Jack Thompson - the disbarred Florida attorney and anti-videogame activist who wrote a draconian "truth in advertising" bill that Gov. Jon Huntsman vetoed last month - isn't giving up yet.

GamePolitics reports that Thompson did two hours on the conservative Utah Eagle Forum's radio show on K-Talk, bashing Huntsman and tossing out some tired accusations tying a school shooting in Germany and the Columbine massacre to videogame violence.

Thompson was introduced as "an attorney from Florida." Nowhere, as both GamePolitics and the blog Joystiq point out, was it mentioned that Thompson is actually an ex-attorney. Truth in advertising only goes so far with the Eagle Forum, apparently.

Labels: politics, Utah Legislature, videogames

"Color me surprised," says the writer of GamePolitics.com. "I did not think that Huntsman would buck the legislature on this one."

"This one" is HB353, a bill that was intended to punish businesses who sold M-rated videogames to youngsters - but, because of its vague wording, could have applied to theaters playing R-rated movies, bookstores and all manner of media.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman vetoed HB353 on Wednesday. In a statement notifying the legislature of the veto, Huntsman wrote: "While protecting children from inappropriate materials is a laudable goal, the language of this bill is so broad that it likely will be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork, blamed the veto on an e-mail lobbying campaign by "a lot of gamers that misrepresent the bill."

But it wasn't just gamers - who have followed the legislation closely (here, here and here, for example) - who thought the bill was stupid. The Salt Lake Tribune's editorial writers today called the vetoed bill "a bullet dodged" that would have had the unintended consequence of forcing stores to throw out industry ratings systems - making it harder for parents to filter out age-inappropriate games, DVDs and movies.

A tip to Rep. Morley and other legislators: Next time, don't let a disbarred Florida lawyer write your bill for you.

Labels: Jon Huntsman, Utah Legislature, videogames

The pressure is on Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman from video gamers, who are urging the Guv to veto a bill aimed at retailers who get caught selling violent games to minors.

A group called the Video Game Voters Network has launched an e-mail campaign, asking people to send letters to Huntsman in opposition to HB353 - saying the bill "will unfairly expose Utah video game stores to frivolous lawsuits."

The bill, if signed by Huntsman, would raise the possible fines to retailers who establish policies to prevent selling M-rated games to underage customers and then sell such games to minors - under the state's "false advertising" statutes.

HB353 is widely hated in the gaming community. Here are some examples:

• Macworld.com writer Peter Cohen opines that such laws are usually tossed out in court - and hopes "that some day legislators finally get the message and start working with the industry instead of pointlessly railing against it."
• Ben Kuchera, writing on the Ars Technica site, says the legislation won't stop retailers (it may, in fact, work against efforts to educate parents about the rating system for video games), and may end up costing state governments in court costs.
• On the site PS3 Informer, writer Kris Erickson calls out the bill's author - anti-gamer crusader and disbarred Florida lawyer Jack Thompson - by saying the HB353 will destroy the video-game ratings system, and "help push a conservative agenda of stirring up moral panic and building support for an eventual ban of mature games entirely, something that Thompson has publicly stated he would like to see happen."

Labels: Jon Huntsman, videogames

So how did Utah's cultural landscape fare after the Utah Legislature finished its work Thursday night?

The big news is that the massive rewrite of the state's liquor laws - which eliminates the "private club" regulations and lets existing restaurants take down the "Zion Curtain" - passed both houses and is heading to Gov. Jon Huntsman's desk. In spite of the more annoying parts of the bill (like requiring a separate area for drink-mixing in new restaurants), the overall effect helps drag Utah's liquor laws into the 21st century.

On the other hand, a bill that would have allowed bars and restaurants to sell draft beer that exceeds the notorious 3.2 percent alcohol level was left hanging in the Utah Senate.

Video-game sellers may have to be more careful to ID their customers. A bill - written by disbarred Florida lawyer and anti-video-game crusader Jack Thompson - headed to Huntsman's desk would increase the fines for retailers who sell M-rated video games to minors.

And Hollywood productions will have more reason to come to Utah. The Legislature is kicking up the state's motion picture incentive to 20 percent (for up to $500,000).

Labels: alcohol, alcohol laws, movies, Utah Legislature, videogames

The Utah House passed, on a vote of 70-2, a bill that would allow people to sue retailers for false advertising if they sell age-inappropriate videogames to underage customers - if they advertise policies to prevent such sales.

The gaming world is watching the bill closely (the blog GamePolitics.com live-blogged the House floor debate), in part because of its potential chilling effect on videogame sellers - but also becausse the bill was written by an old nemesis, anti-videogame crusader and disbarred Florida lawyer Jack Thompson.

Labels: politics, Utah Legislature, videogames

Videogame fans trolling the Web this weekend may have come upon this odd bit of news: The ultraviolent new Xbox 360 game "Gears of War 2," to be released nationally Nov. 7, would not be sold in Utah or Idaho.

According to the site SarcasticGamer.com, an anonymous source within Microsoft started the rumor. This was bolstered, according to the SarcasticGamer post, by a Twitter post by one Cliffy_B, who works for the game's designer:

"First off, Cliffy_B has written in his twitter recently that Utah was 'Lame' and Idaho was, in fact, 'dumb.' He has railed against BYU for being a 'Sucky college' and that he hates 'potatoes' obviously taking a shot at the number one cash crop from the great state of Idaho. On the other hand, Cliffy_B has supported polygamy as being 'sweet' although whether that statement was made in direct support of Utah is unconfirmed."

Soon enough, the rumor spread to other sites frequented by gamers, such as GamerBlips and Beyond Unreal. But it didn't take long for Beyond Unreal to report that the ban on the game in Utah and Idaho was a hoax.

Why did the rumor start? As satire, a mocking protest of the news - this time true - that the game would not be shipped to Germany and Japan.

Labels: videogames