What planet am I living on? In a never before seen turn of events, gaming blog TheBBPS has received an apology from the ESA after they made Danzuke rip out his noteworthy post of the now-famous parody of the ESRB -- a shirt that says "Your Mom is Rated E for Everyone". Here's what they had to say about their most recent moment of utter doucheness:
The ESRB Rating Icons are valuable trademarks of ESA (Ed: I'm glad somebody out there thinks so!), and we must be vigilant in protecting them against unauthorized commercial uses, lest our trademark rights become diluted. At the same time, we also understand and respect the First Amendment rights of those who, like bitsbytespixelssprites disseminate news and information.
That said, we have taken a second look at this issue and concluded that bitsbytespixelssprites was reporting on a product in the marketplace, and is not involved in distributing or marketing this product, and thus did not engage in any conduct sufficient to trigger the issuance of the cease and desist letter we sent. Please accept our apologies. I am happy to discuss this with you further if you so desire.
If they didn't enclose an invitation to E3 with that letter, you got screwed. Small victories aside, they also threatened Kotaku, so I'm curious if that other letter got lost in the mail. The apology letter doesn't suggest they're going to have a sense of humor anytime soon, so T-Shirt Hell may get the misdirected heat in the end. Good luck with that, Lowenstein ... and be careful not to step on unmarked brown bags left at your doorstep. [Update 1: Brian got the same exact letter! ]
The lesson here, folks? Remember that the gaming community is (a) much bigger than the ESA and (b) they need all of us for lobbying power. Let's continue to be vocal and keep them in check -- they're supposed to be working for us, not against us. Until next time, watch as Destructoid neither distributes or markets this hilarious t-shirt:
T-SHIRT HELL SELLS "YOUR MOM IS RATED E FOR EVERYONE"
Contest:
7:00 PM on 11.22.2006
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Why would anyone to give this topic any more attention if it's finally all starting to die down. And yea, where's their goddamn E3 invite? A picture of an ESA manager wearing the T-shirt would make for some decent compensation, too.
Who doesn't love a lil' MILF?
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/esa/esa-apoligizes-to-kotaku-216822.php
It at least shows balls for any company to step up and admit they were wrong these days.