Last night GamePolitics reported on the outcry over a Japanese rape game offered on Amazon.com.

Among those expressing disgust over PC hentai title RapeLay was British MP Keith Vaz, long a video game industry critic.

At the time we predicted that - since RapeLay was offered as a used product by re-seller Hentaiguy - Amazon likely didn't know about the game and would do the right thing when they found out.

That now appears to be the case.

LifeNews.com reports that RapeLay has been removed from Amazon.com listings:

Amazon.com has dropped its listing for a controversial Japanese video game called Rapelay that involves raping women and forcing them to have abortions. The so-called "rape simulator" game was sold on the web site and included a graphic description of the gameplay.

Although a listing for the product is available through online searches, the link to it on Amazon's web page no longer functions.

We're also not finding any additional sales listings from Hentaiguy. Perhaps Amazon has shown him the door.

Dr. Cheryl Olson, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood, dropped GamePolitics a line to say that she and her husband/writing partner Dr. Lawrence Kutner will appear in an upcoming Penn & Teller: Bullshit! episode which examines the video game violence controversy.

As we reported last September, disbarred Miami attorney Jack Thompson was also interviewed for the show.

A Penn & Teller producer indicated that the game violence episode would likely air in the summer, but could not provide a specific date.

Penn Jillette twittered briefly about the filming of the episode earlier this week:

We're taping "Video Game Violence" BS. A first-person shooter game where you get to be BS "Penn". My Father-in-law got to get shot.

Olson also mentioned to GP that a Korean language version of Grand Theft Childhood is being published.

Number 66 with a bullet!

News search engine Wikio will release its updated listing of the Top 100 Political Blogs on Thursday.

We've been given an advance look (at left) and we're happy to report that GamePolitics has moved up to #66 on the list.

A former writer for IGN, Official PlayStation Magazine and other publications has been found dead by police in Sacramento, California.

Edge reports that Jason Montes, 33, apparently killed his wife Serena, 25, before taking his own life. The couple was estranged.

The Contra-Costa Times reports:

Serena Montes' mother... said the two met online and were getting along until last summer, when they grew unhappy and tried marriage counseling, which was ineffective. Eventually, Serena Montes decided she was going to leave the relationship.

"She knew she had to start again," Lesley said. "He was having a hard time with it. He didn't want to let go of her."

Lesley said Jason Montes had threatened suicide before but that her daughter dissuaded him... Lesley said she later heard that a military service pistol was missing from the home of Jason Montes' parents.

County and police records showed no police calls, restraining orders, or any other sign of potential violence between the couple. Federal court records show that Jason Montes filed for bankruptcy last summer.

Don't invite Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica and Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick to the same party.

Yesterday, Kuchera penned a surprisingly personal criticism of the long-time CEO, including a photo of Kotick with devil's horns added (left). In the column, Kuchera refers to Kotick as "a carpetbagger," "the devil," "brazen," and possessed of a "cash lust."

At issue seems to be Kuchera's feeling that Kotick is all about the Benjamins, not the games:

That's why I find Bobby Kotick so distasteful—the man is a carpetbagger... usually, when you put the devil in charge, you have the good graces to at least keep a smooth-talking demon or two around to deal with the press. With Kotick, he's very brazen about his need to squeeze every last dollar he can out of every franchise under the Activision Blizzard label. He wants to exploit his games. He wants to make sure he has a sequel every year, and don't forget the Wii and DS ports. Why have one StarCraft game if you can have three?...

Kotick doesn't play his games, and it shows. He has a tin ear when it comes to speaking to investors or the press. This is a guy who looks at the balance sheets of World of Warcraft and wants more, more, more... and it's doubtful he even knows the name of Azeroth. Under his control, Activision Blizzard has started to look and feel like the Shire at the end of the Lord of the Rings (and by that, I mean the books' vision)...

World of Warcraft may look like it will go on forever, but the only thing greater than the loyalty of those players is Kotick's cash-lust. The only question is if the two will ever collide...

Whatever one might think of the man, Kotick clearly has business acumen. He was runner-up as Marketwatch's CEO of the Year for 2008 and is currently featured on the cover of Forbes. In fact, the business mag's profile of Kotick comes in for a mention by Kuchera. Some gamers are upset by a line penned by writer Peter Beller and not attributed to the Activision Blizzard CEO:

EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars.

Irreverent video game site Destructoid is cleaning up a bit of a mess this morning.

According to an e-mail we received from Destructoid editor Niero, a hacker cracked the site's user database over the weekend:

This is the letter every web site operator hopes he never has to write: it seems a glitch in our web site allowed someone to exploit the database this weekend. We have confirmed that the intruder succesfully obtained everyone's username and password.

As soon as we were alerted we shut down all servers, changed all passwords, took our forums offline, and notified everyone via email... We're doing everything we can do prevent this from ever happening again and deeply apologize for this incovenience.

On the bright side, we intentionally store very little personally identifiable information. However, you may still be at risk: If you frequently use the same password for other web services... we strongly urge you to update your password ASAP...

Destructoid has reported the incident to IC3 (FBI's internet crime complaint
arm)... We are also offering a $1,000 award to anyone with information that leads us to prosecuting the intruder...

...is actually from June 23rd, 2007.

Or, about six months before she so smugly slandered Mass Effect and then felt the combined wrath of millions of gamers.

How do we know? 

Well, the GameTrailers page where the video is hosted says that it is from 2007. But we went a little further and checked the baseball scores which were scrolling onscreen against the 2007 MLB schedule and found the exact date.

That being the case, coverage on some sites to the effect of "didn't she learn her lesson?" would seem inoperable in this case.

The Media Coalition, a free speech defense trade group which numbers the Entertainment Software Association (game publishers) and Entertainment Merchants Association (game retailers) among its members, has a new chair.

As reported by Video Business, First Amendment scholar and author Chris Finan (left) will succeed the EMA's Sean Bersell at the reigns. Of the transition, Bersell commented:

I am extremely pleased that Chris Finan, who is incredibly knowledgeable about free speech issues and well respected, is assuming the chair of Media Coalition. The leadership and credibility he brings to our efforts will enhance our ability to counter government censorship of publications and entertainment.

Speaking about his new assignment, Finan said:

Media Coalition plays a critical role in protecting what the American people can see, read and hear.

MTV Multiplayer has posted an interview with J Moses, CEO of UGO, which just acquired 1UP from Ziff-Davis.

A number of 1UP staffers were immediately let go and ZD also announced that it was shutting down its long-running print mag, Electronic Gaming Monthly. Of the deal, Moses told MTV's Stephen Totilo:

We have just hired 24 [1UP] people. At a time where all you read about is layoffs we have expanded UGO by 33 percent. I don’t know of any content companies out there expanding their workforce. We did that because our business is robust and growing...

We kept, we believe, the core editorial group that can continue to do great things. What we’re adding is 1up.com as an editorial site that will sit on top of the UGO publishing site. And we kept who we believe are the critical people who can make up a great site.

 

Closing EGM [was a Ziff-Davis decision and] has absolutely nothing to do with UGO.

GP: Given the level of emotion surrounding the sudden closure of EGM and the loss of numerous EGM and 1UP staffers, it's not surprising that many of the reader comments to the Moses interview are negative.

As numerous sources are reporting, Hearst's UGO Entertainment has acquired 1UP from financially-troubled Ziff-Davis. Along with the 1UP sale, ZD is ceasing publication of Entertainment Gaming Monthly. Perhaps the best-known print publication for video game enthusiasts, EGM has been in operation since 1989.

Joystiq has a list of 1UP and EGM staffers who have lost their jobs. Among these are some well-known game journos, including James "Milkman" Mielke and Shane Bettenhausen.

Reactions have come swiftly and many are saddened by the layoffs:

-Kombo has a list of Twitter accounts wherein several former and current 1UP and EGM staffers are tweeting about the situation.

-Former Computer Gaming World (yet another defunct ZD mag) editor Jeff Green blogged:

A sad day for all the folks at 1up.com... my condolences go out to all those now looking for work. The list of people they decided to lay off is just crazy. Don't ask me to make any sense of it, because I don't see any.

R.I.P. 1up.com. They may keep your URL, there, but we all know better.

-God of War designer David Jaffe blogged as well:

My heart goes out to all those 1up and EGM folks who lost their jobs today. It's a real shame considering what an important part you guys/gals have played in the US gaming world all these years. Thanks for the many, many years of great, entertaining work.

-Valve Software tweeted a condolence:

Sorry to see things go down like that. Best of luck to the guys at EGM and GV

UPDATE: Jeff Green added a bit of a rant...

UPDATE 2: EA's Peter Moore weighs in:

I was saddened to see the announcement this afternoon that Electronic Gaming Monthly is closing its doors as  part of the Hearst acquisition of the Ziff Davis Media gaming assets. EGM has been a print publication mainstay of our industry for two decades, and while the real-time nature of web sites has put long-lead magazines and print media in general across most genres under real pressure, it is a sad day when such an important icon in gaming has to say goodbye.

On Sunday, an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at President Bush during a press conference.

Within days, nearly a half-dozen Flash games lampooning the incident appeared on the web (you'll find all of them linked here on GamePolitics).

Given the speed and reach of the web, the Amazon Game Room Blog wonders whether browser games have replaced the role of the political cartoon in modern society:

Web-based flash games continue to take over the satirical role that political cartoons once filled... Our country has a rich and scathing history of political satire in cartoon form in newspapers and magazines and anyone who noticed how fast the [various Bush/shoe games] popped up on the Web after the footwear was flung... should be able to acknowledge the potential for this in flash technology.

 

The games are certainly is no works of art, but they were not designed to be awe inspiring. They were instead designed to capture the moment, and immortalize it from a particular point of view that people in this particular time can appreciate, or at least recognize. In a hundred years... these snippets of code will offer a window into the past... it is all just part of a media continuum that stretches forward and back further than we know.

Asylum reports on The Immersion Project, a short film by British fillmaker Robbie Cooper which captures the faces of 9-16 year-olds as they play violent video games.

UK newspaper the Telegraph offers more details:

Head-on film footage [captures] children as they play a number of more or less violent videogames - Halo 3, Call of Duty, GTA 4, Tekken and Star Wars Battlefront...

The results are variable, and intriguing. The children who are most expressive in class, according to their teachers, are also the most expressive in front of the screens. Others - particularly the hardened gamers - remain utterly expressionless: 'Nothing. Not a glimmer of emotion. If you couldn't see the hands moving, you wouldn't know anything was going on at all.'

(There is one expression - an agonised open-mouthed gape, with lips pulled in to cover the teeth - that is seen on several children's faces playing the first-person shooter Call of Duty. It seems, oddly, to be unique to that game.)

Ultimately, reports the Telegraph, Cooper plans to settle on 75 kid subjects and film them for 18 months as they interact with a variety of violent images, including games, films, TV news footage and online videos. Their facial expressions will be recorded and then interpreted by a psychologist and a sociologist.

A study released by watchdog group Common Sense Media this week strongly correlates the amount of time children spend with media to poor school performance as well as negative health outcomes such as obesity, substance abuse and smoking.

Media and Child and Adolescent Health: A Systematic Review is, essentially, a survey of research on the topic conducted over the past 30 years. The study was carried out by researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and California Pacific Medical Center.

From a political standpoint, it is interesting to note that lead researcher Ezekiel Emanuel of the NIH is the brother of President-elect Barack Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Common Sense Media CEO and founder Jim Steyer (left) discussed the Obama connection with Time:

[Rahm Emanuel] will have a strong position in the incoming Administration. And I am optimistic that you'll see a renewed emphasis, from the White House on down, on media, technology and kids. In that sense, I'm very hopeful that Barack and Michelle Obama will be parents-in-chief and role models-in-chief for our country. Barack talked about it repeatedly through his campaign—turning off the TV, turning off the video games, doing your homework, talking with your kids.

Steyer also told Time that the study deliberately stayed away from issues of violence and media:

The research team decided that there was a voluminous amount of studies that focus solely on media and violence. So they wanted to stay away from that... This report doesn't say, nor would Common Sense ever suggest, that media is the cause of all society's ills, or the sole cause of childhood obesity or risky sexual behavior or smoking or alcohol use among teens. But it is a significant contributing factor...

The study's politicial potential is also emphasized in a press release on the Common Sense Media website which quotes former FCC chairman and CSM board member William Kennard:

The new administration has shown a commitment to children and has already made important statements about how it will focus new attention on technology and media. There is a unique opportunity to make real change in the role that media plays in our children’s lives.

It was with much fanfare that  Reuters opened a virtual office in Second Life in 2006.

The news service has since comes to grips with an essential truth about SL: It never lived up to its hype.

As UK paper The Register notes, Reuters has closed its Second Life Bureau and pulled embedded reporter Adam Pasick aka Adam Reuters out of SL's metaverse, assigning him to, one presumes, more tangible duties. A Reuters spokesperson told The Register:

We're still reporting on Second Life, but only as part of our usual tech and media coverage.

Meanwhile, Silicon Alley Insider has a first-person account from Eric Krangel, the original Reuters staffer assigned to SL:

Is Second Life dying? No, but the buzz is gone...

 

It's hard to say what, if anything, Linden Lab can do to make Second Life appeal to a general audience. The very things that most appeal to Second Life's hardcore enthusiasts are either boring or creepy for most people: Spending hundreds of hours of effort to make insignificant amounts of money selling virtual clothes, experimenting with changing your gender or species, getting into random conversations with strangers from around the world, or having pseudo-nonymous sex (and let's not kid ourselves, sex is a huge draw into Second Life)...

 

It was about as fun as watching paint dry.

GP: There are so many jokes one can make about Second Life. Our favorite? Chris Williams of The Register writes:

Last one to leave, turn off the flying penis.

When last we looked in on Eidos, it was over a little episode that came to be known as GerstmannGate.

The UK game publisher's ham-handed attempt to manipulate GameSpot's Kane & Lynch review scores unfairly cost long time journo Jeff Gerstmann his editor position and nearly brought the site down as outraged veteran staffers bailed one after another.

Recent reports indicate that Eidos is up to its old tricks, this time in regard to Tomb Raider: Underworld. Naturally, the Penny Arcade crew can't resist making Eidos the star of its latest cartoon.

Hit the link for the full version of The Truth is the New Lie...

Direct TV has deep-sixed its Championship Gaming Series professional gaming league, according to the Hollywood Examiner.

An announcement on the CGS website calls the league "an idea whose time came too early" and laments that "profitability was too far in the future for us to sustain operations in the interim."

The Examiner notes:

The CGS, was founded in 2007... and was sponsored by major brands in gaming and mainstream like Moutain Dew, Fatality gaming gear, Alienware and Xbox 360.

The league launched its first season with six franchises in six major cities in the United States including Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, San Fransico, Chicago and Carolina. In 2008, they launched new franchises in major international markets like Berlin, Spain, England and Mexico...

CGS was also the only league with international television coverage where the players where able to get more then bragging rights, but was also paid a salary like professional athletes.

On Fox News program The O'Reilly Factor, pundit Bill O'Reilly tries to drag Heidi Klum's Guitar Hero commercial into the culture wars, but even his two conservative female guests don't want to go there.

At issue is Heidi's Risky Business-inspired Guitar Hero shredding routine. O'Reilly is apparently concerned about the the moral effects of the commercial, featuring a lingerie-clad Klum, airing in prime time.

Then again, O'Reilly has never been much of a fan of video games. Or iPods. Or Blackberries. But Mr. Morality does enjoy a good loofa.

GP: Thanks to GP jack-of-all-trades Andrew Eisen for the sharp eyes...

Everyone's favorite disbarred attorney has a new gig.

It seems that Jack Thompson is now penning a column for conservative website Human Events.

Thompson teased his new assignment in a post on GamePolitics yesterday:

This new ESRB bandaid just gets more of the camel's nose into the video game industry's tent. Look for a federal law prohibiting sale of mature games to minors in Obama's first term.  It will be wildly popular with parents in both  parties, as a recent video game industry poll proves.

 

The new statutory approach is constiutionally bullet proof...

 

PS:  Hey, I have a new job that began today, and I'm not saying what it is, but you kids won't be pleased!

GP: So, Jack Thompson, cub reporter?

Big thanks to: GP reader Maxamegalon2000 for the tip!

Earlier this week GamePolitics covered a New York Times story which reported that some gamers were leery of how Barack Obama's presidency might affect their pastime.

Writing for fidgit, longtime game journo Tom Chick (left) takes issue with the NYT (okay by me), but takes a cheap shot at GamePolitics in the process (hey, Tom Chick, don't shoot the messenger):

You know it's been a slow news day at the New York Times when they assemble a couple of scant details about the appearance of videogames in the Presidential campaign under the headline "Some Video Gamers Leery of Obama's Views"...

 

In addition to citing the inveterate cryers of "Wolf!" over at GamePolitics.com, they base their story on a user comment on 1up.com... Could this be because the post makes more sense than either the New York Times story or the 1up story it's commenting on?

As a scholar and college teacher [who] writes about games, I don't see this as any kind of whipping post that's part of Obama's policy building... The only way games will come up as a major part of any presidency anytime soon is just as it has in the past: when it's a convenient scapegoat.

However, videogames are already a factor in Obama's presidency. Like Bill Clinton before him, Barack Obama is in touch with a whole new generation of voters, and therefore American culture... While Barack Obama may not be as big a dork as us videogame players, he deserves credit for being aware that we're out here. We should be glad, not leery.

GP: Inveterate cryers of "Wolf!"???

Comedy troupe the Yes Men spoofed the New York Times yesterday with an elaborate prank which saw hard copies of a faux NYT distributed in New York and several other major U.S. cities.

The feel-good parody edition was reportedly created to encourage President-elect Barack Obama to keep his campaign promises.

There's a game angle to the prank as well. Among the stories in the parody edition is one which reports that the Defense Department's popular America's Army game has been cancelled as part of the elimination of the Army's entire recruitment budget. In its place, the story says, the State Department will offer the more peaceful America's Diplomat.

The avowed purpose of America’s Diplomat is to encourage young people to consider careers in the diplomatic corps, and to present non-military alternatives in a positive light. Where the ability to aggressively attack and kill opponents spelled success in America’s Army, America’s Diplomat stresses situations that demand negotiation, dialogue and peaceful outcomes...

 

Lenny Purvill, a 16-year-old player, noted an initial disappointment in finding his favorite online game replaced. “I liked to pretend I was in the army going on missions in Iraq. And blowing stuff up was fun,” he told the press. Purvill, who has been playing the game since he was 13, had been considering signing up when he turned 18.

His initial disappointment, however, was replaced by fascination as he facilitated a peaceful negotiations between Sunni and Shiite militiamen. “It was like, are they gonna shoot each other? No! They’re not! ’Cause I’m helping them settle their differences with diplomacy. It’s so awesome,” he said.

GP: "Comedy troupe" might not be the most appropriate description of the Yes Men. Their Wikipedia page terms them "culture jamming activists."

GamePolitics readers will likely recall previous coverage of Moral Kombat, the controversial documentary on video game violence directed by Spencer Halpin (left, brother of ECA president Hal Halpin).

According to a press release issued by the Dallas Video Festival, Spencer is the recipient of the META Media Award, described as "a Director’s Choice Award for outstanding achievement for media about media."

Of Moral Kombat, festival president Bart Weiss said:

This is not an easy ‘Nasty video games are bad and are the cause of the destruction of man’ type of video.  It is thoughtful, very thorough, and it definitely presents both sides of the argument. The film is incredibly well-produced and directed, melding the interview into hi-res images from the games.  Indeed, by the end of the film you are exhausted by the barrage of these graphics, many of them violent. 

 

The effect is, well, the effect of these images.  For someone like me who is not a gamer... the effect is disconnecting and without playing gives you an idea of what it's about.  The film makes you feel what video games really are while you're hearing about their effects; it's very powerful and a must-see. Many documentaries have footage that shows you what the subject is about very few make you feel it like this one does...

Those interviewed in Moral Kombat include:

• Senator Joe Lieberman
• Jack Thompson (game biz critic, recently disbarred)
• Dr. David Walsh (NIMF)
• Dr. Henry Jenkins (every gamer's favorite academic)
• Dean Takahashi (game journalist)
• Lorne Lanning (game designer)
• Andy McNamara (Game Informer editor)
• Lt. Col. Grossman (game violence critic)

Additional info on Moral Kombat is available at the film's website.

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

Wired reports that the McCain campaign bailed on a technology debate scheduled for Thursday just hours before it was to begin.

According to Wired's Nicholas Thompson, a debate on tech issues had been arranged between an Obama rep and McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Tickets to the event sold out quickly. Thompson writes:

Then, oops, yesterday morning, a couple hours before the event began, the McCain camp emailed to say that, actually, no, sorry, Holtz-Eakin can't make it for the 12:30 debate. Apparently he had very important meetings to attend. Right. Apparently, though, he stepped out in the middle. At 1pm he was on MSNBC attacking Obama, trying to tie him to George Bush's economic policies...

 

In short: the McCain camp chickened out. Spinning is easy; debating is hard. And defending John McCain’s record on broadband deployment, spectrum issues, and net neutrality is particularly hard...

CTV reports that the popular America's Most Wanted program may air a feature detailing the case of missing gamer Brandon Crisp. The popular show currently has a small report about Brandon on its website, but a reader would need to search to find the listing.

According to CTV, America's Most Wanted is more likely to cover the case if police believe that Brandon has entered the United States. Along that line, UPI reports the following comment by police spokesman Sgt. Dave Goodbrand:

We don't know where he is, so there is that potential that he could have gone south of the border. That's a scenario we have to consider, whether he went across on his own will or against his will.

Interestingly, Goodbrand said that foul play is not suspected.

GP: Thanks to reader Ian Campbell for the tip!

UPDATE: Even though police called off their ground search on Monday, according to CityNews they now say that they will search one more time on Friday and conduct a day-long canvass on Saturday.

A Washington man is in trouble with the law after a comment he posted on a blog was deemed a threat by police.

As reported by the Press-Democrat, Jeffrey Gargaro, 28 (left), was commenting about a recent mass murder at the website of the Bellingham Herald newspaper. Responding to previous comments, he wrote:

Shut up... Also to all of you who blame drugs . . . shut up as well. You know what, I am going to go shoot up sunset square today . .. just for the hell of it. No drugs, no mental illness . . . you can blame todays episode on video games and George Bush's example of 'pay back' to society."

A police officer showed the comment to a colleague who then drafted a search warrant to find Gargaro, who is married with two children. A prosecutor decided to pursue the case, charging that the police had a "reasonable fear that the threat would be carried out."

Gargaro's attorney, however, argued that his client was making a political point, albeit badly:

We admit he was stupid. [But] people say some pretty unusual things on blogs.

As we mentioned, Dr. Phil aired a segment on game addiction yesterday. Some of the guests on the show have made their impressions available.

Wendy Kays, author of Game Widow, writes on her blog:

Now that the Dr. Phil Show has aired, I’m legally free to blog about the experience... The contracts I signed before going on the show made it very clear that Dr. Phil is not a licensed mental health or counseling professional anywhere... Those contracts also made it clear that if Dr. Phil messed me up worse than I already am, or I’m pissed about how he twisted my words or manipulated/used me, I can’t sue...

 

But I think the most important thing to point out... is the way pre-existing mental health and substance abuse issues for abusing gamers [were] purposely glossed over, if not completely omitted...

 

Do I think Dr. Phil is evil, and out to take down the game industry or villanize players? No. I think he’s a showman. I think he did the quintessential show on “game addiction” because his viewers are concerned about game abuse.

In a frank podcast at ExGamer.net, Brad talks about his suicide attempt, which was revealed on the Dr. Phil episode. Finally, Canada.com offers Dr. Phil's comments at the end of the program:

I'm not saying that computer gamers are bad and I play games on the computer myself sometimes. But I'm saying like everything else it has to be something you do with balance and moderation.

Frenetic money man Jim Cramer named Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick to the "Wall of Shame" on his popular Mad Money program yesterday.

Cramer blasted Zelnick and a pair of CEOs from other companies for failing to accept takeover bids and then seeing their stock values collapse.

As has been widely reported on GamePolitics and other sites, Zelnick rejected a $25.74 acquisistion offer from Electronic Arts earlier this year. EA eventually walked away from the deal. The Grand Theft Auto publisher's stock (TTWO) will open at 13.15 this morning. Among Cramer's trashing of the T2 boss:

[EA's offer was] an offer no sane man can refuse. But Strauss Zelnick, Take-two's chairman did just that...

Welcome to the Wall of Shame, Strauss Zelnick. You managed to take a sure thing, a $25 stock and turn it into a $13 one. That takes talent.

We've mentioned in recent weeks that Dr. Phil was planning to air a show focused on game addiction, and today is the day.

From the Dr. Phil website:

Computer games are supposed to be fun, but when a hobby turns into an obsession, virtual fantasy worlds can ruin lives and wreck marriages...

It looks as though Dr. Phil's guests will include Liz Woolley, whose son Sean killed himself while playing Everquest. Liz has been an occasional visitor to GamePolitics over the years.

We're expecting that Wendy Kays, wife of SOCOM lead designer Graham Kays may be on the show as well. Finally, Brad from ExGamer.net, another GP visitor, will be a guest.

GP: Thanks to GamePolitics reader Gamer137 for the reminder!

The Associated Press reports that Barack Obama's Xbox Live ads have sparked some humor.

According to an AP report, Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday quipped:

Barack Obama has begun running ads within video games. Obama ads can be seen in video games such as `Madden NFL '09' and `Burnout.' Not to be outdone, John McCain has begun putting ads inside many MRI machines.

GP: Look for Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert to have some fun with the Obama ads as well...

Kristen Salvatore, editor-in-chief of PC Gamer, writes in the December issue (available now) that she is suspicious of the Gamer's Bill of Rights issued at PAX 2008 by Stardock CEO Brad Wardell (Sins of a Solar Empire) and Gas-Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor (Total Annihilation).

Kristen writes:

I am 100 percent committed to the belief that, as consumers... PC gamers deserve to feel confident in their purchase... But the Gamer's Bill of Rights is riddled with ambiguities, which is why I and others are eyeing it with some suspicion.

 

What constitutes a game's "finished state," and who determines it? What makes for a "meaningful update"? And is it really my right to play a game without the disc in the drive - even if it increases the possibility that the game can be pirated?

 

I applaud Brad Wardell of Stardock and Chris Taylor of GPG... But if the Gamer's Bill of Rights is to transcend publicity-stunt status and become a catalyst for real change, it needs to be the starting point for a tough conversation about which rights PC gamers should really expect to enjoy - and which, as the result of enjoying the freedoms of an essentially open platform, they may need to give up.

GP: What do you think, GamePolitics readers?

The crossover between games and other forms of media continues in a very positive vein with recent news that content from PBS will soon be available on Xbox Live.

Our sister-site GameCulture reports:

Masterpiece Theater on the Xbox? Not exactly. PBS has signed a deal with Microsoft, though. According to a press release, the public television station will be adding a broad range of its full-length programming to Xbox LIVE.

 

Up first are a trio of Ken Burns docs, including "Jazz," "Ken Burns' America" and "Ken Burns American Lives," as well as "NOVA," "Scientific American Frontiers," and "WIRED Science."