The Entertainment Software Association has announced that Ed Desmond, senior vice president of Government Relations, is leaving the video game publishers lobbying group and taking an executive position with the Toy Industry Association.

Desmond, who spent eight years with ESA, was just elevated to his current position in February of this year. ESA CEO Michael Gallagher offered praise:

Any organization is lucky to have such a dedicated and energetic advocate as Ed. His commitment to serving the public affairs needs of our member companies was unparalleled. He will be missed and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

While the ESA said that a search for Desmond's replacement is underway, GP has heard a rumor that Desmond's duties may be assumed by incoming General Counsel Kenneth Doroshow (of RIAA fame). 

UPDATE: An ESA rep tells us that Doroshow will not be taking over Desmond's current responsibilities.

UPDATE 2: The TIA has issued a press release on Desmond's new duties...
 

Kevin Fuchs does not dispute that he was a software pirate.

As GamePolitics reported yesterday (see: ESA Happy to See Game Pirates Going to Jail), Fuchs copped a plea to federal charges that he was part of a warez group which shared pirated game software. He will begin an 8-month stretch in a federal prison soon, followed by another 8 months of house arrest.

So what did Kevin Fuchs do? The ESA's press release didn't specify, except to say that Fuchs supplied and tested software for his warez group. But GamePolitics has obtained a copy of Fuchs' indictment, which alleges that he targeted the following games and software products:

• NCAA Football 2004 (Xbox)
• NFL Street (Xbox)
• MS Encarta Deluxe 2004
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• MS Windows 2000 Professional
• Kill Bill, Vol. 2

Fuchs' role in his warez group was to download software cracked by other members, test to make sure it worked properly, and then re-upload it for distribution. He also supplied "key generators," software which creates access keys for copyrighted software.

While the FBI alleges Fuchs committed piracy for personal gain, his indictment reads more like that of a gardern-variety warez kid. Even the feds acknowledge this aspect of the warez scene in the indictments's introductory paragraphs:

Other motives in addition to profit include the thrill and social comradery members obtain through clandestine participation in the illegal activity; and the reputation and fame that attends membership and participation in the "top" warez groups.

Indeed, if Fuchs was in it for the money, it wasn't working. A March, 2008 motion filed by Fuchs' attorney with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (where the case originated) asks for a continuance of Fuchs' sentencing because he and his parents could not afford to travel from New York to North Carolina.

The motion also notes that Fuchs has apparently engaged in efforts to rid himself of the pirate's stain:

Professor William Haslinger, of the Hilbert College Economic Crime Investigation Department located in Hamburg, New York... has worked with Fuchs since his arrest and plea to enhance awareness of the illegality and economic harms associated with digital downloading of music and software via the internet, which remains widespread and is often perceived as legal activity. Professor Haslinger will provide evidence of Fuchs’ post offense rehabilitation and his participation as a speaker in forums for college students regarding the illegality downloading and what can happen if you are caught.

As GamePolitics reported in May, the ESA's plan to win political influence through campaign donations got off to a slow start in 2008, spreading just $4,300 among three members of Congress.

But the software publishers' lobbying group dramatically increased its political donations in the second quarter of of the year.

Using publicly available records, GamePolitics has learned that the ESA wrote checks totaling $19,000 to 17 separate candidates for the U.S. House and Senate. Two U.S. Senators received $2,000 campaign donations, while the remaining 15 recipients each received $1,000.

All recipients are incumbents. Seven senatorial and ten congressional campaigns received donations. Nine recipients are Democrats and eight are Republicans.

Recipients of ESA Q2 donations include:

• Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) $2,000 - Majority Whip
• Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) $1,000 - a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation
• Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) $1,000 
• Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) $1,000 - has supported the ESRB in the past
• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) $2,000 
• Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) $1,000
• Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), $1,000
• Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), $1,000 - the Chief Deputy Minority Whip was reported to be on John McCain's list of VP candidates
• Rep. John Howard Coble (R-NC) $1,000 - the 77-year-old Coble is the longest-serving member of Congress from North Carolina
• Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY) $1,000 - a member of the Energy & Commerce Committee which has in the past considered video game legislation
• Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) $1,000 - chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
• Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) $1,000 - from the Seattle area, where so many game companies are located
• Kendrick Meek (D-FL) $1,000 - voted in favor of Net Neutrality in the past
• Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) $1,000 - has expressed concern about games previously on the floor of Congress
• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) $1,000
• Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) $1,000
• Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), $1,000

GP: The notes which follow some of the names are just ballpark guesses as to why a particular recipient may have been of interest to the ESA politically.

As to where the money came from, EA CEO John Riccitiello and Sony CEO Jack Tretton each ponied up $5,000, as did the Microsoft Corporation Political Action Committee.

MCVUK writes that Entertainment Software Association CEO Michael Gallagher (left) endorsed the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) rating system over that of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) during last week's state-of-the-industry speech at E3 in Los Angeles.

From the MCVUK report:

As part of his keynote speech, Gallagher was critical of the Byron Report’s highly controversial backing of the BBFC system – and made it clear that the Entertainment Software Association believes it was the wrong way to go.

MCVUK is referring to this section of the Gallagher speech:

Friends and allies across the globe are facing their own challenges. Our success as a business and entertainment medium has caught the attention and the interest of foreign regulators and governments. Earlier this year we saw the release of the Byron Report, which praised the ESRB's work with retailers to help enforce sales restrictions to minors. We are now seeing a robust debate between the BBFC and PEGI. And while this is a European question requiring a European solution, our American experience proves that industry self-regulation is the best way to provide parents the information they need to make appropriate purchasing decisions.

Frankly, we're not reading Gallagher's remarks as expressing criticism of the Byron Review, although the ESA head's preference for self-regulation is clear. On the other hand, it would be natural for the ESA to back PEGI, as its UK game industry counterparts, including publishers' group ELSPA, have expressed a clear distaste for handing game rating responsibilities over to the BBFC.

We've got a request in to the ESA for clarification on Gallagher's view. In the meantime, you can read the full text of Gallagher's E3 speech here.

Media reaction to 2008's disappointing E3 continues...

Calling this year's show a "complete dud," Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica weighs in with his own four-point program for reviving the once-great expo:

• Take pride in outward appearances... A few banners for big-name games, some creativity in the meeting rooms... these things would go a long way towards getting people excited about the show.

• The keynote should be given by someone we want to hear from... Texas Governor Rick Perry delivered this year's keynote, and it sounded more like a commercial for Texas than analysis into the industry... Give us someone who actually makes games, who can speak to why we love this business... How can a show that is completely filled with interesting games and fascinating people have a keynote so stupefyingly boring?

• If you have a press conference, make it worth going to... Sitting through a press conference, in most cases, is a waste of time that you could spend getting more hands-on experience or talking to people. It's easier and quicker to skip the meeting, grab the press materials, and be done with it.

• Find a new, better venue. Hint: it doesn't have to be in LA...  Why not move it? ...From a social, technological, and even convenience standpoint, Vegas has it all over the Los Angeles convention center.

In his critique of E3, Peter Cohen of MacWorld focuses on game publishers, the ESA and its president, Michael Gallagher:

Last week the E3 [expo]... took place, but you probably wouldn't have known it unless you're in the video game business... the event came up short... and the shortcomings weren't missed or overlooked by gaming executives... They miss the spectacle of the old show... They miss the grandeur, the attention the world paid. In short, they miss some of the same things that, two years ago, they were complaining about.

 

The ESA [which runs E3] has had a tough year. The organization, which represents the video game industry on Capitol Hill... has lost several high-profile members... Some attribute the defections to a change in leadership... Doug Lowenstein, the organization's founder and former president, stepped down in 2007... [and] was replaced by Michael Gallagher, a refugee from the telecom industry who maintains a much lower profile than Lowenstein ever did...

 

There's certainly a place for a major gaming event in North America... One thing is for sure--the way [the game industry is] doing it just isn't working for anyone, not the industry, not the public, not the press.

ESA CEO Michael Gallagher (left) addressed the E3 crowd for the first time yesterday afternoon. Gallagher, hired in May, 2007, opted out of speechifying at last July's E3 in Santa Monica, citing newness in the position.

Yesterday's 2008 state-of-the-industry address was a workmanlike effort that had no major high or low points.

Although not seemingly a natural public speaker, Gallagher delivered a credible performance which would have been helped greatly by a warmer venue and better attendance. By our estimate, only 75-100 people caught Gallagher's speech, delivered in a cavernous meeting room at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Why not utilize the LACC's cozy theater, as the ESA has in years past?

The biggest disappointment in our view was that there was no audience Q&A following Gallagher's address. The ESA boss did, however, field one-on-one questions from media types after his talk.

Gallagher termed the current era the "golden age" of gaming and made five recommendations for going forward: 

• Remember our base. Never forget our loyal fanbase. We must continually push forward and look for new tech to keep them interested and involved.
• Welcome new gamers. Welcome in converts who've joined us recently, continue to serve them, as well.
• Broaden the use of games. Remembering it is still play, games are increasingly not just recreational. And this is a good thing and a growth trend that must be protected and strengthened.
• Help parents. We must continue to look for innovative ways to ensure games are parent-approved. All hardware providers include parental controls; this a great step. They now need education on how to use parental tools such as these controls.
• We must unite to support our policy interests.

The "remember the base" remark is oddly remiscent of partisan politics. Gallagher, of course, was a Bush Administration official before taking the helm at ESA. Although GameSpot felt that Gallagher took a shot at his predecessor, Doug Lowenstein with this remark:

In my predecessor's time, our organization was fighting politicians, not having them embrace us.

...we didn't take it that way, believing that Gallagher was simply commenting on the times. After all, if politicians have learned that they can't successfully legislate game content, those battles were either won or begun on Lowenstein's watch.

As with Gov. Perry's keynote, I live-blogged Gallagher's speech on Twitter. I've pasted those observations in after the jump. Once again, these are unedited SMS messages, entered via mobile phone. Please forgive misspellings, punctuation, etc.

What if you gave a keynote speech and (almost) nobody came?

That was the situation in which Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) found himself at E3 yesterday. Despite being selected as the first political figure to keynote the ESA's annual trade show, Perry attracted an audience estimated to have been between 50-60 people, including ESA employees. The sparse attendance was accentuated by the cavernous room reserved for the speech, which was set up with hundreds and hundreds of chairs.

Despite the lack of onlookers, the Guv soldiered on, delivering in his folksy style a credible speech touting the benefits of running a business in Texas, the creativity and success of the video game industry and touting the Lone Star State as a great spot for game developers to set up shop.

Following his speech, Perry was escorted (left) by ESA boss Mike Gallagher to the small space that passed for a show floor where he viewed some displays and spoke with G4's Adam Sessler. As he was leaving, we thought we heard someone say that he was headed for EA next. Perhaps the Guv was hoping to persuade EA to bring some biz to Texas.

So why didn't anyone show up for the keynote, an obvious embarrassment for the ESA? There are several possibilities:

• The show had already opened when the Guv spoke. In years past, the keynote opened the show. Pent-up E3 enthusiasm would find its first outlet at the keynote because there was nothing else competing with it. The room was always packed.
• The ESA used to put out a breakfast of some sort for the media types just prior to the keynote, always a solid strategy to lure a pack of perpetually broke game journos.
• Attendance at the show was perhaps 5% of what it once was. Naturally, there are fewer potential attendees for any single event.
• Some people may not have wanted to hear from a politician in general; some may not wanted to hear from Gov. Perry specifically

Although there was no question & answer segment such as former ESA boss Doug Lowenstein used to hold following his keynotes, I really wasn't expecting a major political figure Like Perry to hold a Q&A in this setting.

While on hand at the keynote I live-blogged my immediate impressions via Twitter. These have been pasted in after the jump.

On Saturday VentureBeat posted Dean Takahashi's excellent, eve-of-E3 interview with ESA CEO Michael Gallagher.

Among his remarks, Gallagher took a rare shot at embattled anti-game attorney Jack Thompson, telling Takahashi:

[Thompson] is in the rear view mirror... The bright future that lies in front of us does not include Jack Thompson...

Naturally, we couldn't resist asking the volatile Thompson for his reaction to Gallagher's remarks. In an e-mail to Gallagher, cc'd to GamePolitics, Thompson wrote:

Dear Mike:

 

I really enjoyed your "Jack Thompson is in the rearview mirror" comment.  I think it is a reasonable thing to say, based upon what you think you know about what is going on between me and The Florida Bar, but in fact it is not accurate.  You don't know what is going on behind the scenes.
 
What I would like you to know, however, is that I plan to file a lawsuit this week against the ESA.  It's about time.  If you think my current, soon to be past, Bar problems are an impediment to that suit, think again...

 
I look forward to the entire video game industry having the  ESA and the ESRB in its rearview mirror.  That should be accomplished soon.

GP: The lawsuit of which Thompson speaks is apparently some type of RICO allegation. We've asked for more details but are taking a wait-and-see attitude as to whether this one ever happens. Not every lawsuit Thompson threatens actually gets filed, and this one in particular has the whiff of a non-starter.

Thompson also sent Gallagher the picture included in this report, which is, we have to admit, an amusing touch.

Getting all of the Thompson news out of the way so we can focus on E3, the controversial barrister has - not unexpectedly - filed several motions with the Florida Supreme Court, objecting to last week's report by Judge Dava Tunis which recommended that he be disbarred for life.

Over at VentureBeat, Dean Takahashi serves up a terrific Q&A-style interview with ESA CEO Mike Gallagher (left).

The interview comes on the eve of E3 and Takahashi fires some tough questions at Gallagher.

Highlights include:

VB: How did you choose the Texas governor, Rick Perry, for the other keynote?

 

MG: It makes complete sense Gov. Perry would be an invitee. Texas is a leading state when it comes to game development. They have an environment where they welcome the video game publishers and developers. They are reaping the economic benefit because of that... We’re delighted for the first time to bring such a high level politician to E3. It’s a sign of respect for the industry and maturity.

 

VB: The industry still has its share of political battles regarding censorship. How are those going?

 

MG: We are winning those but we are not out of the woods... There are many in the state and federal arenas that operate off a broken, flawed historical stereotype. That problem is a top priority for us. We’re trying to set a positive image for this industry and to make sure politicians understand it... 

 

VB: Would you say Jack Thompson (the crusading Florida anti-game attorney) embodies your opponents and their views?

 

MG: He is in the rear view mirror... The bright future that lies in front of us does not include Jack Thompson...

 

VB: Some companies have dropped out of the ESA. There seem to be several reasons. Some may not get along with you. Some don’t like the higher dues... 

 

MG: Who says they don’t get along with me?

 

VB: I can’t specifically answer that.

 

MG: I would press you on your sources. I haven’t heard that element come through where there is a personal disagreement with me, or, more importantly, there is a disagreement with the ESA’s mission. Every company that has left has embraced the ESA’s mission... When it comes to the ESA mission... we are making sure that the states and federal constituencies understand it...

Read the entire interview at VentureBeat.

The Entertainment Software Association took a victory lap this week, announcing the recovery of $65,000 in legal fees from Minnesota after the state abandoned further appeals of its failed 2006 video game law.

An editorial in yesterday's Duluth News-Tribune, however, dinged the ESA while acknowledging that Minnesota's fine-the-buyer legislation law was "flawed":

From the outset, the law skirted First Amendment rights and targeted the wrong people - minors... The logic was counter to that of more effective laws to protect minors, such as penalties to bars that allow underage drinking or fines to stores that sell cigarettes to kids.

 

...Though [Attorney General Lori] Swanson had indicated then she would continue to defend it, this week she cut her losses. Hence, the $65,000 of legal fees.

 

"Minnesota's citizens should be outraged at paying the bill for this flawed plan," Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the video game trade association, said in a statement.

 

He's right, but what about his group's members who make and market games depicting sexual exploitation and violence as fun?

 

A little outrage is due there, too, for creating the problem in the first place.

Via: West Central Tribune (the Duluth News-Tribune link isn't working as I write this)

The Entertainment Software Association, the trade group which represents the interests of US video game publishers, issued a press release today claiming that enrollment in its Video Game Voters Network has reached 150,000.

ESA president Michael Gallagher is quoted in the release:

VGVN members should be proud of their robust activity in support of computer and video games. These dedicated activists are crucial in efforts to fight back state government attempts to regulate computer and video games. With each political challenge, gamers stepped up and made their voices heard by elected officials. We know that from California to New York and state capitols in between, members of the VGVN directly contacted their representatives and expressed their opinions.

 

But, we can’t and won’t let up. As Americans go to the polls this fall, the gaming community is paying attention and will actively engage in the political process.

 

Politicians who think easy political points can be scored at the First Amendment’s expense need to know that such efforts will be aggressively opposed by the gamer community. VGVN members believe that parental education, not government regulation, is the way to ensure our children only have access to age-appropriate games.

Reporter Mike Musgrove digs into the ESA's recent difficulties in today's Washington Post.

Musgrove brings an interesting perspective to the piece, given that he wrote one of the early profiles of embattled ESA CEO Michael Gallagher last September. In response to Musgrove's questions about losing Activision, Vivendi, LucasArts and id as member companies, Gallagher said:

There are hundreds of trade associations in Washington and virtually all feature member turnover and the ESA is no exception.

Full Disclosure Dept: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics…