If you are a fan of reading long legal documents, Game Politics has the full court order available for your perusal on their website.

BREAKING - Florida Supreme Court Sanctions Jack Thompson {GamePolitics]

The Complaint (which is, remember, by its nature entirely one-sided) tells a dramatic and undoubtedly controversial story about virtual property company IGE. It starts at the beginning, when the founders allegedly met playing Everquest, and proceeds like a script for a straight-to-video movie.

It includes third-hand allegations of cash from an earlier venture being spent on illegal drugs, a claim that Pierce's dog was shot by the "Spanish FBI," and allegations of minors being transported across state lines for sex. The complaint even takes a swipe at former-child-actor Pierce's filmography (Pierce played a young Emilio Estevez in The Mighty Ducks and The Mighty Ducks 2, and the lead in First Kid). In short, this is not your average business spat.

PlayNoEvil has some insightful comments up regarding some general problems this case points to. In any case, rare is the court filing that is this entertaining.

Lawsuit Against IGE Founder Brock Pierce Alleges Underhanded Dealing at Virtual Property Company [Virtually Blind via PlayNoEvil]

This time, Thompson doesn't just have the gaming industry in his sights, but the US military as well. He claims that he has caught the two seemingly disparate branches getting cozy out of the public eye. To be specific, he says that the US Department of Defense and the gaming industry have created an unholy alliance that is teaching "an entire generation of kids that war is glamorous, cool, desirable, and consequence-free."

It's no secret that the government uses video games as simulators for it's soldiers. The Army's presence at PAX was proof of that not to mention the various reports we've already heard about this subject over the years. So, what is Thompson's point? He seems to be telling us something we already know. According to a story on Wired, a little digging shows that the real "argument" behind this latest outburst is that Thompson believes that the military is using the same games to train its soldiers as the ones that are being sold to "the children." This seems a bit odd since it is well documented in statements from several sources that retail purchased games don't provide the kind of training the government requires so they pay companies to create special games that are tailored to their specific needs.

Interestingly (but not surprisingly), the evidence Thompson is using to support his "same game" claims are the same ones I mentioned above which seem to be in direct competition with the arguments he's trying to make. I'm sure mere hours after this article is published, a missive will be deployed from the house of Thompson telling me how I've got everything wrong so I'll let you read for yourself the website that Thompson referred Wired reporter Chris Kholer to when he inquired about the subject. From what I can tell, Kholer's view on the report seems to be right on and Thompson is yet again creating a mountain out of the proverbial molehill. Am I (or are you) surprised? Not really. Just one more log added to an already raging fire that will ultimately end up burning its starter.

Jack Thompson: Games Industry Colluding With Department Of Defense

This week, they were able to argue to a judge that "game had been approved for release on a misinterpretation of the law." The judge accepted the argument and awarded the BBFC the right to fight the game's release in the British High Court.

This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to for a game that (to me anyway) doesn't seem any more violent than most of the other M rated titles out there. Couple that with the fact the BBFC recently approved (with no cuts) the ultra violent film Eastern Promises with the excuse that "...it was up to adults to decide what they wanted to watch and that movie-goers were free to look away from the screen", and it makes their continued rallies against Manhunt 2 seem rather flimsy and hypocritical. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out as it will more than likely have a long standing effect on how games are rated and dealt with in the UK and possibly across Europe.

Manhunt 2 to face court challenge [BBC News]
[Thanks, DBP]

Halo 3 does not function with the Xbox 360, and to the contrary, attempted use of Halo 3 consistently causes the Xbox 360 to "crash," "freeze" or "lock up" while the game is being played.

Microsoft's 'Halo 3' Game Crashes The Xbox, Class Action Claims [courthousenews] Thanks Chop!

Sweden. Don't let the pancakes, Volvos and pop music fool you — game addiction is alive and well. According to the country's biggest online paper, Aftonbladet, a 15 year-old boy in Dalsland, Sweden has been place in a treatment home due to video game abuse. The kid had stopped going to school, no longer hung out with friends and stayed up all night gaming. When he parents tried to step in, he got aggressive. Local authorities got involved, and the courts put him in a treatment home. Bet he can't wait to get out for some serious gaming fun! Brian Ashcraft

Kid Addicted to Games [Aftonbladet, Thanks Daniel!]

This one got me belly laughing: The State of Illinois has been told that they have to pay the video game industry more than half a million dollars for being chowderheads. Technically, "chowderhead" doesn't enter into the ruling handed down by Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, but you know he was thinking it.

Kennelly, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, handed down a permanent injunction halting the implementation of the new anti-video game law and ordered the state to pay the ESA their attorney fees.

If controlling access to allegedly 'dangerous' speech is important in promoting the positive psychological development of children, in our society that role is properly accorded to parents and families, not the State."

And their was much rejoicing in the ESA:

"Judge Kennelly's rulings send two irrefutable messages - not only are efforts to ban the sale of violent video games clearly unconstitutional, they are a waste of taxpayer dollars," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade group representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "The sad fact is that the State of Illinois knew this law was unconstitutional from the beginning. Taxpayers have a right to know that over half a million of their dollars and countless government hours were thrown away in this fruitless effort."

Hit the jump for the full press release, but be prepared to set aside at least one minute and twenty seconds for belly laughing. You might want to warn your pod mates. Brian Crecente

Washington, D.C. (August 10, 2006) - The State of Illinois must pay the video game industry $510,528.64 in attorney's fees for its unconstitutional effort to enact a law banning the sale of violent video games, Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, United States District Judge, Northern District of Illinois, ruled yesterday.

"Judge Kennelly's rulings send two irrefutable messages - not only are efforts to ban the sale of violent video games clearly unconstitutional, they are a waste of taxpayer dollars," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade group representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "The sad fact is that the State of Illinois knew this law was unconstitutional from the beginning. Taxpayers have a right to know that over half a million of their dollars and countless government hours were thrown away in this fruitless effort."

"I am very disappointed that the state of Illinois has to pay these fees for what was such a clearly unconstitutional law from the start," said Senator Cullerton, Illinois 6th District State Senator. "When I spoke against the law in Springfield, I predicted we would have to pay legal fees. The amount ordered paid to the plaintiffs by Judge Kennelly doesn't even count the substantial fees the STATE will have to pay its own lawyers."

The fees will be paid to the Entertainment Software Association, Video Software Dealers Association and Illinois Retail Merchants Association, plaintiffs in the lawsuit. In December, 2005, the United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois handed down a permanent injunction halting the implementation of the new state law that would restrict video game sales. In his decision declaring the law unconstitutional, Judge Matthew S. Kennelly forcefully sided with the ESA, writing, "If controlling access to allegedly 'dangerous' speech is important in promoting the positive psychological development of children, in our society that role is properly accorded to parents and families, not the State."

"As we said from the outset of this debacle and repeatedly since then, instead of squandering taxpayers' money on frivolous lawsuits and attempting to enact clearly unconstitutional laws, we encourage policymakers to focus their resources on a cooperative effort with industry, retailers, parent groups and health groups to work together to educate parents about the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings and content descriptors, and the parental controls available in all next generation consoles to help parents make sound choices about the games their kids play," said Lowenstein.

The ESA is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA members collectively account for more than 90 percent of the $7 billion in entertainment software sales in the U.S. in 2005, and billions more in export sales of entertainment software. For more information about the ESA, please visit www.theESA.com.