The Court approves the corrected referee's report and John Bruce Thompson is permanently disbarred, effective thirty days from the date of this order so that respondent can close out his practice and protect the interests of existing clients. If respondent notifies the Court in writing that he is no longer practicing and does not need the thirty days to protect existing clients, this Court will enter an order making the permanent disbarment effective immediately. Respondent shall accept no new business from the date this order is filed.

Note that Thompson still has a chance for a retrial, only due to court sanctions the motion must me submitted by a member of the Florida Bar in good standing, and I don't know that anyone wants to touch this one. It's also worth noting that along with disbarment, Thompson has been ordered to reimburse the Florida Bar fees amounting to $43,675.35. Ouch.

We've contacted both the Supreme Court of Florida and Jack Thompson for comment and will update the story if both or either respond.

UPDATE: Jack Thompson has responded to us, at length.

Supreme Court of Florida
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
CASE NOS.: SC07-80 and SC07-354
Lower Tribunal No(s).: 2005-70,305(11F),
2005-71,125(11F),
2006-70,570(11F),
2006-70,766(11F),
2006-70,909(11F),
2007-30,805(11F)
THE FLORIDA BAR vs. JOHN BRUCE THOMPSON
___________________________________________________________________
Complainant(s) Respondent(s)

The referee has filed a corrected report recommending that respondent, John Bruce Thompson, be permanently disbarred without leave to apply for readmission to The Florida Bar. Respondent submitted a petition for review of the referee's report. The Clerk did not accept the petition for review for filing. This action was in accord with this Court's opinion dated March 20, 2008, which sanctioned respondent for abusive filings and barred him from filing on his own behalf. The sanction opinion provided, in pertinent part: "the Clerk of this Court is hereby instructed to reject for filing any future pleadings, petitions, motions, documents, or other filings submitted by John Bruce Thompson, unless signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar other than himself." Fla. Bar v. Thompson, 979 So. 2d 917, 921 (Fla. 2008). The opinion also noted: "in sanctioning respondent, we are requiring him to retain qualified counsel so that his arguments might be properly presented through the appropriate procedures in the appropriate forum. We do not limit such counsel's ability to challenge the referee's findings and recommendations on review." Id. at 919.

Ignoring this bar on self-submitted filings, respondent has submitted numerous filings in violation of the sanction opinion, including the petition for review of the referee's report. The Clerk properly rejected each of these submissions. Thus, there being no authorized petition for review filed, and the time period to seek review has passed, the Court has treated this as an uncontested case. The Court has reviewed the 169-page corrected report of the referee filed on July 16, 2008, for sufficiency and has determined that permanent disbarment is merited on this record. (This report is posted on the Court's public website). The report Case Nos. SC07-80 and SC07-354

Page Two details the extensive misconduct of respondent and his complete lack of remorse. In her report, the referee states: Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, [r]espondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him.

Among the extensive findings of fact presented in the report, the Court takes particular note of the following which occurred during the three-year period at issue in five counts in these cases: (1) respondent made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order; (2) respondent communicated the subject of representation directly with clients of opposing counsel; (3) respondent engaged in prohibited ex parte communications; (4) respondent publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes, and press releases, to the affected individuals; (5) respondent targeted an individual who was not involved with respondent in any way, merely due to "the position [the individual] holds in state and national politics;" (6) respondent falsely, recklessly, and publicly accused a judge as being amenable to the "fixing" of cases; (7) respondent sent courts inappropriate and offensive sexual materials; (8) respondent falsely and publicly accused various attorneys and their clients of engaging in a conspiracy/enterprise involving "the criminal distribution of sexual materials to minors" and attempted to get prosecuting authorities to charge these attorneys and their clients for racketeering and extortion; (9) respondent harassed the former client of an attorney in an effort to get the client to use its influence to persuade the attorney to withdraw a defamation suit filed by the attorney against respondent; and (10) respondent retaliated against attorneys who filed Bar complaints against him for his unethical conduct by asserting to their clients, government officials, politicians, the media, female lawyers in their law firm, employees, personal friends, acquaintances, and their wives, that the attorneys were criminal Case Nos. SC07-80 and SC07-354 Page Three pornographers who objectify women.

The Court concludes that the facts, as even more extensively detailed in the referee's report, support the referee's numerous recommendations as to guilt. The referee cited various cases indicating that disbarment is an appropriate sanction and recommended permanent disbarment because "[r]espondent has repeatedly stated in these proceedings that he will not change his conduct" and she "finds no evidence whatsoever to indicate that [r]espondent is amenable to rehabilitation, or even remotely appreciates the basis upon which a need or purpose for such rehabilitation is warranted." Indeed, as noted by the referee: Respondent has repeatedly failed to follow the appropriate rules and orders throughout these disciplinary proceedings as evidenced by the granting of the Bar's Motion for Sanctions and the Supreme Court of Florida's orders of February 19, 2008 and March 20, 2008, wherein the Court found that [r]espondent "abused the legal system by submitting numerous, frivolous and inappropriate filings," despite being warned not to do so. In fact, the referee reported that respondent walked out of her courtroom at the final hearing in this matter because she would not allow him to "to turn the [d]isciplinary proceeding into a press conference." Based on the record before it, the Court agrees that respondent is not amenable to rehabilitation. Further, the Court approves the referee's recommendation that permanent disbarment is the appropriate sanction.

The Court approves the corrected referee's report and John Bruce Thompson is permanently disbarred, effective thirty days from the date of this order so that respondent can close out his practice and protect the interests of existing clients. If respondent notifies the Court in writing that he is no longer practicing and does not need the thirty days to protect existing clients, this Court will enter an order making the permanent disbarment effective immediately. Respondent shall accept no new business from the date this order is filed. Judgment is entered for The Florida Bar, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300, for recovery of costs from John Bruce Thompson in the amount of $43,675.35, for which sum let execution issue. Case Nos. SC07-80 and SC07-354 Page Four Not final until time expires to file motion for rehearing, and if filed, determined. The filing of a motion for rehearing shall not alter the effective date of this permanent disbarment. Consistent with this Court's sanction order, no motion for rehearing will be considered unless signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar other than respondent. QUINCE, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, LEWIS, BELL, and CANADY, JJ., concur. A True Copy Test: cic Served: HON. DAVA J. TUNIS, JUDGE JOHN F. HARKNESS, JR. KENNETH LAWRENCE MARVIN SHEILA MARIE TUMA BARRY S. RICHARD JOHN BRUCE THOMPSON

The final level you see depends on how you played the game - there are two completely different ones.
Without giving away too much of the surprise, if you play the way most gamers probably will - getting as many red executions and environmental kills as possible, wasting as many enemies as possible and trying out new weapons on the occasional tramp or other innocent - you'll get the 'dark' final level and a slightly gloomy ending.
To lighten things up a little (not much, though) try playing in a more cowardly way - if you do executions, go for white ones, and leave innocents alive. The less you resemble a psychopathic killer who actually enjoys performing amateur surgery with a pair of pliers, the fewer points you'll score in the end-of-level ratings and the more chance you'll have of seeing a 'positive' ending.

In the north of Amsterdam, the best way to dodge the human cattle coming out of Central Station is to go down a dark, narrow alley called Hasselaerssteg that connects a main road to a major shopping artery. Just after lunch, a little shop called Game Over will draw up their metal drapes, turn on a row of televisions and be open for business. Although the shop is absolutely tiny in size, once a person sees what they are selling, they can't resist popping their head in for just a second.

Game Over is a store that sells only second hand games. Not the most unique idea ever dreamed up, but considering that it is in the Central of Amsterdam and doing well financially for the last five years means they are doing something right. It also helps that the store is absolutely flooded with hundreds of thousands of games and gaming items. All the games are neatly divided up by console and are housed in glass cabinets that flank the right side of the building. In the center, there is another huge glass cabinet full of games reflecting Pac-Man and Pole Position screens from the televisions across for them. Products being sold range from stuff you've never seen before to stuff you almost forgot existed. In some cases you'll even see something that you can't positively identify as being part of your childhood or something you saw on TV. Each item is labeled neatly and organized in rows so you can read all the titles and see if they have been tested or not. In between the cracks of the shelves you can see the walls are painted red, though you can barely make it out through the boxes of consoles that are stacked to the quite literally to the ceiling. Unlike most gaming stores, it doesn't have a hint of mini-mall tackiness or over-the-top promotional distractions. Instead, Game Over looks more like a hipster bar than a video game store.

Dave, the manager of the shop has a unique servicing style in that he actually tries to talk to every customer that walks into a shop. They like it when people come in. They like explaining to people how all the consoles work, what condition they are in, and really they just interacting with all the different people that come into the shop. This is one of the reasons that they don't sell anything online. Although that doesn't seem like very forward-thinking for a business in this day and age, you almost have to applaud them for giving the store a sense of exclusivity. People who come to Amsterdam and are lucky enough to cross Game Over's path will always be able to to think of it as a truly unique experience to their stay in the city. One that most tourists often don't have the motivation to discover themselves.

Before Game Over was a second-hand video game store it was a music shop and Dave was a DJ. In 2002 his boss decided to change the direction of the store, and Dave went along even though he wasn't much of a gamer. Then five years ago, he bought a Gameboy with Tetris and in his words "went berserk". He now has 35 consoles in his house. Every time Dave tells a story about who comes into the shop and what kinds of things they buy, you can't help but think that these people will continue to come back. Not just because Game Over has an obscene number of second-hand games, but because it's a unique part of this community that is always looking to expand it. Even if at the end of the day, they're just selling other people's stuff.

You can visit them Tuesday through Saturday at Hasselaerssteeg 12, Amsterdam, or check out their website atwww.gameover.nl

GameSetWatch points us to Game Over!, a 21-level game built to illustrate the frustrations of inaccessible game design by making each level an example of how limiting certain design decisions can be for disabled gamers. The game, available for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux, is a free download for anyone looking for educational punishment.

From the official Game Over! site:

"Game Over!" is the world's first (and hopefully only) universally inaccessible game. This practically means that it is a game that can be played by no one. But why was such a game created? Well, the goal of Game Over! is to be used as an educational tool for disseminating, understanding and consolidating game accessibility guidelines.

Game Over!'s levels feature such game ruining challenges, with suggested best practices, like the following:

Hunt and Peck
Gameplay: The control keys have been randomly redefined and the player has to find them.
Guideline: Allow redefining the controls.

And:

Piano Man
Gameplay: The player must use awkward key combinations to control the spaceship (e.g., Shift + L + Left Arrow to go left).
Guideline: Avoid simultaneous button pressing.

More info on Game Over! and accessible gaming is available at the official site. Michael McWhertor

Game Over! [via GameSetWatch]

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, Wii demonstration video [Wii QJ]

CNN/Money's "Game Over' column by financial reporting stud Chris Morris leds us to believe that Sony will take a price hit on the PSP this holiday, lowering the MSRP of the handheld to $149 USD. In fact, analyst P.J. McNealy is quite sure of it.

There is a price cut coming in the second half of the year. [The PSP] has lost momentum. Nintendo has had a great run since it launched the DS Lite and Sony needs to regain some ground.

Analysts point to Sony's stockpiling of PSP hardware as an indicator that the company may make a revived retail push with new stock at a new price, combined with heavily promoted releases like Loco Roco and GTA: Vice City Stories. Add to that Sony's forthcoming online store with digital content and original PlayStation titles, and Sony could have a very healthy Christmas. Michael McWhertor

PSP price cut might be imminent

The Nintendo DS Lite finally launched in Japan and Kotaku was there, through thick and thin, from the highs and lows, from disappointment to near defeat. But we got one — and one lucky Kotaku reader is going to call it his or her own.

The lovely cosplayer for hire Princess Peach stopped by to defend her womanhood earlier in the week. She seems like good people.

More wrap-up after the jump.

Mark Ecko, king of sweatshirts with rhinos on them and amateur video game maker ripped into gamers who don't like "urban" games. Worse than Helmut Lang wearing fashion divas? I think not, Mr. Ecko! (LOL n00b)

Microsoft leaked its portable brick... err, multimedia/gaming/creativity device codenamed "Origami" via a bit of online Flash video. It's shown playing Halo at a few frames per second amid tons of "lifestyle" video. Is there a market for this thing?

An eagle-eyed Kotaku reader snapped a pic of this seemingly raunchy PSP ad spied in the London underground. What does this even mean?

The biggest PC game of, like, ALL TIME is a game called World of Warcraft. Well, there has been much speculation that WoW was headed to the Xbox 360 and its Live service, but Blizzard nipped that in the bud, saying the MMO is strictly PC.

But the week's biggest news to drop was around Rockstar's exclusive Xbox 360 title. After much build up, it was finally revealed on Friday. Table Tennis. Yes, ping pong. The gaming world was shocked at its very core!

Could the parent company, Infogrames, being out of touch with its American division be the cause? Could it be the string of average-at-best releases spewing forth from Atari? Could a giant console manufacturer/publisher swoop in and grab up the brand and IP?

So many financial analyst predictions! So much corporate drama! It's all just so exciting!

Atari creeps closer to death [CNN/Money]

Lately, it seems like everybody is getting hands-on time with Nintendo's Revolution. Game Over got their reps in with the controller today and Morris' observations might be the most helpful that we've seen with understanding how the controller is shaping up. Morris played a Metroid demo with the Revolution controller and used some of the demos (a point and click flying game) to hint at other Nintendo properties that could be on the way (Star Fox).

Reggie Fils-Aime is quoted in the piece talking about hoping to see the MMORPG genre take off on the Revolution. So if they haven't announced it yet, there may be some keyboard functionality with it.

Test Driving the Revolution [Game Over]