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In late December GamePolitics reported on a unique MMO calendar being sold to support St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN.

GP’s copy - I think we were one of the first to place an order - arrived the other day. It’s a gorgeous calendar and has already been assigned a place of honor on the battle-scarred walls of the GPHQ bunker.

Although we sadly note that sales are now closed, the sponsor, MMO Portal, plans to bring out a 2008 edition next year.

Can’t wait…

So we hope to switch to this very soon.I like the more graphical look. To quote me:

It looks better.

Test over.

Audio from yesterday’s video game hearing in Utah is now available… Fast forward the recording to 8:24 where the game bill discussion begins.

New bill sponsor Rep. Scott Wyatt (R) is pictured at left.

You want the inside scoop on yesterday’s video game law hearing in Utah? We’ve got it covered like a blanket here at GamePolitics, including the impressions of a local game developer who attended the hearing.

Although he indicated last week that he would be there, anti-game activist Jack Thompson didn’t make it due to what he described to GP as a “pressing litigation matter” in Florida.

Lame duck bill sponsor David Hogue (R) and Rep. Scott Wyatt, apparently the bill’s new sponsor, offered an amendment to have HB257 mirror the language of Thompson’s ill-fated Louisiana video game law.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, according to an industry source, did a thorough job of explaining the bill’s constitutional problems to the committee. As GamePolitics has previously noted, Shurtleff has a friendly relationship with the ESRB, and has engaged in a Utah-based campaign to educate parents about video game ratings. Read more

Police in the U.K. may soon be tracking down the creators of a computer game designed as an Al Qaeda propaganda tool.

On Monday, GamePolitics reported on Night of Bush Capturing, a crude first-person shooter in which the player targets President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The widely-covered story even made its way into the mainstream press.

Now comes word that a member of Parliament is urging British police to take action against the game’s creators. As reported by today’s Sun, Labor Party MP Andrew Dismore has called for a probe into Night of Bush Capturing. The shadowy organization which produced the game, the Global Islamic Media Front, is apparently based in the U.K.

“The police should prosecute whoever is behind this,” said Dismore. “Soliciting murder is a serious criminal offence and the producers of this game should be dealt with.”

Dismore has previously lobbied against British-based Islamic radicals, including cleric Abu Hamza, now jailed for inciting murder.

The Sun also dishes on the furor surrounding a new board game, War on Terror (seen at left), which bills itself as “a family game for 2-6 players… You can fight terrorism, you can fund terrorism, you can even be the terrorists. The only thing that matters is global domination…”

“Hey, U.K., if you don’t want that video game industry, we’ll take it…”

That seems to be the message some Scandinavian officials are sending to their British counterparts. As reported by GameIndustry.biz, Erik Robertson, leader of Nordic Game, a government-funded organization, criticized the British government for not supporting the country’s video game industry.

“I would say that if the British government and politicians in Britain keep refusing to support their industry,” Robertson said, “the third in the world in terms of size - from the Nordic perspective: good idea.”

Norwegian minister for culture and church affairs Trond Giske (seen at left, perhaps preparing for the release of Forza Motorsport 2) echoed Robertson’s remarks.

“I’ll be careful giving advice to politicians in other countries,” Giske said, “but I can say what our objectives are towards this industry. I view it as a cultural industry, as a media branch. This is something people develop their impressional skills, their ability to see the world in different angles and ways, and I think it’s very important that we have ways of telling stories from our own culture also in this industry as in movies.”

Despite the fact that he will be leaving public office in 90 days, Rep. David Hogue (left) isn’t giving up on video game legislation.

As reported by the Deseret News, the lame-duck Republican is seeking to revive failed video game legislation in the Utah House. His bill, HB257 S01, is of the “games as porn” variety. It will be given a hearing before the legislature’s Judiciary Interim Committee today.

The Hogue bill passed the House overwhelmingly early this year, but died in the Senate. It would need to be re-introduced in the next legislative session, and will require a sponsor, since Hogue will no longer be a House member. Today’s hearing is an apparent effort to develop support for the bill in 2007. Read more

How long must games be around before they’re considered worthy of historical cultural study?

About 44 years seems like a good number.

The BBC is reporting that the Science Museum in London will be hosting an exhibit next month showcasing the history of video games. The exhibit covers the birth of video gaming on the DEC PDP-1 in 1962, with the creation of Spacewar (screen shot at left), through to recent consoles and handhelds including the Nintendo DS, Xbox, and PlayStation2.

The exhibit, called Game On, will look at the science of games, as well as their cultural influences. Classics, including Spacewar, Pong, Pac-man, and Asteroids, will be available for hands-on play, along with more modern titles. Read more

Tivo Alert - IGDA Head Debates Game Violence Critics
Fire up the Tivo!

Jason Della Rocca, executive of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) advises that he will appear on MSNBC’s morning news with host Amy Robach (left) this morning.

According to Jason, he’ll be debating in five-minute segments with Blois Olson of the National Institute on Media & the Family at 9:30 EDT and later with Dr. Craig Anderson of Iowa State University at 10:30 EDT.

Topics will include video game violence and the recent Dawson College rampage. Della Rocca lives in Montreal, where the shootings took place

A California consumer group is using online game technology to protest skyrocketing costs, poor patient service and a cold shoulder from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).

Nurse Avenger, offered by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, is played in first-person shooter style, allowing players to blast away at health insurance representatives who are drawn to look like mobsters. The idea is to keep the reps from reaching the patient’s bed. If they do, they’ll issue a denial of needed healthcare services and the player will lose a life. After five such denials, the player dies. If the player beats the game, he or she unlocks universal health care.

Between levels, players are treated to messages such as:

“HMO’s and health insurers waste 25% of our money on overhead and profit”

and…

“HMO’s and insurers look for any way they can to deny coverage for treatments we need”

Nurse Avenger is one of the better online political games we’ve seen, incorporating sophisticated features like power-ups, bonuses and level bosses. The effort is in part a protest of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan to veto universal healthcare legislation proposed by State Senator Sheila Kuehl (D).

“Whether or not Schwarzenegger signs the bill, the game is the same,” said Foundation spokesman Jerry Flanagan. “Employers and patients can work out their frustration with big health care bills by zapping insurance reps online. All fun and games aside, we hope that they’ll also sign up for the real fight for universal health care reform.”

GP: A shout-out to Matt Paprocki for steering us to Nurse Avenger.

Increasingly, political candidates are turning to game tech as a campaign tool.

In the latest example, Michigan Republican Mike Bouchard, facing an uphill battle for the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow, offers an online game, “Thank you, Debbie”.

The game itself is minimally interactive. To begin, players must click on a a virtual representation of Sen. Stabenow’s door, which bears the legend, “Dangerously Incompetent.”

Upon entering, players are greeted with a cartoon version of the Stabenow. Clicking on framed pictures behind Stabennow generates Flash animations and text on issues such as immigration, jobs and medical malpractice. After the Bouchard campaign’s attack message is delivered, the Stabenow character delivers a “whack-a-mole” blow to the pop-up character.

It’s not good gaming and it’s purely negative politics. Here at GP we’d like to see more positive uses of game tech in campaigns.

If it’s good enough for Barry Bonds, it’s good enough for me. At least, that’s how some competitive gamers may be approaching their sport.

While the gamer stimulant of choice has traditionally been caffeine, administered via Bawls or various energy drinks, an article at Twitch Guru claims that the prescription drug Ritalin has been gaining in popularity.

Ritalin, normally used to treat ADHD, narcolepsy, and chronic fatigue, has become popular with some college students because the powerful stimulant helps them stay sharp and focused during all-night cram sessions. Effects like those would also help the marathon gamer - but is game-related Ritalin abuse really happening?

“Amphetamines and methamphetamines are becoming popular,” said Dr. Maressa Orzack, founder and coordinator of the Computer Addiction Services clinic at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts. “They can certainly help you stay up for long hours and probably help enhance the excitement. A lot of gamers, particularly the addicted ones, try to find ways to avoid sleep and keep their concentration. Marijuana is still the prime example when it comes to video games. I haven’t had any of my patients tell me about [Ritalin and amphetamines] yet, but I won’t be surprised when someone does.” Read more

This week’s The Political Game examines the long-term political fallout from presidential hopeful Mark Warner’s recent campaign stop on Second Life.

Will it help position him as a tech-savvy and youthful candidate? Or will political opponents turn his Second Life visit against him? Should politicians dabble in the gaming realm at all?

Check it out…

Speaking of SL, publisher Linden Lab revealed a major hack attack this week in which user info and credit card data was stolen. That’s especially annoying to GP, who just signed up for SL on Monday in order to cover Gov. Warner’s next event, scheduled for later this year.

And that’s the only reason. It wasn’t for the furries, I swear…

Beyond the shrill, politicized rhetoric heard in some state capitols, where, in 2006, we’ve been treated to such gems as “This video game is not even speech. It is a device” and “yes, games are speech, but worthless, disgusting speech”, a quiet debate has been emerging on a related front.

Can video games be considered art?

Alexa Moses and Elicia Murray of the Sydney Morning Herald examined the issue recently. The journalists found those who hold that games are not art include influential movie critic Roger Ebert.

The “not art” argument typically centers around the interactive nature of games. Following criticism for dismissing games as an art form, for example, Ebert explained why he considers the game medium inferior to film and literature:

“There is a structural reason for that: video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.” Read more

They died by the hundreds.

In June, 1942, SS death squads took bloody reprisals against the Czech village of Lidice for the murder of a Nazi leader by local partisans. Every adult male in the village was killed. Women were shipped to concentration camps. Aryan-looking children were sent to foster homes in Germany; the remainder, to concentration camps. The village itself was flattened.

64 years later, a memorial website employs a wargame-like interface to educate viewers about the atrocity. When players arrive at Total Burn-out a banner describes the site as “The hottest new wargame.” Read more

Watchdog group Common Sense Media held its third annual awards program last night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Among those honored was Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) for what Common Sense Media termed “outstanding public leadership on issues relating to kids and media.”

Lieberman, of course, is a long-time critic of video game violence as well as co-sponsor of video-game oriented legislation including the Children and Media Research Advancement Act (CAMRA) and Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA). The video game industry’s rating system was largely created in response to political pressure applied by Lieberman in the mid-1990’s. In fact, Lieberman has joked that ESA president Doug Lowenstein owes his job to the Senator. Read more

Following the example of France, which last year commemorated video games with a stamp series featuring the likes of Mario, The Sims, Pac-man, and other well-known game characters, the Japanese postal service will issue a series of stamps honoring the 10-year anniversary of BioHazard, better known in the West as the Resident Evil series.

Gibbons Stamp Monthly reports that the series will feature 10 different stamps, each worth 80 yen (approx 0.69 USD). Various characters and imagery from the game series are featured, although the Umbrella Corporation’s logo is conspicuously absent.

Resident Evil, developed by Capcom, first hit store shelves in 1996, and it’s popularity has spawned more than a dozen sequels as well as 3 movies (one is still in production and is due out in 2007).

Stamp collectors or video game enthusiasts can check with these dealers to order the stamps.

-Reporting from Canada, GP Correspondent Colin “Jabrwock” McInnes

From the Louisiana Governor’s office on down, Jack Thompson has ripped a number of high-level officials in the ugly reality show surrounding the court fight over the state’s video game law. Now the volatile Miami attorney has added a new target.

In a letter sent yesterday to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Attorney General Charles Foti, Thompson unleashed a string of criticism upon Federal District Court James Brady, who is hearing the case. Among other comments, Thompson accuses Judge Brady of bias:

“As to Judge Brady, you two (Blanco and Foti), as fellow Democrats, know of his liberal views and his past Chairmanship of the Louisiana Democratic Party. He was nominated by President Clinton because of his liberalism, and with that liberalism goes an absolutist view of the First Amendment that the Founders would not recognize.” Read more

An apparent avalanche of e-mail from GamePolitics readers caught the attention of a game-bashing editorial writer at the Henderson Daily Dispatch (North Carolina). Here’s what happened:

On Sunday, GP mentioned an editorial in the Dispatch which supported Louisiana’s video game statute and criticized the federal judiciary for continually overturning such laws. The industry, along with ESA boss Doug Lowenstein, came in for sharp criticism, as follows:

“…the courts have been consistently wrong… Violence continues to erode the quality of life in the United States… at least the Motion Picture Association of America makes some attempt at self-policing… Games have a rating system, too, but it is a sham and unenforced…”

“In criticizing Louisiana… ESA President Douglas Lowenstein invoked the name of (Hurricane Katrina)… we are outraged that many gaming companies seem to operate without a conscience, or - so arrogantly voiced by Lowenstein - even a sense of dignity.”

A number of GP readers were upset by the editorial and apparently e-mailed the Dispatch, prompting a follow-up editorial on Tuesday:

“Saturday’s Dispatch editorial… has created a stir among the online community, primarily gamers who probably happened upon our opinion through Google news or some other source.”

GP: Uh, not Google, it was GamePolitics… Read more

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