The Entertainment Merchants Association passed us a quick note to let us know that the AirTalk program on KPCC ((National Public Radio in Pasadena, CA) will run a segment on (Monday, November 1 at 11:00 am PT) about the Schwarzenegger v. EMA case. Arguments for and against the California video game law will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 2. The ECA will be holding a rally on the steps of the court in support of the game industry and gamers.

The AirTalk Segment will feature Dr. Chris Ferguson of Texas A&M and Dr. L. Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan discussing the pros and cons of both sides of the issue. AirTalk is streamed live at www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk.

With all of the interest around the violent video game case, Schwarzenegger v EMA, we get questions daily on the process, the case, the legal principals, our amicus brief, others’ briefs, and what is going to happen on the day of oral arguments and beyond. While we hope that the following information will shed some light on the oral argument process, we also routinely refer folks to the Supreme Court website, as well as to relevant articles on GamePolitics.

ECA vice president and general counsel Jennifer Mercurio is the subject of this GameSpot Interview explaining just how the Schwarzenegger v. EMA will play out before the Supreme Court on November 2. One interesting fact that Jennifer points out is that the average case argued before the Supreme Court takes about an hour. That is a surprising fact, given that some of the most important issues in this country come before the court like the death penalty, First Amendment rights, gay marriage, civil rights, abortion, etc.

While some might argue that Schwarzenegger v. EMA isn't as important as those issues, I would say that having the ability to speak freely in this country - especially through artistic endeavors such as literature, films, music and video games - is the most important issue of our day. Without free speech, we are not truly a free nation.

Below is an excerpt from the interview:

While the PTC wants you to thank attorneys-general from the states that supported the California side in the Schwarzenegger vs. EMA case (i'm sure we'll get right on that), the ECA wants you to write letters to your local newspaper. These "letters to the editor" should lay out the arguments supporting the EMA's side of the case: that games are free speech, are as important to culture and movies and literature, are fun, can educate and motivate, lead to exercise, etc.

If you need some help writing a letter, check out action.theeca.com. In addition to offering a form letter, the "action alert page" offers a search function to find a newspaper near you.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is inviting concerned gamers to participate in a pro-gaming rally on November 2 in Washington D.C., the same day that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Schwarzenegger vs. EMA case.

The rally will take place on the steps of the Court, which is located at One First Street NE, at 9 AM. Oral arguments for the landmark videogame case are scheduled for 10AM ET.

The ECA noted:

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), the nonprofit organization which represents gamers in the U.S. and Canada, has filed a 44-page amicus brief in support of the video game industry (and consumers... and sanity) with the U.S. Supreme Court this evening. You can grab the PDF here.

Co-signing onto the ECA brief are such notable organizations as: the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge and Students for Free Culture.

While there is a lot to sift through in this massive document, the most interesting point made on behalf of consumers is the following (taken from the arguments section):

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) has sent an email blast out to it database of readers encouraging them to use Twitter to get their followers to speak up and sign the Gamer Petition that will be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court before it is to decide the California case on violent games.

An email from Brett Schenker, the ECA's online advocacy manager:

During PAX in Seattle, Wa. last week Entertainment Consumer Association President Hal Halpin sat down with G4TV's Adam Sessler for an hour to discuss a number of topics such as the ramifications of the upcoming Supreme Court case in November, why it is important that everyone sign the ECA's petition and the general state of the game industry.

If you haven't fully grasped how serious the upcoming Supreme Court hearing is and what ramifications it could have on the game industry and gamers, you should watch this video on G4TV.com and find out, because it's pretty scary.

[Game Politics is a publication of the ECA.]

Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer Mercurio has gained admission to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and can now, should the need arise, appeal or argue any case in front of the nation’s highest court.

ECA President Hal Halpin on Mercurio’s admittance, “We couldn't be happier or more proud that Jenn was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. The timing of her admittance is critical and this landmark First Amendment case so consequential, and the potential negative repercussions of a loss so staggering, that we must all redouble our efforts.”

Mercurio is spearheading the ECA's efforts related to the association's official amicus brief ("friend of the court" document) for the Court in the upcoming violence in video games case, Schwarzenegger v. EMA.

Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

That being said, congrats Jenn!

Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) President Hal Halpin was given the opportunity to make a post on Sony’s PlayStation blog in order to talk about why Schwarzenegger v EMA should matter to American gamers and to urge them to sign the ECA’s Gamer Petition.

Halpin began by stating, “At stake: gaming in America. Yes, you read that correctly.” He continued:

In the time since the Court’s announcement there has been a lot of media coverage, both from the enthusiast outlets and the national press. A disturbing theme that you’d find too often in the consumer comments is one of apathy. Perhaps it arose from winning in each of the violence in video game cases. Maybe because, from our perspective, it’s hard to wrap your head around the idea that we could lose — the logic seems pretty obvious.

EA.com Editor-in-Chief Jeff Green took to his corporate blog to write about why gamers should care about Schwarzenegger v. EMA.

Agreeing with EA CEO John Riccitiello, who said that a Supreme Court decision upholding the California law would “screw us up in a real way,” Green argued:

… it could have a chilling effect on the gaming industry as a whole--both the makers and sellers of the games, who will have to seriously think twice about the kind of product they can and want to sell, out of fear of ending up in jail. And therein lies the bigger question at hand. Because if you substitute books or movies or music in the previous couple sentences, you can see just how wrong this is.

After years of asking game consumers to get involved in the fight to speak up and care about the issue of videogame violence, gamers have heeded the call, and at a critically important time for the industry, just as it faces perhaps its single most important challenge to date in the U.S. Supreme Court this fall.

And now for some internal stuff. The ECA has hired lawfirm Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP to assist in drafting its official friend of the court amicus brief related to the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court review of Schwarzenegger v. EMA. Full press release follows:

Sister publication GameCulture recently sat down with Entertainment Consumer Association president Hal Halpin to discuss the serious ramifications of the Supreme Court's planned review of California's violent videogame law later this year. The lead-in to that interview follows below:

"Sometime later this year or early next, the Supreme Court will review EMA v. Schwarzenegger, California's violent videogame law. The law, which would have made it illegal to sell games the state found "excessively" violent to minors, was struck down by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court in 2009. A few weeks ago the Entertainment Consumers Association announced that it will be filing an amicus brief with the high court. GameCulture asked ECA president Hal Halpin about the case, its importance and the role of gamers in what will certainly become a landmark of videogame (and possibly constitutional) law."

Read the entire interview at GameCulture now.

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to review Schwarzenegger v. EMA —a California law that would make it illegal to sell violent videogames to children—The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is launching a two-pronged initiative designed to show the Court exactly how gamers feel about their First Amendment rights.

The ECA plans to submit an amicus brief to the Court and has also launched an online petition that will urge the Court to hold videogames as free speech, protected under the First Amendment.

ECA President Hal Halpin stated:

The editorial roster at ECA websites GameCulture and GamePolitics has expanded yet again with the addition of seasoned journalists, James Fudge and Julie Gray, who join Aaron Ruby, Pete Gallagher and John Keefer.

The former news editor for CrispyGamer, James is a respected news hound, with a reputation for fast, fair and efficient reporting. His editorial pedigree includes notable outlets such as Computer Games Online, IDG Games' Games.net, GameSpy, Voodoo Extreme and GameShark. He will be contributing to both GamePolitics and GameCulture.

In contrast, Julie brings a more personal flare flair to the content line up, with a casual and approachable charm. She hails from New Zealand – the land of Peter Jackson and WETA and draws from a largely print background, with experience as a former Editor of Game Console, Game Freaks and Netguide magazines and online with Gameplanet and Buttonmasher.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) has issued a response to the officially released text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

While expressing excitement “for the proliferation of digitally-distributed products and services,” and respecting the fact that governments and industries are concerned protecting intellectual property, the ECA said that it remained “concerned about the rights of consumers being diminished or marginalized in the process.”

Decrying the lack of input from the public, or from consumer interest groups , the ECA wrote, “Any decisions made by signatory nations must not only be made with the input from the public, but also carefully balance the interests of intellectual property content owners with the rights and interests of consumers.”

Three specific parts of the current ACTA text were called out as points of concern by the ECA:

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is running a contest as part of its run up to 10,000 Facebook fans.

 The “Tag Yourself to Win” contest offers a variety of prizes and gift cards. To take part, simply become a fan of the ECA on Facebook, wait for a picture to pop up and be the first to tag it with your name and you will win the prize pictured. 

Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

Video of a Pax East panel which featured X-Play’s Adam Sessler and Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) President is now online (and embedded within this story).

The nearly hour-long chat saw the two discuss a myriad of game-related subjects, including piracy, DRM and the distinction of the term “gamer.”

Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

The ECA will again be sponsoring panel discussions at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). Tomorrow will be “Grassroots: Why Gamers are Getting Involved and Why You Should Too” in the Naga Theatre at 2 p.m. Panelists include: Joseph Donovan (Managing Director, Nelson Mullins Public Strategies), Joel Bartlett (Associate Director of Marketing, PETA), Adam Conner (Associate Manager, Facebook), and Brett Schenker, (Online Advocacy Manager, ECA). They'll be discussing how consumers can fight back and get engaged in such issues as digital rights, DRM, fair use, and a host of broader policy and legislative issues and how your involvement is received and what it does to effect change.

For those out there that might long for the days of Jack Thompson and find themselves wondering exactly what the disbarred attorney is up to day-to-day, seek help.

In addition to seeking help, you may also want to cast your vote in a poll currently running on the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) forums, which is asking for votes on the matter of starting a sub-forum dedicated to Thompson’s communiqués.

The current vote stands at 18 in favor of the addition, and 4 against.

As I understand it, if enacted, Thompson’s missives would be posted in his dedicated section by a forum moderator. Whether Jack himself would be able to post or engage users directly is still open for debate.

Voting is restricted to ECA Forum members, but anyone can sign-up for access.

Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

The Digital Education Coalition, comprised of The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the Media Education Lab at Temple University and the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), has offered comments to the Federal Communications Commission in favor of Net Neutrality.

The document (PDF here) notes why net neutrality is important to coalition members:

The digital education community needs access to a wide variety of online content, which broadband service providers are currently able to block or filter. Further, members of the community need to transmit and access content such as videos, speeches and photos, which require large amounts of bandwidth. The only way to protect educational interests online is to prohibit content-based discrimination.

The group also seeks to persuade the FCC to require internet service providers to act more transparently and to disclose network management practices on their websites.

Members of the digital education community currently have limited access to the network management practices of service providers. Yet, this information is needed to help educators to plan their curricula, enable media literacy educators to teach about network transmissions and assist game developers in the creation of innovative teaching tools.

Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) has issued a statement in response to an article posted on the Consumerist blog today, which alleged that canceling membership in the organization was difficult and overcomplicated.

GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

The response, from the President of the ECA, Hal Halpin, is unedited and after the jump:

The New York City Council Committee on Technology in Government is holding public hearings today on the subject of Net Neutrality.

A live stream of the hearings is available on LiveStream. The Council is live Tweeting coverage as well here. Also look for hashtags #netneutrality or #reso712A.

Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer Mercurio gave testimony earlier today in support of Net Neutrality.

A sample of her testimony:

ECA is strongly in support the proposals you’ve outlined in Resolution 712A-2007 and of the concept of Network Neutrality, the principle that protects one’s choice of content and equal opportunity on the Internet. Like President Obama, who has pledged to make Network Neutrality the law of the land, we believe that Network Neutrality is a key right for consumers, insuring continued enjoyment and use of the Internet for a variety of applications including recreation, creativity and economic expansion.  This is especially true for video game players (gamers), because our hobby is increasingly tied to the Internet.  Of the 117 million active gamers in the US, 56 percent play games online, accounting for over 65 million Americans.

Disclosure: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics

It was only a matter of time before Fox News got involved in the issue of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and we have confirmation that they will tackle the game tomorrow morning during the Fox & Friends show.

The ECA, which operates GamePolitics, received an email from FOX News around 11 a.m. EST today asking to speak to an "expert gamer" about the controversies surrounding the game. The pertinent part of the email:

Hello,

I write to inquire about a possible interview tomorrow on Fox & Friends. We're the morning show of the Fox News Channel, and are planning on doing a segment on the new Xbox game, Modern Warfare 2. We're hoping to have a debate on the game, and would love to speak to an expert gamer on the controversies surrounding the game. The debate is for 6:50am tomorrow morning, on camera.

The email came to Jason Andersen, the ECA's director of PR. When he responded that the ECA might be interested but they needed more information, he did not receive an answer. So it appears that the ECA will not be the representative side of the games industry.

Hal Halpin, president of the ECA, said that he heard from other sources that FOX wanted to "discuss the ethics and morals that game developers employ when making decisions about what content/direction to employ when they're creating games."

GP: We all know what a pillar of integrity FOX News can be when it comes to covering video games, remembering in particular their coverage of the alien sex simulator that was Mass Effect. Cooper Lawrence, an author used by FOX to bash Mass Effect, later recanted her comments saying:

"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography. But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of Lost that are more sexually explicit."

So it will be interesting to see how they handle this, seeing as there is already a lot of misinformation about the Modern Warfare 2 terrorist sequence in the mainstream press. Hopefully, whoever responds for "the gamer" will be able to hold their own as well as Geoff Keighley did against Cooper Lawrence.

Watch the episode tomorrow at 6:50 a.m. and tell us what you think.

Update: For a cartoonist's take on the Fox News coverage, check out Crispy Gamer's Backward Compatible.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) has sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski praising proposed Net Neutrality rules.

The letter, which was also copied to the FCC’s four Commissioners, notes the key reasons the Net Neutrality movement is important to gamers:

• Popular massively multiplayer online (MMO) games such as Activision-Blizzard’s World of Warcraft hosts more than eleven million users worldwide;
• Both Xbox Live® and PlayStation Network® connect over 46 million console users in the United States and abroad in hundreds of games online; and
• Well-liked gaming websites like Kongregate, PlayFirst, Pogo.com and PopCap Games also serve hundreds of millions of users on their web browsers.

A section of the letter also touched on the rights of wireless gamers:

The iPhone App Store and other wireless providers are selling thousands of games to consumers on their phones, but are also urging that principals of Net Neutrality should not apply to them. From a gamer’s perspective, wireless providers must be treated the same as any other service provider to insure the same gaming experiences exist across platforms.

Noting that “more troubling behavior in the marketplace” has become more common—such as “deep packet” inspection by Internet service providers—ECA Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer Mercurio wrote:

The ECA asks that the FCC take action now to affirmatively safeguard the free flow of information on the Internet before it’s too late.

Full Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of The ECA

Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) President Hal Halpin recently discussed gamers’ rights with the website Skewed & Reviewed.

Among the topics broached were Digital Rights Management (DRM), M-rated game sales, triumphs of the past year and the challenges still remaining.

Halpin on the greatest single current threat to gamers’ rights:

Again, generally, digital rights as it relates to consumers. More particularly, I’d say that a challenge within that challenge may be that we still have a lot of work to do regarding combating negative stereotypes of gamers and gaming.

On further reducing the sale of adult-rated games to minors:

Beyond that, I believed and continue to believe, that parental responsibility must begin there. To ask more of the merchant is unfair and unprecedented, compared with how DVDs, music and motion pictures are sold. They¹ve done and are doing enough.

Disclosure: GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) has debuted a new online presence aimed at educating consumers about such issues as digital content distribution, license agreements, virtual property and piracy.

The Gamers for Digital Rights web presence includes a glossary of terms and concepts, a Facebook Group and the ability to sign—and comment on—a DRM and End User Licensing Agreements (EULAs) petition to the FTC.

Jennifer Mercurio, ECA Vice President and General Counsel, added:

The importance of this issue is mounting, as we move from a packaged goods model, where we own what we buy, to a digitally-distributed model, where we may have a license for what we buy.

As part of its drive into the issue, the ECA also announced the hiring of Robert L. (“Beau”) Hunter, IV as Digital Rights Consultant. Hunter joins the ECA after serving as Manager for IP Enforcement with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.

You walk into a game store to pick up the latest AAA title, be it for a console or PC, and you are probably going to pay in the neighborhood of $60, unless, of course you get Rock-Band-like peripherals with your order.

Have you ever given any thought as to what goes into that price point? David Thomas over at Crispy Gamer did, and came up with an interesting analysis, examining possible reasons such as reasonable greed, consumer stupidity or evil conspiracy. He quotes a few industry officials, including the ECA's Hal Halpin:

"I'm not sure that we'll see a standard $70 price point at all," observes Halpin. "To my mind, emerging technologies, subscriptions and episodic and downloadable content should all enable price drops -- increasing accessibility to a much wider audience. Free-to-play, ad-supported models, too, diversify the price landscape."

Definitely an interesting read. What is your perspective? Will prices ever come down?

Count the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) among those who back the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) stance and newly added principles on net neutrality.

Noting that the ECA is “delighted” with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “aggressive stance,” the ECA’s Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer Mercurio commented:

Increasingly, Americans spend much more time on the Internet – they take care of business and pursue their hobbies, like playing video games, all of which fuel our economy, and they should not be penalized for it.

To advance the cause of net neutrality, the ECA has added an action item to its website that allows users to email their Representative or Senators in support of the FCC’s position.

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.