Here is something that was very, well, unexpected. Jack Thompson, Florida lawyer and anti-game activist, has sent a letter to the former head of the Entertainment Software Assocuiation Doug Lowenstein and Entertainment Software Ratings Boards head Patricia Vance. He offers to stop trying to pass anti- gaming laws if the game industry will tell retailers that if an M rated game gets sold to a minor by their establishment they will cease sending games to them.

In the letter Thompson said " All that is needed for the industry to get federal and state governments and activists like me off your back is to craft a written industry policy whereby all ESA members direct retailers to stop selling Mature-rated games to anyone under 17. By private agreement rather than by legislation, if such sales occur, upon a factual showing on a case by case basis, then escalating commercial sanctions will be visited upon the offending retailer(s) by all ESRB members."

He also mentions this is one tactic that was not tried before and would make the drafting of these laws unnecessary. "It's your choice," Thompson wrote. "Let's get this done before it is too late for you all to avoid the legislation that nobody should want but which will, by necessity, come."

He hasn't declare a total cease fire, however- he also claimed to help draft an Eastern US state draft some new legislation for introduction to the House. A bill he helped draft for Louisiana had recently been overturned but he said this time would be different as "these people, unlike in Louisiana, know what they are doing and are prepared to prove to the court, unlike in Louisiana, that these games are harmful."

No response was given by the ESRB or ESA as of yet.