Interestingly enough, a lot of the strongest advocates for video games completely agree with you, Weed, about the necessity for making games like GTA hard as hell for minors to buy.

Especially with the recent rise in enforcing the 'R' rating for movies, hopefully we'll see a rise in the enforcement of video game ratings as well.

That being said, Jack Thomson does indeed have a long and sordid history with this issue. Possibly my favorite incident occurred a few years ago, in which Mr. Thomson, styling himself a modern day Jonathan Swift, put forth his own 'Modest Proposal:'

If someone ever designed a game with this plot -- a father, grieving over the death of his son because of a driveby shooting inspired by violent video games, goes on a rampant killing spree, murdering as many game designers as possible in horrifically gruesome ways -- then Mr. Thomson said he would give $10,000 to the charity of the designer's choice.

Two weeks later, an indy had designed exactly that game and released it as online freeware. When asked whether he'd actualy pay up, Mr. Thomson said that the designer clearly did not understand the finer points of 'satire.'

But the true fantastic ending to ths story is that the boys over at Penny Arcade, who have had their own run-ins with Mr. Thomson in the past (as they are arguably the most powerful video game apolgists and critics out there right now), decided that rather than deny some charity $10,000, they would donate the money themselves. And the best part was, they did it in Jack Thomson's name. It was written on the check and everything.

A little grandstandy? Sure. But it was like they were telling Mr. Thomson 'If you're going to showboat, this is how you do it with class.'