Thompson Demands Wendy's Cut Wii Promotion

Notorious video game-targeting attorney Jack Thompson (pictured left) has demanded that fast food chain Wendy's cancel its promotional tie-in themed around Nintendo's Wii console, due to the upcoming release of Rockstar Toronto's upcoming game Manhunt 2 on Wii. The Wii promotion, which according to the official Wendy's site is "coming soon," features toys themed around the Wii console itself as well as Nintendo-published games such as Wii Sports and Excite Truck. Manhunt 2, to be published by Rockstar Games this July on Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP, has no connection to the program. In a letter sent from Thompson to Wendy's CEO Kerri Anderson and forwarded to various gaming news outlets, Thompson demands that Wendy's "cancel the Wii Kids' Meal promotion immediately." According to Thompson, the mere existence of Manhunt 2 on the Wii platform results in a high level of "inappropriateness of the above upcoming promotion at Wendy's." Thompson has previously claimed that Rockstar North's original Manhunt (PS2, Xbox, PC) has directly influenced violent crime. This March, publisher Take-Two Interactive pre-emptively sued Thompson under the expectation that Thompson would take legal action against Take-Two for Manhunt 2. Last month, the parties reached a settlement. "[Manhunt 2] will feature, according to video game news sites, beheadings with hatchets, bludgeonings with baseball bats, the jamming of syringes into eyeballs, cutting opponents' testicles off, and 'environtmental [sic] kills' in which common objects in the field of vision, such as electrical cords to strangle victims," reads the letter addressed to Anderson. "One pro-video game industry site is referring to Manhunt 2 as a 'true murder simulator' when played on Wii." Thompson, who bafflingly refers to the Wii as a "kid-friendly...game platform," cites a 2005 American Psychological Association report linking video game play to aggression in teens, claiming that with its motion-sensitive controller the Wii will exacerbate that existing alleged causal relationship. "A dear friend of mine worked for Wendy's and with Dave Thomas closely for years," wrote Thompson. "From that I know that Dave Thomas never would have tolerated the use of Wendy's good name to promote Nintendo's Wii, not with this game available on the Wii platform."