Thompson chickens out

[Updated @ 2:58pm] In a follow-up to an earlier piece, anti-video-game lawyer Jack Thompson chickened out of his original offer to donate $10,000 to charity when a group of gamers actually took him up on his "create a violent video game targeting makers of violent video games" challenge.

A team of Grand Theft Auto modders called the Fighting Hellfish (named after Grandpa Simpson's WW2 battalion, no doubt ) has created a mod file for GTA: San Andreas that captures Jack Thompson's original kook-ass game proposal, aptly titled Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator.

When presented with this entry, Thompson, not surprisingly, broke new records in the Olympic 1,000 Meter Backpedal Competition, claiming that his original challenge was merely intended as satire -- and that everyone who mistook it as a genuine challenge just weren't smart enough to realize that he was just blowing smoke out of his feathery ass.

But before you feel sorry for the orphans and widows who are now deprived of Thompson's evaporated charity, it's worth remembering that Penny Arcade's "Child's Play" annual charity drive is coming up soon. And unlike Jack "Shickenchit" Thompson, Gabe and Tycho actually produce results, having raised over $500,000 worth of games and toys since its inception. While I have mixed feelings about Penny Arcade as a comic strip (great art, but borderline assholish attitude at times), I have no hesitation in heaping praise and support for something as charitable as Child's Play... which is probably why Mr. Thompson had a mouth-foaming hissy fit when Tycho and Gabe confronted him about the matter.

In any event, let's declare today to be Open Season on Jack Thompson Day, and feel free to mock him before your friends and neighbors as the hypocritical blowhard he's revealed himself to be.

[Update 1, 2:58pm] Gabe and Tycho at Penny Arcade earn their props for the rest of the year by stepping up to the plate and donating the $10,000 that Thompson chickened out on. On top of that, they earn a Flawless Victory for making the donation in Jack's name.