The family of Jennifer Strange, a woman who died following a radio station contest that had her drink large quantities of water and attempt to not go to the bathroom in an attempt to win a Nintendo Wii, has been awarded $16.0 million.

The contest was held in 2007 and put on by the Morning Rave show at Sacramento radio station KDND-FM. The 28-year old Strange had taken second place in the contest, but after drinking about two gallons of water during the event, was found dead in her home. A subsequent post-mortem indicated that her death was caused by water intoxication.

While no criminal charges were filed, the radio station fired 10 employees. The payout to the family was the result of a wrongful death suit, which had sought $34.0 million.

Sky News reports that lawyers for the station had “argued that her death was unforeseeable, and her 'contributory negligence' led in part to her death.” A jury deliberated for two weeks before coming out with the decision.

Thanks Phillip and Andrew

IGN Entertainment has acquired WhatTheyPlay, a website aimed at providing parents with information and resources about today’s videogames.

Launched in 2007 by videogame industry veterans John Davison and Ira Becker, WhatTheyPlay was a property of What They Like, Inc. No word was offered on the whether or not the founders or other staff would remain with the site as it moves under IGN's umbrella.

Davison, formerly President of the company, announced the acquisition in his blog. He added:

This project has been a labor of love for us, and we are immensely proud to see the brand we created together two years ago become part of the IGN Entertainment network.”

Calls for comment were not returned as of the time of this posting.

After months of controversy, Tim Langdell has resigned from the executive board of the International Game Developers Association, reports Develop.

Langdell, accused by some of being an abuser of the trademark process, explained his reasons for stepping down in a post on the IGDA's forum:

My great fear, then, is that this vocal minority [of critics] -- most of whom are not IGDA members -- will continue their negative attacks on the IGDA... It seems nearly certain they will continue to generate even more negative press for the IGDA... causing substantial drain on IGDA board volunteer and staff resources and time, which is not in the interests of either the IGDA or its membership...

I make this decision not because I have done anything wrong... but because I must make this decision between concluding a process that will show I did no wrong, and having that process irreparably damage the IGDA, I cannot permit the latter to happen...

The Tim Langdell saga continues...

Develop reports that a petition to remove the controversial Langdell from the board of directors of the International Game Developers Association has garnered far beyond the 1,200 signatures required by the organization's by-laws. More than 2,000 IGDA members reportedly signed the petition against Langdell, who is regarded by many as a "trademark troll" - an abuser of the trademark process. The vote should trigger a special meeting at which members could vote to remove Langdell from the IGDA board.

IGDA member Corvus Elrod, who devised the petition, told Develop:

It's true, we've got the signatures we need. But now the hard work really begins, as we convince the board to take it seriously and the entire membership to take a stand and vote.

Meanwhile, The Escapist recounts an e-mail flap involving the ongoing Langdell situation. While new IGDA Executive Director Joshua Caulfield disavowed an e-mail circulated to members this week calling for Langdell's removal, Orbus Gameworks President Darius Kazemi believes the messages are legitimate:

[Kazemi] believes a group of people opposed to Langdell's presence on the Board of Directors simply divided the member list between them and used those contact forms to send the message.

"Nobody obtained email addresses through dubious means," he wrote. "It's like sending a message via Facebook messaging... These messages were not sent in an unethical or illegal way. If anything, the messages are a consequence of the rather poor state of the current IGDA website."

To view the e-mail, click here.

….another in an occasional series of reports about gamers who gave their all:

A U.S. Army soldier killed in Afghanistan last month was a lifelong gamer, reports the Washington Post.

Army Spec. Anthony Lightfoot, 20, of Riverdale, Georgia died along with three comrades in a roadside attack on July 20th in Wardak Province.

According to his family, Lightfoot beat Mario Bros. as a small child and hoped to become a game designer some day:

He was a video game devotee who beat a Mario Bros. game at age 4 and never looked back, his brother said. "Ever since then, you couldn't move him from the TV," his brother said. "Everything he touched he tried to master, and that was an awesome quality about him."

Lightfoot's passion for video games grew into a desire to study animation and design a game. He drew a lot as a youngster and befriended other fans of Japanese animation and video games.

"He was always happy to meet people, befriend people and help people," his brother said. "He was a giving person."

Spec. Lightfoot was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday.

GP: Rest in peace, Anthony...

Video game publisher SouthPeak Interactive announced late yesterday that former Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler (left) is joining its board of directors.

Judging from the language of its press release, SouthPeak appears to regard the addition of Eibeler, named Worst CEO of 2005 by MarketWatch, as good news:

“As one of the most respected executives in the interactive games industry, we welcome Paul to the Board of Directors,” said Terry Phillips, Chairman of SouthPeak. “His depth of experience will certainly be an asset to SouthPeak growth as a major publisher.”

Paul Eibeler is best known for his leadership at Take-Two Interactive...

Eibeler is indeed best known for his days at Take-Two. It was under his watch that the Hot Coffee scandal rocked the video game industry, with the Grand Theft Auto publisher inexcusably blaming the now well-known sex scenes on the GTA mod community before ultimately 'fessing up that it was original content.

Eibeler's reign was also plagued by securities investigations which led to charges against several past employees (although not against Eibeler). The former CEO was ousted by a 2007 shareholder revolt led by current T2 chairman Strauss Zelnick. Eibeler exited with a $2.5 million golden parachute.

Here's hoping that Erik Huey lasts longer with the Entertainment Software Association than did his predecessor.

Huey was announced today as the new head of government relations for the video game publishers' trade group. In plain English, that means Huey is the ESA's chief lobbyist. The post has been vacant since Jennifer Manner departed just a month after coming aboard in February.

According to the ESA's press release, Huey is a veteran attorney who has specialized in lobbying for the entertainment, communications and media sectors. His official title will be Senior Vice President for Government Affairs. ESA boss Mike Gallagher offered praise for the new guy:

Erik’s demonstrated advocacy abilities on behalf of numerous entertainment and telecommunications clients will serve him well as he navigates the specific challenges and opportunities that the ESA and our member companies face. As game technologies and gamer demographics continue to evolve, the entertainment software industry will rely on Erik and his team to help foster a beneficial environment for our industry’s innovation and creativity.

Huey, who starts his new gig in August, also has substantial political experience on the Democratic side, according to the ESA's press release:

Huey helped coordinate voter protection and mobilization efforts in Western Pennsylvania for the Obama Campaign for Change during the 2008 primary and general elections. Huey had a similar role during the 2006 mid-term elections, and served as the Kerry/Edwards Campaign’s “Get Out the Vote” Director for Western Pennsylvania in 2004. Huey also served as an advance coordinator for the 1992 Clinton/Gore Presidential Campaign...

As for Jennifer Manner, her story seems to have a happy ending as well. Coincidentally, we also learned today that she has accepted a post with the Federal Communications Commission.

Jason Della Rocca, who stepped down in April following a nine-year stint as executive director of the International Game Developers Association, offered his impressions about the hiring of his successor, Joshua Caulfield.

On his Reality Panic blog Jason writes:

My parting advice to the IGDA board was to hire an association professional - and specifically NOT a game person... Ultimately, what the IGDA needed (and part of the reason why I left) was someone who has real experience with leading a non-profit association, who can be a partner with the board of directors, can drive forward on governance issues, rope in wide ranging stakeholders, understand the financial/legal landscape and membership models, etc, etc...

Good luck Joshua, the community is watching!

Jason, who had many accomplishments as IGDA boss, once rather memorably spurned the opportunity to debate with Jack Thompson.

Following months of seraching, the International Game Developers Association has named a new executive director.

Gamasutra reports that Joshua Caulfield (left) will replace Jason Della Rocca, who departed earlier this year. Caulfield's background is in trade association management, not gaming, His previous gig was as the Executive VP of the American Machine Tool Distributors Association. He does, however, enjoy games:

I'm an avid gamer. I'm clearly not a game developer, and there's a big difference there, but I do understand the medium. I play a lot of games; I have a group and we play a lot of MMOs. I'm quite familair with the industry from a gamer's perspective. So that helps a lot...

 

I have most of the consoles, and I pull them out when I have a little alone time, but my true love is MMOs on the PC. I'm generally an RPGer. My group just got off a stint on World of Warcraft, where I play a Shadow Priest. I play the backup healer, because if the main healer goes down, your backup healer better be ready.

We're right now playing Guild Wars, and I'm playing a Monk, so I'm a healer again. I tend to do the support role a lot.

Caulfield expects to maintain a lower public profile than Della Rocca, with the IGDA board taking on the public interface role. Caulfield also talked about his vision for the game developers' organization:

The IGDA's mission has remained very much the same: That is, to support the professional game developer -- specifically, I believe, to serve individuals to create video games, to enhance the lives of game developers, to connect developers with their peers, and so on...

There are a lot of differences between a union and a professional association. I really can't say whether this industry needs a union or not, because I don't know enough about the individuals of this industry yet.

An artist who creates custom designs for - among other things - motorcycles has sued Activision, The Discovery Channel and two other defendants in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

In the suit filed on May 26th, artist Justin Barnes (left) alleges that he created a number of original designs for motorcycles constructed on The Discovery Channel's American Chopper series. Barnes claims that TDC in turn licensed the use of his work for a variety of merchandise, including video games, without his authorization. Barnes has copyrighted the works in question, according to his complaint.

Although Barnes accuses Activision, he does not mention a specific game. However, Activision has published two games based on the T.V. series, American Chopper in 2004 and American Chopper 2: Full Throttle in 2005; these would appear to be the games at issue in the case. From the complaint:

Defendant Activision has sold without authorization video games incorporating certain of plaintiff's copyrighted designs worldwide, nationwide and in the State of New York.

DOCUMENT DUMP: Grab a copy of the lawsuit here...

Kevin Werbach, who served on the FCC segment of the Obama transition team, remains with the Administration as a part-time advisor on broadband issues.

Over at New World Notes, Wagner James Au reports that Werbach, who is a veteran of the Second Life metaverse, will make an SL appearance later this week:

Werbach will be back in-world this Wednesday at 1pm Pacific to appear on the Metanomics show, for an extremely apropos topic: "The Age of Obama: Virtual Worlds, Open Government, and Policy"...

 

Kevin tells me he can't discuss the particular policy advice he gave the Administration about virtual worlds, but I suspect he'll provide some great insider perspectives on how they're being shaped. 

Werbach and his Second Life avatar appear at left.

Yes, Electronic Arts may have laid off 10% of its workforce and posted a billion dollar loss in recent months, but rank has its privileges, after all.

And ranking execs at EA are clearly among the privileged, based on a preliminary proxy statement filed by EA this week which lists compensation for its top officials. CEO John Riccitiello's fiscal 2009 package, which included salary, stock awards, option awards, benefits and a performance-based cash bonus, is valued at $6,365,823.

EA Sports President Peter Moore won't be brown bagging his lunch, either. EA lists Moore compensation package at $4,284,366. Here's the breakdown for Riccitiello (right) and Moore (left), EA's two most high-profile execs:

Here are Riccitiello's numbers:

• Salary - $793,749  
• Bonus -
• Stock Awards - $1,055,461
• Option Awards - $4,115,305
• Non Equity Incentive Plan Compensation - $400,000 
• All Other Compensation - $1,308
• TOTAL - $6,365,823

And here are Moore's (cost of game launch tattoos not included):

• Salary - $564,624 
• Bonus -
• Stock Awards - $1,443,741
• Option Awards - $1,589,290
• Non Equity Incentive Plan Compensation - $200,000
• All Other Compensation - $486,711
• TOTAL - $4,284,366

The Associated Press notes that Riccitiello's incentive bonus dropped from $625,000 in fiscal 2008 to the $400,000 figure listed above. In contrast to EA's filing, the AP estimates Riccitiello's total compensation at $11.1 million, using a $9.9 million valuation on stock options.

Not bad for a crappy year.           

UPDATE:  gamesindustry.biz reports that an unnamed EA spokesman has taken umbrage at the Associated Press claim that Riccitiello's options are worth $11.1 million:

Their calculation is inaccurate. It includes value of performance-based shares that will vest over several years - and only if high performance hurdles are met.

As reported, it appears as though those shares are compensation for this year, which they are not. Accurately, they are an opportunity to earn shares over the coming years if company objectives are met.

The spirit of those shares is to link executive compensation to the achievement of long term financial objectives. That programme, which is in place for all of EA's top executives, is designed to align interests of shareholders and management.

The Entertainment Consumers Association has added a new member to its team.

Jason Andersen, who previously assisted the ECA as a public relations consultant, joins the ECA as of the organization's Director of Public Relations. In his new role, Jason will act as media spokesperson for the game consumer organization.

A P.R. veteran with more than a decade of video game industry experience, Jason has worked for major game publishers, including EA, SEGA and LucasArts. In those roles, he managed media relations for well-known game franchises such as The Lord of the Rings, Need For Speed and Star Wars.

Heather Ellertson, VP of Marketing commented on Jason's addition to the ECA staff:

Jason has been a key member of our team since we launched in 2006 and was an important part of the association’s visibility, positioning and success. His expertise in publicity, knowledge of the industry and passion for gaming and gamers’ rights make him a perfect fit for the ECA.

As for Jason, he introduced himself via a post in the ECA Forums:

I will be working closely with all of the different departments that make up the ECA to ensure that their hard work is getting the attention that it deserves. That includes increasing the awareness amongst you, the ECA members, in addition to broadening our message to the consumers and the media. In the coming months, we will be launching the first of our monthly newsletters, which will allow us to share the latest and greatest happenings with our members...

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

The controversial Six Days in Fallujah video game project has drawn reactions from military veterans, families of war dead, peace groups, and pundits. But EALA's Borut Pfeifer is the first actual game developer to weigh in on the Six Days flap.

Writing for his Plush Apocalypse blog, Pfeifer, whose credits include Scarface: The World is Yours and Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, questions a Konami exec's claim that, "We’re not trying to make social commentary. We’re not pro-war. We’re not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience.”

Pfeifer comments:

The notion that you can make a game set in modern day Iraq without making a political statement is complete nonsense...

If you set out to avoid commenting on the war, in the best case you’d end up with a theme closer to Black Hawk Down, that the horrors of war are survived only through the brotherhood shared between the men fighting...

Such a theme can still influence someone’s political opinion. Perhaps people interpret it as highlighting the need to support our troops more... Or perhaps it is interpreted that the toll on human lives is unacceptable and must be stopped no matter the ramifications...

If you set out to be as unbiased as possible and truly include all perspectives, that is also making a hefty statement in American political culture...

Via: GameBiz Blog

When an arch-conservative chats up a guy who thinks he detected homo-erotic overtones in EA's action shooter Army of Two, you just know that video games are in for a beat-down.

Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly (left) is scheduled to interview Arthur Ally, president of the Florida-based Timothy Plan, tomorrow at noon EST on the Eagle Forum Live radio program.

Schlafly is a longtime opponent of gay rights and Ally bills himself as a morally-responsible fund manager. In December Ally's Timothy Plan issued a list of 30 "most offensive" video games, including the likes of World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and Halo 3.

A promo for the program on the Eagle Forum site reads:

Do you know detailed information about the content of the most popular video games? Join us as we talk with the president of an investing firm that has done extensive research into the video game industry.

Earlier this year GamePolitics reported that the Entertainment Software Association hired Jennifer Manner (left) as its new head of government relations (i.e., lobbying).

Apparently, the ESA and Manner were not a good fit. The National Journal reports that the ESA's new head lobbyist is gone after just a month in her new position:

Manner, a long-time Democrat, didn't appear to have extensive Capitol Hill or administration experience. Her background included stints as a vice president of regulatory affairs at Skyterra Communications, chair of the Satellite Industry Association, and senior counsel to former FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy. She has also... taught as an adjunct professor of law. ESA is not advertising any new job openings on its Web site.

An association spokesman confirmed that Manner had departed but gave no further information.

By our count, Manner is the third ESA VP to leave in the last 12 months. Others include former senior VP and general counsel Gail Markels and Ed Desmond, whose position was filled by Manner.

As we mentioned when Manner's hiring was announced, an ESA press release made it a point to refer to her as a "long-time Democrat." ESA CEO Mike Gallagher is a former Bush administration official.

Culture clash?

Stephen Totilo, whose work on MTV Multiplayer has been frequently cited here on GamePolitics, will join Kotaku, reports GameBizBlog.

Kotaku Editor-in-Chief Brian Crecente writes that Totilo will assume the role of Deputy Managing Editor based in New York.

We wish Stephen all the best in his new role. Meanwhile, check out his farewell post on MTV.

Although Judith Krug's name may not be a familiar one to gamers, she was well-known - and highly-regarded - by those on the front lines of the battle against censorship of games and other forms of media.

Krug, 69, who died on Saturday, is best known as the founder of Banned Books Week. The annual event celebrates the freedom to choose what one reads. She was the Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation and Director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association.

Jennifer Mercurio, VP and General Counsel of the Entertainment Consumers Association, commented on Krug's passing:

Judith was instrumental in pushing for First Amendment issues being broadened to include video games.

Sean Bersell, VP of Public Affairs for the Entertainment Merchants Association, added:

Judith was instrumental in the fight against video game censorship. She was a forceful advocate for Media Coalition amicus briefs in the Indianapolis, St. Louis, Illinois, Minnesota, and California video game cases. It would have been easy for the librarians to say, "That's not our battle," but thankfully that wasn't Judith's temperament.
 
Judith was a fierce believer in the importance of freedom of expression to our culture and our society and was zealous defender of the First Amendment. We all have truly benefited from her passion.

The American Library Association has posted a tribute to Krug.
 

Gail Markels (left), a New York attorney who formerly served as VP and General Counsel with game publishers' trade group ESA, has been elected to chair the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Most recently, NCAC was active in the successful fight against Utah's Jack Thompson-authored video game bill, HB 353.

Markels (left), who worked for the Motion Picture Association of America before her stint with the ESA, commented on her new duties:

Unfortunately my experience in both the video game and film industries has taught me that censorship is alive and that we cannot take the freedom to read, watch and play the books, movies or video games we choose for granted.

 

The NCAC plays a vital role in protecting the freedom to decide for ourselves what we want to read, see, say, hear, and think.

Before leaving the ESA in early 2008, Markels compiled an umblemished string of court victories against states which attempted to enact video game legislation.

Jennifer Mercurio, a seasoned advocacy attorney who has substantial video game industry experience, has been promoted to the position of Vice President and General Counsel of the Entertainment Consumers Association.

Mercurio, who in the past worked as a lead attorney for game publishers' group ESA, was originally hired by ECA President Hal Halpin in 2007. Of the promotion, Halpin said:

Jennifer’s track record of success speaks for itself along with her commitment to our advocacy mission for gamers. With the growing recognition of the demographic power of gamers we felt it important to expand her role to take advantage of our momentum on issues such as free speech, broadband access, and the rights of gaming consumers.

An ECA press release notes:

In her new role Mercurio will oversee all legal, policy, research, advocacy, action, lobbying, and government affairs for ECA...

 

The promotion signals the increasing influence of the ECA’s government affairs and policy efforts on behalf of gamers following its recent establishment of the ECA Institute, a charitable non-profit that helps develop and implement ECA public policy positions.

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