Forget about the so-called "fiscal cliff" the country faces in January, the debate over gun control or any other important pressing issues that matter in the United States - what's important to Barbara Walters and ABC seems to be what the President of the United States and the First Lady do in their off time. During the most recent Barbara Walters special, she gets the First Couple to divulge... their favorite iOS app.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) issued a brief reaction statement this morning in response to the National Rifle Association's press conference which spent a fair amount of time bashing violent media and movies. The NRA's list of strawmen included Grand Theft Auto, Splatterhouse, Mortal Kombat, and a very old web-only game called Kindergarten Killers...

The Hartford Courant is highlighting a story about a 12-year-old Newtown, Connecticut boy who has started a campaign to "stop playing violent video games." Max Goldstein, a 12-year-old student who attends Newtown Middle School, says that he decided to stop playing games like "Call of Duty" after attending the funeral of one of his brother's friends who had been killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shoot

In a six minute interview with Joystiq, Irrational Games boss and lead on BioShock Infinite Ken Levine talks about why it is important to not be afraid of using topics that some might consider controversial as vehicles for a story. In BioShock Infinite, Levine has weaved a narrative around a number of belief systems and ideals, and all of these things come together in the floating city of Columbia to create tension and drive the narrative.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media have revealed the participating sponsors and partners for the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. For the third year, the AMD Foundation, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) will once again serve as key sponsors for the Challenge. New partners include the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Hive NYC Learning Network.

On December 29 The Pixel Academy will set up shop in the ArtsCetera on 212 Smith Street in Brooklyn to create a 21st century digital media lab for kids. Open house ALL DAY (10am-8pm) - Instructors will be teaching classes on a range of creative technologies and answering questions about Pixel Academy and their educational programs.

Electronic Arts employee Wendell Harlow has been honored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation with a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal marks the 60th anniversary of England's Queen Elizabeth II’s "accession to the Throne" and honors the achievements and contributions of Canadians. Wendell received the distinct honor for over a decade of supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Canada.

The Speed Gamers crew is preparing another 72-hour Mario-related gaming marathon to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The cool Texas-based marathon-gaming group The Speed Gamers will immerse themselves in all things Mario starting at 7 p.m. Eastern on December 14, playing for 72-hours straight, while also engaging in live streamed antics to raise cash for a great cause. Viewers can donate pledges, engage the group in witty banter, and have a shot at winning some interesting prizes.

On Thursday, December 6th, Ümloud! kicks off in San Francisco to raise money for Child’s Play. The event which brings journalists, game developers and fans together for some Rock Band 3-themed fun will take place at the DNA Lounge. The event will also feature plenty of performances, videogame antics, silent auctions, unrehearsed jam sessions and the irrepressible wit of Master of Ceremonies Tim Schafer from Double Fine.

CCP Games has revealed its plans to explain a typical day in the life of someone in the EVE Online universe as part of being included in The Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. EVE Online was one of several games selected by MOMA to be on display for most of next year as part of an exhibit the explores and celebrates the history of gaming (more details here).

A new Kickstarter campaign aims to fund the development of a gay/lesbian dating simulation called Coming Out on Top. A demo version of the game is already available here if you want to get a feel for what this game is all about. The creators of the game were looking to raise $5,000 to fully develop the game for Windows, Mac, and Linux. As of this writing they have raised $7,845 and have added a stretch goal of $8,500.

Aksys Games passed along word that it has managed to raise $12,920 in donations for the American Red Cross after its successful "Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts Sale" on Nov. 14.

The Museum of Modern Art has selected 40 video games that will be displayed in New York soon. The games being put on display date as far back as 1962's Spacewar! and stretch forth all the way to 2011's Minecraft. The museum says that it chose the games it did based on visual quality, aesthetic experience, the elegance of the code, and the games' impact on the culture and industry. Fourteen titles have already been acquired and will be on display March 2013.

Pixel Academy, a New York City-based company founded by former Lead Game Designer at Nickelodeon (Mike Fischtha) has been conducting workshops for children ages 8-12 all over the city at locations such as homes and public libraries. These workshops teach children video game design, 3D printing, Arduino fashion design, and other fun technology based courses.

In line with a story we published earlier this morning, Computer and Videogames highlights some excerpts from an interview with Jean-Maxime Moris, the co-founder of Paris studio Dontnod. Dontnod is the studio behind Capcom's upcoming action title Remember Me, which features a mixed-race female star as its protagonist.

The AbleGamers Foundation has released its annual holiday gift guide for those shoppers with loved ones and family members that are gamers who have a disability. This year's guide, located here, offers nearly a dozen items ranging from technology and peripherals to accessible video games with low prices for those on a tight budget.

Major League Gaming, Dreamhack and the Electronic Sports League revealed today a partnership that unifies pro-gaming tournament activities throughout their 2012 and 2013 eSports seasons, according to this press release from Dreamhack - as reported by Polygon.

Time Magazine has compiled its list of the "All-Time 100 Video Games." Compiled by Time staffers, the list is divided by decades going all the way back to the 1970s and ending in 2010. Nominations from the 1970s include such classics as The Oregon Trail, Pong, and Space Invaders. For the 1980s hits such as Super Mario Bros., Frogger, Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda get a listing. The 1990s choices include Solitaire, Doom, and Goldeneye 007.

Spike TV has announced the nominees for the tenth annual Spike TV Video Game Awards. Borderlands 2, Halo 4 and Journey lead the pack, each earning seven nominations. The Spike TV VGAs will be hosted by Samuel L. Jackson and are scheduled to take place Friday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m. ET. The annual awards are broken down into 30 different categories ranging from Game of the Year to Best Performance by a Human Male and Female.

A new video game that will be highlighted at the Games for Change conference hosted by RMIT in Melbourne on Thursday and Friday hopes to raise awareness about refugees seeking asylum in Australia. Refugees often take dangerous journeys on the open seas to reach the shores of friendly democracies. The game puts players in the shoes of these "boat people" who are trying to make their way to places like Australia to find safe haven and the kind of freedom and opportunities not available to them in their native lands.

Some poor guy that dressed up like Master Chief to give a presentation on behalf of Microsoft's Xbox 360 launch in Israel called games other than Halo - and no doubt other than Halo 4 which releases today in regions around the world - girly. Besides being a poor choice of words that will likely be construed as misogynistic and sexist, Master Chief may not realize that a good portion of the military in Israel is comprised of women. Oops.

Members of the video game industry in the United Kingdom are teaming up with UK charity GamesAid to put together a Christmas concert that will raise money for charity. A choir comprised of 24 men and women from across the industry including OBEs, CEOs, Managing Directors, PR, sales people and marketers has been formed and is practicing for its very first event on December 19 at St. Stephen's, Rosslyn Hill in London. Tickets cost £20 for adults and £10 for children under the age of 16.

World of Tanks, World of Airplanes, and World of Warships creators Wargaming announced this morning that they are "fully underwriting" aircraft enthusiast David Cundall's efforts to recover British Spitfires reportedly buried in Burma at the end of World War II. The company's investment in Mr. Cundall's will allow him and the Burmese authorities to pursue the long-standing mystery of the Pacific theater.

The University of Southern California will officially launch Mission: Admission Oct. 29 on Facebook. The free Facebook game is designed to help high school students in underserved communities learn the process of applying for college and financial aid in a fun and engaging way.

Earlier this year it was rumored that gaming and geek culture network G4 would be changing its format to support the "GQ" demographic, and that much of its most popular programming would either be reformatted or discontinued. Today we learn that it looks like its most popular programs will face the latter and not the former. Polygon is reporting that the network's two most popular shows have been cancelled.

The official blog for Bethesda has a short Q&A with Bethesda QA testers Joe Mueller and Jen Tonon, who are participating with other Bethesda employees on a team called "Children of Akatosh" to raise money for the Extra Life Charity.

Rice University in Houston, Texas is using Bethesda's hit role-playing game Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim to help teach an English course about Scandinavian fantasy worlds. The course is called "Scandanavian Fantasy Worlds: Old Norse Sagas and Skyrim" and hopes to teach students about fantasy as a psychological concept and how it is important in gaming culture. Students will play certain quests within the game, read selections from Norse and Icelandic sagas and identify parallels between literature and the game.

In a lengthy interview with GamesIndustry International, executives from Zynga and Electronic Arts talk about how publicly opposing the Defense of Marriage Act has impacted their businesses. Earlier this year Chick-Fil-A came out publicly to say that it supported traditional marriage between a man and a woman. This set off a firestorm of protests and boycotts for the restaurant chain.

Ilyes 'Stephano' Satouri, a 19-year old French professional StarCraft II player found himself at the business end of a half-month suspension after joking over Battle.net during a professional competition that he had had sex with a 14-year-old girl. Stephano's comments earned him a suspension without pay for the month of October, according to a GameSpot report.

A new game called In a Permanent Save State is set to release on Friday (October 12) on iTunes. The makers of the game hope to bring attention to the fact that several workers at China's Foxconn plants committed suicide and that their lives were inexplicably affected negatively by the Western demand for hi-tech gadgets like iPhones and Foxconn's drive to use workers to meet quotas - at any cost. The game will be released in conjunction with a downtown art exhibition in Reno, Nevada and a live orchestrated play through of the game, according to Benjamin Poynter.