Spong.com saw an email last week from Jack Thompson commenting on how he will take action against Bill Gates if Halo 3 is supplied to people under the age of 17. Jack was asked a few questions but some he refuses to answer as he thinks they are inappropriate to the situation. Jack was also asked if he's actually played the Halo 3 beta or has a gamer tag.

Yesterday we checked some facts regarding an email sent to Microsoft (into which we were copied) regarding Halo 3. The email was sent by Florida lawyer, John Bruce Thompson. The email contained the statement: "The Beta (of Halo 3) version that was released last week shows us all just how violent the game is and how inappropriate it is for play by anyone under 17."

We asked the following questions by email:

1) When did you play the Halo 3 Beta? I'd like to check for factual purposes.

2) What's your gamertag? Again, a fact check.

As ever, the lawyer responded. As ever, the responses were fact free. Here they are, in order:

"Your query is relevant to absolutely nothing."

In short, we still don't know if the lawyer has played the game that he's basing a campaign on. What's as concerning is that a legal professional can state that evidence is irrelevant.

"So, Tim, let me get this straight: You think Mature-rated games should be sold to people under 17? That's what this is about. You're not quite as clever as you think you are, and your "fact-checking" is pathetic."

SPOnG is actually on record as saying: "SPOnG advocates the correct and reasonable use, and enforcement, of video game rating systems such as the ESRB's or the European PEGI system.

"Certainly if a retailer sells a game clearly marked as 18+ to a six-year-old, then that retailer should be held to account - financially."

So, no - we are all for an understandable, reasonable and enforceable rating system. We are also all for creativity in game design.

"The disturbing material in Grand Theft Auto and other games like it is stealing the innocence of our children and it's making the difficult job of being a parent even harder," said Senator Clinton. "I am announcing these measures today because I believe that the ability of our children to access pornographic and outrageously violent material on video games rated for adults is spiraling out of control."

This quote - sent by the lawyer - was in reference to the his assertion that Hillary Clinton had called the ESRB game rating system, "broken". She has not said this - see the original story for the facts of the matter. "Spiralling out of control" is quite different to "broken".

ITANI via news.spong.com »