On behalf of everyone at the Entertainment Consumers Association and GamePolitics I'd like to wish all of our wonderful readers a very Happy Easter and Passover. The ECA offices are closed in observance of the holiday beginning on Good Friday so expect this space to be relatively quiet unless something ultra exciting happens tomorrow.

We'll be back here with bells on on Monday. As always thank you for reading our publication and for the stimulating and spirited conversations in the comments and the shout box. You are the reason we get out of bed every morning!

On behalf of the ECA, our writers and contributors and myself, we wish you a happy, safe and healthy New Year. While 2012 had its fair share of ups and downs, Internet freedom and free speech had a very good year. Draconian laws and treaties that would have limited free speech and taken away our rights to privacy were soundly defeated by a vocal majority in countries all over the world.

Mojang's popular world building game franchise Minecraft had a wonderful Christmas / holiday season, according to tweets from company co-founder and Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson. According to Notch, the company sold 453,000 copies of the game across all platforms during the Christmas season.

"Across all platforms, Minecraft sold 453k copies on dec 24! Wowzers! <3," he tweeted.

He corrected himself in a follow-up tweet shortly thereafter:

On Christmas day iOS and Android device activations were greater than any other day in history, according to a new report from mobile analytics company Flurry. As highlighted by VentureBeat Flurry claims that over 17 million new smartphones and tablets were activated on Christmas day. Compared to the rest of December, new iOS and Android activations rose a whopping 332 percent on Christmas Day.

On behalf of myself (James Fudge), Andrew Eisen, E. Zachary Knight, GamePolitics, and the ECA family, we wish you a happy, safe and wondrous holiday. No matter what you believe in (or don't believe in), whether you are surrounded by friends and family, or are on your own, we hope that you have a full 24 hours filled with joy, hope for the future, and peace.

Indie Royale has launched its Xmas Bundle 2.0, offering a pay-what-you-want bundle just in time for the holidays.

If you think that the biggest selling game of the year is Call of Duty or some other huge franchise then you are likely not taking into account digital sales across all platforms. As this MCV report points out, the biggest games of the year are likely Angry Birds or Minecraft related. According to research firm Kantar Worldpanel, the two week period that ends on January 1, 2013 will account for almost seven percent of all games downloaded across mobile, tablet, console and PC platforms this year.

Due to a technical issue yesterday we were unable to offer our best wishes for the holiday to our American readers concerning Thanksgiving. Still we could not start the day without saying that we hope those of you that are lucky enough to have today off have a wonderful sabbatical from the trials and tribulations of work, school or whatever arduous activities keep you continually challenged. We hope you spent some quality time with family and friends, and that you had no awkward moments (like your mom showing your girlfriend or boyfriend naked baby pictures...).

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.

Happy Halloween Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!

Because we love Halloween - and totally not because GP told us to - the SuperPAC crew is having a special, all Halloween-themed podcast next week.  EZK and I will be wearing costumes (which you won’t see because Super PAC is an audio podcast), munching candy and blabbering about our favorite spooky games and other fun stuff.

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