling the shots behind the scene...

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I grew up playing Chess. It didn't me want to take over other countries.

Wait a minute.... I'm a Jewish support of Bush in Iraq... Maybe it did. 8>)

[finnman69]

anyone seen this version of GTA yet?

[JoeSixPack1]

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!! COOL! Then you get to play snortball!! :-)

[LouD]

GTA is a pointlessly violent game, with absolutely no redeeming value. Random shooting, soliciting prostitutes, vandalism, and theft are not values that ought to be inculcated, and I fail to see the entertainment in experiencing them vicariously through a game.

Now, if you want a good video game, try Civilization III. My son plays it with me, and I use it as an opportunity to teach him about history. Plus, conquering the world is FUN!

[LanPB01]

Several different magazines and online videogame sources have said "San Andreas" is rumored to be the title of the next game.

[JoeSixPack1]

...one kid has the ball and has to run for his life. If he's caught, he gets slammed to the ground and dog-piled.

Ah memories of wholesome knee shredding, elbo popping, blackeye the next day, fun!! :-)

[Callahan]

I just got the GTA double-pack for Xbox and I have to say after a long hard day of work plus night school, it's alot of fun. I have to wait til the woman goes to sleep to play , but then, she can't stand video games of any type. What can I say, it's my only vice. Hard not to think about flying around corners on a superbike and carjacking Lamborginis when you're stuck in traffic the next morning.

[discostu]

GTA has the most accurate car movement engines out there, you can ignore the plot and just have a great time driving.

I played a game and a half of Civ3, boooooring. To each his own.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Well it's a good thing I play counter-strike I guess...nothing like laying the hurt on a bunch of terrorists.

[LanPB01]

I bought a used PS2 just so I could play Vice City. I sold it as soon as I found out an XBox version was on the way.

[Old Professer]

Show some respect, young'un - I discovered Dirt.

[wi jd]

I ate my own brain after watching "Hannibal."

But did you eat your liver with a side of fava beans?

[lowbridge]

Watching the movie Entrapment made me want to....slap Catherine Zeta-Jones' ass.

Get in line.

[xm177e2]

This case will get laughed out of court.

Unless the case was brought before an activist judge (and plaintiff's lawyers generally want this to happen).

[xm177e2]

Well it's a good thing I play counter-strike I guess...nothing like laying the hurt on a bunch of terrorists.

Ever since I started playing CS, I have been feeling strange urges to go to the desert and blow up some crates.

[Billthedrill]

I think with me it all began with Pong. Or maybe not - Mom always did say that anyone who played pinball was going to become a J.D.

Hey, anyone remember "J.D.?"

[KevinDavis]

I went to Mars to shoot some Demons after playing Doom.

[Oschisms]

GTA3 is boring.
You really want a cool game, play Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.
Now that's a game worth playing 18 hours a day for as many days as it takes you to finish.

[MattAMiller]

San Andreas (Which is based on San Francisco I think) was one of the cities in the first game. Liberty City and Vice City were also in the first game so some folks are thinking there's a pattern here.

I've also heard that it will be Sin City, which is based on Las Vegas. At any rate it sounds like it will be set in the Western US. Or maybe not.

[dfwgator]

The games were nothing compared to some of the songs elementary school kids would sing.

(To the tune of the Joy To the World)

Joy to the World
The school is burned down
The teachers are all dead

We're looking for the principal
He's hanging on the flagpole
With a rope around his neck
With a rope around his neck
With a rope around his neck

..or how about

Glory, glory hallelujah
Teacher hit me with a ruler
Shot her with a .44
and she fell to the floor
and she ain't our teacher no more

[GETMAIN]

Video games have destroyed me.

I smash bricks with my head in the hopes that gold coins will fall out.

I eat every flower I see, but they've never given me the power to throw fireballs. They just made me sick.

The same goes for mushrooms. None of them have made me grow 3x in size.

I have been arrested countless times for throwing large turtles at people.