On behalf of the ECA and GamePolitics, I wish our readers a happy and joyous new year! May 2012 turn out to be everything you imagine it to be, and may the forces that continually seek to take away our rights to play what we want and to express ourselves in the name of the almighty dollar be utterly humiliated and defeated.

Happy Independence Day, everyone. We are taking a day off to enjoy the weather, good food, excellent company, and our freedom. We'll be back to our regular schedule tomorrow. This July 4 is made all the more important in light of the recent decision in Brown v. EMA. While a great victory was won on behalf of free speech. The door is still open and the wolf is lying in wait.

Our liberties and our freedoms mean everything. We should never forget the sacrifices made on behalf of those freedoms and we should always be vigilant, never be complacent, and always ready to stand up for what is right and just.

Happy Independence Day.

The staff at GamePolitics would like to wish all of our loyal readers a safe and Happy New Year.

I hope that 2011 will be the year when..

..the highest court in the land rules that video games are protected under the first amendment and that only parents have the right to control what their children play.

..that the FCC protects consumers from usage-based schemes and content services (Netflix, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, etc.) from broadband service providers.

..that DRM becomes less popular with developers and publishers.

..that the governments of the world realize that there must be some sort of balance when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights.

..that rights holders or their lawyers decide that there is no money in suing thousands of file-sharers.

The staff at GamePolitics would like to wish all of you a happy and safe holiday season. We are thankful for your continued support, criticism, occasional smart aleck comments this year, and look forward to more of the same in 2011. We hope your holiday is full of joy, family, fun, and gaming. May all of your holiday dreams come true! Happy Holidays!

Best Wishes,

James and the GamePolitics crew 

According to Game, Set, Watch, this weekend Giant Robot Los Angeles will host its fourth Game Night get-together and it will offer some special Christmas fun. Giant Robot's Game Nights are free bi-monthly parties that celebrate indie titles and invite people to play games in a casual, friendly environment.

With the help of Attract Mode and Meat Bun, this Saturday's event will feature the following:

- An X-mas edition of Vlambeer's hit indie game Super Crate Box made exclusively for Game Night

- Arthur Lee's Merry Gear Solid games

- A custom "holiday pack" edition of 8-BITar Hero, which mixes the Rock Band experience with old-school Nintendo games

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has drafted a pair of Delaware politicians for use in its holiday PSA drive.

State Representative Helene Keeley (D) and State Senator Bethany Hall-Long (D) appear in print, radio and retail ads designed to urge parents to check ESRB ratings when purchasing or renting a videogame.

Representative Keeley, (whose ad is pictured left) said:

Virtually all video game retailers have voluntary store policies restricting the sale of Mature-rated games to anyone under the age of seventeen. Parents can show their support for companies that have and enforce these policies by shopping for games at those stores.

Ads will run in Delaware shopping malls and radio stations beginning this month and running through December. The ESRB will also distribute a ratings education brochure to participating retailers for additional consumer education.

Clearly, Vice-President Joe Biden does not read GamePolitics.

If he did, he would have already known that President & Mrs. Obama got their daughters Malia and Sasha a Holy Grail Wii for Christmas.

From the Los Angeles Times:

One White House official recalls the vice president fretting over what to get Obama for his 48th birthday earlier this month. Biden wanted to go with a Nintendo Wii. Told that Obama's daughters already have one, a disappointed Biden said, "You're kidding." Instead, he went with a golf range-finder to help the president judge distances to the hole.

Via: Kotaku

Best wishes for a fab 2009 to everyone in the GamePolitics community!

I'm taking Mrs. GP to a movie today (Milk), then dinner with the folks and maybe catch some of the Rose Bowl (rooting for Penn State).

How are you spending your day?

Nintendo's 2008 holiday card arrived on December 27th, but it's still cool.

The theme, of course, is Animal Crossing....

They say that Christmas is all about the giving.

But a man in Portsmouth, New Hampshire apparently missed the memo.

The Associated Press reports that Heath Blom, 26, and his girlfriend Randi Young, 24, were arrested after an argument over Christmas gifts turned into a brawl.

From the AP:

According to Portsmouth police, Blom was disappointed when he did not receive the $1,000 airplane he had asked for from his grandparents, and was underwhelmed by the gift he received from Young: a Nintendo Wii video game console...

An argument ensued, and Young allegedly hid the gift and began packing her bags. Insults flew, and a fist fight between the two allegedly ended in a two-story tumble down the stairs.

“He dragged me down two flights of stairs, by the hair,” Young claimed on Friday... "This was the worst Christmas ever."

 The Boston Herald has more.

I want to take a moment to wish everyone a great holiday, however you choose to celebrate.

2008 has been an amazing year for the GamePolitics community. We couldn't do it without you!

Have a great day.

Video games with Christmas themes are in short supply, writes Kombo.com.

In fact the site can only come up with one, Christmas Nights Into Dreams for the Sega Saturn (see video).

The Kombo article discounts games in the Nightmare Before Christmas series as "not produced with gamers in mind."

Via: What They Play

GamePolitics readers will likely recall the controversy surrounding Beer Pong, a downloadable game for the Wii. Following objections by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenhal (D) and others, publisher JV Games renamed the game Pong Toss.

Adding to our holiday card collection, JV has issued a slightly tongue-in-cheek reminder of the Beer Pong flap with a non-alcoholic card that features sparkling cider.

Pwn Or Die has posted a video which shows a bunch of kids wigging out as they tear the Christmas wrapping from a Wii.

John Herrman from Gizmodo watched the video and seems on target with this comment:

Remember Nintendo 64 kid? Apparently that was just the tip of the iceberg. Much kudos if you can sit through this whole video without weeping, returning everyone's gifts or scheduling a vasectomy.

By way of Gizmodo comes this excellent killer Santa crab, rendered in LEGO.

Andrew Colunga is the builer and he has more cool LEGO designs on his Flickr page.

Hal Halpin and the rest of the crew at the Entertainment Consumers Association want to wish GamePolitics readers a happy holiday season.

It has been a great 2008 for the ECA and its gamer-members. 2009 will be even better!

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

Ubisoft's 2008 holiday card is complicated, but cool.

Upon arrival it looks like what you see at left. The card has pieces that you can punch out and assemble to make figures from the Rayman: Raving Rabbids series.

It seems that there are four different possibilities. GP's card included the black rabbid pictured here, which was assembled by a team of experts at GP HQ.

The nice thing is that you're left with a toy that will last the whole year through.

Like the Jelly-of-the-Month Club, it's the gift that keeps on giving...

UPDATE: Ubi, full of good cheer, also has an animated holiday card.

In our continuing quest to share game biz holiday spirit, here's a nice card from the folks at 2K...

Here's a cool interactive holiday card from Net Recon and Sneaky Games...

Give it a click.

Here's some holiday gaming awesomeness, just in time for December 25th.

GameCyte reports that Doctor Octoroc is offering 18 classic Christmas carols, arranged in 8-bit game style.

The mp3 files are free to download and a physical CD, complete with appropriately retro cover, is available for a mere $15.

Here's the track list. Note the fun that the good doctor had with the titles:

• We Three Konami
• 8 Days of Master Robots
• Ryu, The Red Nosed Ninja
• We Wish You A Merry Faxanadu
• Silent Knight Man
• Carol Of The Belmonts
• Contraland
• Little Drummer Nemo
• Joy To Commando
• Super Jingle Bros.
• Bubbles We Have Heard On Bobble
• What Guardian Is Legend?
• Deck The Kremlin
• Icarus! The Angels Sing
• The Legend Of Noel
• O Come, All Ye Vampires
• Kraid, Rest Ye Merry Mother Brain
• Have Yourself A Final Little Fantasy

Bethesda mailed out 2008 holiday cards featuring a Fallout 3 theme.

Very nice.

UPDATE: Joystiq is running their own gallery of game-themed holiday cards.

Sony's 2008 holiday card is the best one we've received this year.

The card features Sackboy from Little Big Planet on the front The inside folds out in three panels to depict a snowy, LBP-themed scene.

There's a greeting on the back side along with an enclosed signature sheet from the SCEA P.R. gang.

Nicely done!

Not much happening today in the way of news so I thought I'd share some holiday cards with you...

This one arrived via e-mail from GameTap.

A nice card from the ESRB arrived in yesterday's e-mail...

This very cool holiday card arrived via e-mail yesterday from the nice folks at video game comedy site The -Minus World...

At least Kym Worthy has updated her list.

We last peeped the Wayne County Prosecutor during the 2007 holiday shopping season. At the time she was blaming games for the crime problem in Detroit and pushing an outdated list of ten games to avoid.

Ms. Worthy is back, reports the Detroit Free Press, with a brand-new list but the same old line:

The last year has convinced me more than ever that children are at risk of becoming desensitized to violence and can exhibit more aggressive behavior if they repeatedly play certain violent video games.

 

The [Sorensen murder] investigation revealed that the youths would often play violent video games. I believe that certain video games are connected to the proliferation of violent crimes being committed by youthful offenders such as Orlewicz and Letkemann.

Perhaps Worthy picked up on GP's criticism that last year's top ten list was embarrassingly outdated. This year's edition is cadged from the National Institute on Media and the Family's 2008 Annual Video Game Report Card:

• Blitz the League II
• Dead Space
• Fallout 3
• Far Cry 2
• Gears of War 2
• Left 4 Dead
• Legendary
• Resistance 2
• Saints Row 2
• Silent Hill: Homecoming

GP: If you think that this stuff is insignificant, consider that Worthy's 2007 list was picked up and subsequently regurgitated by the government of Thailand during its August video game crackdown.

Fat, angry and stupid is no way to go through life, son...

At least, that's what an education consultant seems to be saying as he cautions parents against buying video games as holiday gifts for their teenage sons.

In a guest column for EdNews, Bill Costello writes:

Boys are spending more than thirteen hours a week playing video games. As a result, they're spending less time outdoors playing and exercising. Perhaps this is partially why they are four times more likely to be obese than they were thirty years ago.

Research consistently confirms that the more time boys spend playing video games, the more likely they are to do poorly in school—regardless of age. At a time when boys are already underperforming in school, video games only make the situation worse.

Many recent studies suggest that playing video games saps the motivation of boys and disconnects them from the real world... Violent video games are especially harmful. A definite link has been established between violent video games and antisocial behavior. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Halo can make your son more aggressive.

So if you're thinking of buying video games for your son this holiday season, you might want to reconsider.

The Timothy Plan, a Florida investment firm which bills itself as "conservative Christian," is warning holiday-shopping parents away from what it calls the 30 "most offensive" video games.

While the usual suspects (GTA IV, Saints Row 2, Blitz the League II) make the list, there are some surprises as well, including the T-rated Bully: Scholarship Edition and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

In its game rankings, the organization displays an obvious anti-gay bias. While it evaluates titles for sex and nudity, a gay/lesbian rating is also included, meaning that a game with a gay sexual encounter might get a double whammy when compared to a game where the sex is of the straight variety. This effect, for instance, pushes Fable II onto the group's most offensive list. Along that line a report prepared by the Timothy Plan contains this rather bizarre comment:

Army of Two: Homosexual Encounters: ...Somewhat homo-erotic undertones between the two main characters are present.

WoW made it onto the dirty thirty, thanks to a high "addiction" rating as well as a high rating for alcohol use (curse you, Noggenfogger elixir!).

How the group determined the addiction rank is really quite unfathomable. WoW received a 3, for example, the worst possible rating, while Lord of the Rings Online got a 1 and Age of Conan a 2. In fact, all of the MMOs were tagged for addiction as well as some multiplayer games like Halo 3. A few games (The Darkness, Devil May Cry 4) were punished for "demonic" references.

Timothy Plan president Art Ally (left) comments:

Many, if not most, parents who buy their kids video games really don't know the extent of sex and violence imbedded in them. From drug use, prostitution, murder and mayhem to vulgar profanity and blasphemy these games have become a powerfully negative influence on our kids...

 

I believe, if parents would take a moment to look at the report we've created, their game selections would be quite different.

The group maintains a corporate "hall of shame" which includes game publishers EA, Take-Two and Microsoft. The Timothy Plan also offers to screen your portfolio to see if any of your mutual funds have investments in shameful companies.

So helpful!

Document Dump: Get the Timothy Plan's game score card here. The group's press release with holiday shopping warnings is here.

Black Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season and, for third straight year, Nintendo's Wii console remains a smoking hot gift choice, according to PriceGrabber.com.

The well-trafficked price comparision site lists top products searched for by consumers. Its most recent results, which include Black Friday data, show the Wii at #1 and the Wii Fit exercise board/game at #4.

Despite recent economic conditions, a press release cites an 11% uptick in Black Friday traffic at PriceGrabber over 2007's numbers. Pointing to sales driven by retailer discounts, PriceGrabber Ron LaPierre remarked:

Prior to the Black Friday weekend, 71 percent of shoppers intended to spend less money this holiday season compared to last year and 66 percent planned to give practical gifts. Thanksgiving and Black Friday traffic shows that value drives consumer spending. Consumers are responding to aggressive promotions and price drops on popular electronics.

Although the PriceGrabber list is heavily populated by Ugg boots, digital cameras, laptops and flat-screen TVs, there are several game items in the top 200. Following the Wii and Wii Fit are:

• #21 Xbox 360 Premium System
• #34 80GB PlayStation 3
• #37 Xbox 360 Pro 60GB
• #54 PSP Slim
• #112 Xbox 360 Elite Bundle
• #114 PS3 Metal Gear Solid 4 Bundle
• #147 Xbox 360 Elite
• #160 Cobalt/Black DS Lite
• #163 Guitar Hero World Tour Band Kit (PS3)
• #164 40 GB PS3
• #165 Guitar Hero World Tour Band Kit (Wii)
• #167 Xbox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle
• #168 Gears of War 2
• #169 PSP Core System
• #187 Guitar Hero World Tour Band Kit (360)

Via: Test Freaks

With the t-shirt serving as the centerpiece of many a gamer's wardrobe, The Examiner's Carol Orsini pens a fun article listing her choices for the top 10 gaming shirts for the holidays.

With the holidays right around the corner, nothing says 'I love you' to that special button-masher in your life more than the gift of garb. As one fanatical gamer to another, these are the absolute best t-shirts that loudly proclaim; 'Yes. I play games.' ...And as an incentive to you non-gamers, buying your gamer a shirt rather than a game equals more time they spend with you wearing it and less time that they're glued to the TV.

Check it out, and feel free to link to your own favorites.