On Monday, GamePolitics reported that the Entertainment Consumers Association had embarked on a campaign to inform President Barack Obama about the many benefits that video games can provide.

The ECA undertook the campaign following Obama's recent admonition to "put away the Xbox." Over the last few years Obama has often referred to games as something to be set aside in favor of a greater good.

The ECA initiative received wide coverage in the gaming press. In a lengthy interview with The Grumbly Gamer, ECA President Hal Halpin elaborates on why the game consumers' group decided t take its case to the White House:

We [at ECA] had discussed addressing the President’s “put the video games away” aspect of his speeches several times, actually. At issue is the fact that we agree fully with what he’s saying in principle. Parents need to be more involved with what their kids are doing. They need to be more engaged and focus on understanding what media their kids are ingesting. They need to use the ratings systems as a benchmark – and it’s a great first step – but they should really take the few minutes to participate in that media actively.

 

I also agree that kids get far too much screen time, be it movies, TV, cell phones, the Internet, or computer and video games. So we hesitated a few times, hoping that some other form of screen time would be included as the example. But each time the speech was recycled, we waited with bated breath…and were disappointed that the focus remained on gaming and gamers. It began reinforcing the negative stereotype and was compounded by the media interpreting and reinterpreting his meaning. So we had to act.

 

A campaign is precisely the way to let the White House, and by extension everyone else, understand that gamers are tired of the mislabeling of both gaming and of gamers. By giving folks the access to our online advocacy tools, they can take the 30 seconds and make their voices heard. It’s fast, easy and free. You don’t need to be an ECA member. Just someone who wants gaming to be treated with the respect that other forms of media enjoy.

The ECA's online campaign referred to write to President Obama may be found here.

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

Bruce Everiss has posted a revealing interview with Conservative MP Ed Vaizey (left) over at Bruce on Games.

Vaizey, who was vocal in his support of the UK video game industry before it was fashionable to do so, offers some worthwhile insights:

I would see video games as art, they are creative, and they have by now their own heritage and cultural significance, which is one element of art.

[UK Conservatives] think video games have not been taken seriously by [PM Gordon Brown's Labour] Government.  They are a huge industry for us, we are world-beaters, and we should be looking at imaginative policies to support the industry as much as possible...

Vaizey also comments sensibly on another pair of hot-button issues, sensationalized media coverage and video game piracy:

You can’t [get the media to stop writing negative stories about games] – the media love bad news stories.  But I do think  the industry has made real strides in the last couple of years.  You see many more Wii type stories, emphasising the industry’s contribution to health and education, than you used to...

 

We will work with the ISPs [on piracy] to ensure that people who are ripping off games are held to account, we have to take tough measures to ensure this becomes much less of a problem.  But the industry has to adapt as well, and change its business models to account for the new era.

Just announced on Monday, Konami's upcoming Iraq War game Six Days in Fallujah is already into its third day of controversy.

Yesterday, GamePolitics reported on concerns expressed by several critics in the U.K., including a decorated former army colonel and the father of a Royal Marine who was killed in Iraq.

Today's interview with Dan Rosenthal is a little closer to home. Actually, make that a lot closer to home.

Dan (left) is a veteran of the Iraq War. He's a longtime gamer. He's also a law student and edits the excellent gameslaw.net blog, which we cite with regularity here on GamePolitics. I first met Dan at PAX 08. He attended GDC last month on on IGDA scholarship. So when he speaks from the heart about his war experience and his feelings about Six Days in Fallujah, I listen. As it happened, yesterday Dan and I interacted on Twitter about Konami's controversial game. Afterward, Dan was gracious enough to consent to this interview:

GP: Dan, when were you in Iraq? What unit did you serve with?

DR: I served in the U.S. Army, 3rd Battalion 124th Infantry Regiment... Our unit was based out of Florida with the Florida National Guard, but during our time in Iraq we were attached to several units... I arrived in Kuwait in February 2003, participated in the invasion of Iraq in March, and left around a year later.

GP: Where were you stationed for the bulk of your Iraq tour?

DR: During the invasion, we drove upwards through southern Iraq, helped secure the area around Nasiriyah, then moved northward and conducted operations out of Baghdad for the remainder of the time... If you've ever seen the movie Gunner Palace, that base was a few hundred meters away from our compound, a former Republican Guard general officer's quarters.  

GP: Did you see any combat?