Online site Game Politics reports that beleaguered Miami attorney Jack Thompson emailed them the other day regarding the writ the Florida Supreme Court sent to him. Before this, Thompson was already having problems with the Florida bar with the latter denying his complaints time and time again.

Anyway, it seems that the writ is really aimed to silence Thompson as it demands the lawyer to acquiesce to a suspension. Part of the document reads,

The Bar has now demanded in writing that respondent Thompson accede to a 91-day suspension from the practice of law on the basis of his alleged unethical conduct in a) claiming that three families who are his clients are in fact his clients and b) preparing expert witnesses for their depositions.

We all know how determined Thompson is prompting him to sometimes cross the line when it comes to video games, so expect him to rebound. The document continues:

This demand that Thompson receive the vocational death penalty is based upon The Bar's secret collaboration with Blank Rome lawyers who represent Take-Two, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto murder simulation game. Blank Rome's lawyers are the authors of other actual Bar complaints filed against Thompson in order to facilitate their client's marketing of adult products to children.

Game Politics tried to speak with Thompson for clarifications but it seemed that the Miami attorney bounced around the questions as he answered,

I'm not suspended from the practice of law and won't be. I have no idea what The Bar is claiming in this absurd regard. I have no complaint in that regard because there is no complaint. This is all an over-reaching contrivance by The Florida Bar.

The "three families" mentioned above is believed to be the plaintiffs of Thompson's lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive and other game industry defendants that would amount to US$ 600 million.

Here's another one of those "Welcome to the Internet" type of articles. The University of Florida's Independent Florida Alligator has an article up about how Blizzard's World of Warcraft - surprise, surprise! - "kills time" and "offers gamers an escape."

Of course, every article like this has their own expert/s on hand to discuss the inner workings of the game. One of the article's resource people is Joe DiPietro, an educational technology graduate student, who according to the Alligator "researches various aspects of gaming, including the fine line between playing as a healthy hobby versus a dangerous addiction."

DiPietro said that "a small percentage of World of Warcraft players are actually addicted." The Alligator also notes that as the game's popularity grows along with the popularity of MMORPGs in general,  "symptoms of excessive play - the sacrifice of relationships, school, work and other responsibilities - will get worse."

It's nothing new, really, but it's a slow news day. Something that's noteworthy though is a comment from one of the people interviewed in the article. Michael Bobek, who plays the game almost every night, says "It's just what I do for fun. I played video games the whole time I was in high school, and I was valedictorian."

See? People can play World of Warcraft and still lead a pretty balanced life - academic-wise and otherwise. All it takes is a bit of time management.

And the battle between Mr. Jack Thompson and the gaming community wages on. Circulating the internet is a petition asking the Florida Bar Association for the punishment or disbarment of Mr. Thompson from practicing law on the grounds of "severe lack of professionalism, downright bigotry and stereotypical view of what is known as a "gamer."

It is also alleged in the petition that Mr. Jack Thompson exercises his right to free speech in excess by forcing his views against gamers and utilizing these views to defend stereotyping or bigotry.

We who are known as 'gamers' are people from all walks of life, positions of authority, race, creed, gender, culture and nationality. While some people give a bad example to the rest of us, the whole should not be held accountable for the actions of a few troubled individuals.

The petition was created by those from the gaming community and written by Robert Maillet.

You kids playing online games better be careful with the people you meet. In Jacksonville, Florida, a 26-year old man was arrested for luring a 15-year old girl to run away from home and meet him.

The suspect, Daniel Lenz, met the New Hampshire girl online playing World of Warcraft. Lenz's friend, Jason Dowling, 23, drove to Windham to pick up the unnamed girl so he can bring her to Lenz. They, however, never made it to Jacksonville as one of them called the girl's home and revealed where they were. The police found both Dowling and the girl in Manning, S.C.

Lenz, meanwhile, was arrested at his home on Tuesday night, where the police found a 12-gauge shotgun. Looking into Lenz's criminal record, it was found that he is a convicted felon with quite a string of offenses, including grand theft and sexual battery.

While it's fun to play with friends online, as well as meeting new people while playing your favorite games through the internet, do not let up your guard as you never know just who might be on the other end of the line.

The Jacksonville Florida Times-Union reports that The Christian Alliance for Progress and three other organizations held a news conference in Phoenix to fight against Chicago-based Tyndale House, publisher of the Left Behind series for its support of the video game for the series released just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Rev. Tim Simpson, a Jacksonville Presbyterian minister and president of the Christian Alliance for Progress, said the newly released game mangles biblical prophecy and promotes religious intolerance and violence.

Of course, the guys behind the game disagrees. They say that its apocalypse-themed game provides biblical teaching in a format appealing to the video-game generation.

"There is no blood or gore" in the game, Troy Lyndon, chief executive of Left Behind Games, said on the company's Web site. "The game is designed to be a classic battle between good and evil, but it does not gratuitously depict violence or death."

Sigh. More arguments due to religious interpretation. Big surprise. Amusing to see a "religious" game get flak from the religious.

Further words from me on this topic will obviously be cause for much unwanted “heat," so I'll just close this post in comedic jest. Refer to the image to your right.

Jesus says don't be a dick.

WoW's turning two soon, and Blizzard's not about to let anybody forget that as they sponsor WoW's 2nd anniversary sweepstakes; and the prizes are looking very good indeed. The Sweepstakes begins October 29, 2006 at 12:01 AM Pacific Time (Hmm, we're two days late...sorry, our bad) and ends on November 26, 2006 at 11:59 PM PT. It will be divided into two specific categories:

• The WoW 2nd Anniversary main sweepstakes: For gamers with a registered WoW account as of October 29, 2006.
• The WoW 2nd Anniversary Legacy Player sweepstakes: for gamers with a  registered WoW account as of November 29, 2005.

Anybody with an account of good standing are automatically eligible for either sweepstakes, and only citizens living in U.S. states (exculding the states of Florida, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico), and players aged 18 or above are eligible.

Prizes at stake:
Winners will be chosen at random, and the following prizes will be given out depending on the week of the draws.

For the WoW 2nd anniversary main sweepstakes:

• 1st week (October 30  to November 5): Two winners will be chosen at random to win a Jinx Gift Certificate worth roughly $100.
• 2nd week (November 6 to  November 12): Two winners will win 1 Razer Copperhead Precision mouse, 1 Razer Mantis Control, Speed Mat and Barracuda HP-1 Headset with an approximate retail value of $250.00.
• 3rd week (November 13 to November 19): One winner will be chosen to win an Apple 80 GB iPod with Video Playback and  one $100.00 Jinx Gift Certificate with an approximate retail value of $500.
• 4th week  (November 20  to November): One winner will be chosen to win a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 7950 graphics card, and one $100.00 Jinx Gift Certificate with an approximate retail value of $1,000.00.

Legacy Player sweepstakes are eligible for the award in mentioned earlier, and are also eligible for a special 5th week luck draw, and one lucky winner receives an XPS Gaming Laptop, a $100.00 JINX Gift Certificate, and a two-year World of Warcraft subscription with an approximate retail value of $2,500.00.

Potential winners will be announced on the official website, worldofwarcraft.com. The player's most-played character name and resident server will be posted, and emails will be sent to the winning character. Only one prize is allowed per entrant. This is just the basic gist of the event - for the nitty-gritty details, we recommend you check out this article's source link. The next  few weeks could just be your lucky day!

Antigame activist lawyer Jack Thompson is back! This time he is suing Florida’s legal regulatory association for conspiring “against his rights as a citizen”. This after he lost a court battle with game-industry players, including the makers of Grand Theft Auto. Thompson believes “the Bar has been collaborating with opposing lawyers in his lawsuits over Grand Theft Auto and Howard Stern, encouraging them to file Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) complaints against him for over a year and a half.” For those of you who missed that episode of Law and Order, SLAPP complaint is a lawsuit “intended to discourage a party from expressing a certain point of view by intimidation and the burden of legal costs associated with defending oneself against the complaint.” Thompson has been leading a crusade to stop violent video games. Depending on which side you’re on, he’s either a hero or a jerk. Gamers recently came up with the "Jack Thompson Toilet Paper."  At least we know where they stand.