The other day I called out God of War creator David Jaffe for a vlog in which he referred to Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin as "the perfect definition of a MILF." (see: God of War Designer David Jaffe Reduces Sarah Palin Candidacy to Lowest Common Denominator).

Apparently, Jaffe took notice - and took the heat. He has posted a new video which addresses the MILF issue:

There's this website out there, pretty good website in terms most of the content it covers. Pretty smart and I'm glad it's out there. But it was like... this accusatory tone of me being sexist or crass when I called Sarah Palin a MILF. I'm like, Oh my, god! ...Your Victorian sensibilities are very easily offended... I'm not sexist. I have two little girls. I respect and love women. I think we're all pretty much equal...

 

And I think that's just really f*cking nit picking and ultra-politically correct to the point of just being absurd to assume that because I look at a woman and I say the only thing I can see she's good for is f*cking... It's not sexist because I'm not saying that's what I see in all women when I look at all women. I'm saying when I look at her, that's the only redeeming quality I can find in her...

While I concur with Jaffe's position that there are more questions than answers about Sarah Palin, he and I will have to disagree on this one. Referring to Palin in public statements as a MILF reduces her - reduces any woman - to the level of a sex object.

I certainly don't think he's a bad guy - far from it. But Jaffe needs to realize that the level of candor which may be acceptable in a frat house or local pub doesn't play quite so well when delivered as public, on-the-Net-forever commentary. As the head of a respected game design studio, Jaffe has employees (some of whom may be women) who could be offended. He has key business relationships with corporate types who by nature are not eager to hand a ready-made issue to special-interest groups. Is that politically correct? To an extent, sure. But that's the nature of business today.

Beyond that, however, there's just something wrong about reducing a woman to the sum of her body parts.

Video game columnist Dave Davies of the San Antonio Express has tongue firmly planted in cheek as he ticks off a quartet of video games that he says can increase one's understanding of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin.

In what amounts to a series of micro-reviews, he writes:

Before we jump to conclusions about Palin, we should get to know her a little better — walk a mile in her snowshoes. Video games can help us do that.

By way of powering up your Palin I.Q., Davies suggests the following games:

The Deadlist Catch (360):  According to her official biography, Palin worked with her husband, Todd, on a commercial fishing boat. So playing the game you can see what tough work this is. And playing this game is a lot like work.

 

Kawasaki Snowmobiles (Wii): Todd Palin is the five-time champion of the world's longest snowmobile race... So what's it like to be a snowmobile champ? Play the game  and find out — not! Even with all the distractions, Palin's political career is having an easier time staying on track than the snowmobiles in this simulation.

 

Cabela's Alaskan Adventures (PS2): Sarah Palin loves to shoot her some of that moose and you can, too...Despite Sony's promise of backward compatibility, this game did not run on my PS3 — but I've still got the PS2.

 

Arctic Tale: Palin doesn't want federal protection for the polar bears and she doesn't believe in global warming. But if we could get her to play this game, she might change her mind.

Cnet's Declan McCullough reports that former Minnesota Vikings star Cris Carter was on hand at the Republican National Convention this week to hype Financial Football. The free game, created by Visa and the NFL, is designed to teach money management skills to young adults.

Said Carter:

Young people need to know how to make smart money management decisions before heading off to college and entering the workforce.

Former Broncos receiver Rod Smith performed similar duties at the DNC in Denver last week.

In addition to the PC version, Financial Football is a free D/L to mobile phones. Text the word VISA to 24421.

In an article titled, Who Is The Gamer's Candidate?, Edge Online has recapped the positions of both parties' presidential tickets as they relate to video games.

It's good to know that none of the four candidates have ever gotten behind a video game ban, although Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin gave consideration in the past to censoring books. Of the four, Barack Obama has said and done the most in regard to games.

While the EO piece offers no new information, it is a worthwhile summary.

David Jaffe, creative genius behind the God of War and Twisted Metal series, isn't one to keep silent, but sometimes he probably should.

Jaffe posted a stream-of-consciousness video to his blog on Saturday from his office. At 3:40 into the video he segues into a rant about Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin:

The VP pick... I think she's, you know, kind of cute. She's the perfect definition of a MILF. Not to, you know, disparage her or anything. I'm not trying to sort of make it about that, but it's like that's what I see when I look at her. I didn't love Hillary but I looked at her and I saw experience and intelligence... you look at this woman and you see a MILF. That's what you see.

 

Her experience doesn't really seem to indicate that she would be all that great as a vice-president and certainly not a president. What are they thinking...

GP: Palin's lack of experience is certainly subject to discussion. Her attempted book banning, definitely. However the MILF comment is rather far beyond the pale, especially for someone of Jaffe's stature.

While we've yet to hear of any connection between Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin and video games, the New York Times reports that she explored a book banning campaign as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska in the late 1990's:

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through...

 

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

 

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support...

Politico offers this on Palin's book banning attempt:

According to the Frontiersman newspaper, Wasilla’s library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said that Palin asked her outright if she "could live with censorship of library books.” Palin later dismissed the conversation as a “rhetorical” exercise.

Time has more:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

GP: If Sarah Palin would ban books, would she also ban video games? It's certainly a valid question.

The saga of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin continues...

In the latest revelation, British newspaper The Telegraph reports that the father of pregnant 17-year-old Bristol Palin's baby is Levi Johnston, a self-described "redneck" hockey player.

The couple have been dating for a year, according to officials in their home town, and Bristol regularly cheers on her man at games...

 

On his MySpace page, since removed from the Internet, Johnston describes himself as a "f****n' redneck" and reveals: "I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing," before warning that of anyone annoys him, he will “kick ass".

 

Poignantly, in the one part of the site where it asks about children, he wrote, "I don't want kids."

Meanwhile Hollywood Celebs Gossip picks up The Telegraph's report and adds in the the gamer bit (source not immediately clear):

Since Bristol Palin’s pregnancy news was broken out, those profanity-laden words have been withdrawn from the social network site, replacing with “I enjoy hanging with my buds and playing a good video game. Thanks for looking at my site!”

GP: A look at MySpace seems to indicate that at least three pages have created in Levi's name. Some or all are obviously fakes. For now, we're taking all of this info with a large grain of salt.

UPDATE: A GP reader wrote in to object to the story as not appropriate for the site. Here are my thoughts on that:

I agree with [the reader] to a point. I don’t love the story, either. However, I can guarantee you that *every* mainstream news organization is going to cover the “father of the baby” story by tomorrow morning, and on that basis alone I do not have a problem being early with it. And, I always seek to bring any connection between politics and gaming to the forefront. He’s reportedly a gamer, this is a high profile story.

 

Nor do I have a political dog in this fight. Personally, I don’t think the pregnancy is politically relevant. But, absent my beliefs, it has become an international story. So, it gets covered.
 

He may have lost out on the Republican party's vice presidential nod, but Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently had a memorable ride in an Xbox-equipped van inadvertently stolen from the band Everclear.

As GamePolitics has previously reported, Gov. Pawlenty signed Minnesota's 2006 "fine the buyer" video game law into effect. The measure was later deemed unconstitutional by a pair of federal courts.

As reported by TwinCities.com:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty spent Sunday riding around Pennsylvania in a stolen van. The theft was inadvertent; his Keystone State driver was told to pick up the keys to the vehicle in which he was to shepherd the governor at the Holiday Inn in Allentown, Pa.

 

"He did exactly what he was told, except it was the wrong Holiday Inn and the wrong van," said Pawlenty... The van the driver picked up was a tricked-out touring vehicle, complete with an LCD video screen, an Xbox and video games and an iPod-ready, six-speaker stereo system.

The van retrieved by Pawlenty's driver was full of beer cans and had been used to to transport Everclear to their hotel. Ironically, the band was enroute to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

When the driver mistakenly showed up at Everclear's hotel, he was given the keys to the van by front desk personnel. Later, when the van turned up missing, owner Sharky Laguana reported it to local police as stolen. When the mystery was finally solved, Laguana said:

I've had a lot of crazy things happen in our vans. I don't know that this is even the craziest thing that's happened in our vans. ... This is the funnest thing...

GP: Actually, the funniest thing would have been for the police to spot the "stolen" van and perform a takedown on its occupants.

CNN is now reporting that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be John McCain's running mate.

Palin, 44, who has been governor for only two years, appears to have little track record with video games - or much of anything else.

She was a city council person in Wasilla, Alaska from 1992-1996 and was later mayor of that town. She failed in an attempt to become Alaska's Lt. Gov. in 2002, and won the top seat in 2006.

Palin has two sons and three daughters. Her oldest son, age 18, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq later this yer.

Tim Pawlenty? Mitt Romney? Tom Ridge?

With Republican presidential candidate John McCain's VP choice due later today, these three names have been bandied about in recent days. While Ridge has historically been quiet on video game issues, Pawlenty and Romney (seen with McCain at left)come with major baggage as far as gamers are concerned.

That said, Ridge seems an unlikely choice, since he adds little to the McCain ticket. For one thing, he's older than the other two and McCain would seem to need some youthful balance in a running mate. For another, as former Homeland Security Director, he's too closely associated with the Bush Administration in a time when the electorate craves change. And although he is from a key state, he doesn't seem likely to swing Pennsylvania red in November.

That leaves Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts as potential VP choices. As we said, both have a negative history with video game issues.

Pawlenty signed Minnesota's notorious, 2006 "fine the buyer" legislation into law. The bill, which would have fined underage buyers of M-rated games $25, was quickly overturned by a federal judge. Minnesota also lost a subsequent appeal on that decision. Pawlenty, who has owned up to playing NHL2K5 with his kids, brings youth to the McCain ticket.

For his part, Romney (who apparently thinks torturing real people is okay) made the cartoon violence of video games a theme of his failed 2008 presidential bid. Romney is a favorite of the religious right, a group which is not particularly fond of McCain.

UPDATE: CNN is reporting that Pawlenty is out of the running and is also speculating that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is in the VP mix...

Okay, so we've got a soft spot for board games as well as the video variety.

Maybe you do, too. 

If so, jump over to Campaign.com. The self-described nonpartisan voter education site is giving away a Stratego: Democrats vs. Republicans game every day between now and the presidential election on November 4th.

A new YouTube video spoofs Republican presidential contender John McCain with a Mario Bros. flair.

In John McCain - POW Bros. video game journalist Jared Rea depicts McCain as exploiting his five years spent as a prisoner of war to counter just about every issue.

Jared, clearly not a McCain fan, writes:

John McCain uses his prisoner of war status as both sword and shield. It’s the entirety of his foreign policy experience and ultimate defense against legitimate questions and concerns rolled into a single onomatopoeia.

Earlier this week GamePolitics reported on Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's announcement that EA Sports would establish a game testing center on the LSU campus.

Today's edition of The Advocate reports that state officials had to sweeten EA's deal to the tune of $750,000 due to last minute competition from another (unnamed) state:

Of the EA deal, Stephen Moret (left), secretary of Louisiana's Department of Economic Development, said:

This is really, really big. This company, without question, is at the very top of the list. EA’s decision to come here would be comparable in the film industry to Pixar or The Walt Disney Company coming to build a studio in Louisiana.

GP: We wonder if the competing state may have been Texas. As GamePolitics previously reported, Texas. Gov. Rick Perry met with EA at E3 in Los Angeles.

Louisiana's WBRZ-2 has a video report on yesterday's news that EA Sports is partnering with Louisiana's government to bring a state-of-the-art QA (quality assurance) facility to Baton Rouge.

Tax breaks played a big part in the deal. Also noteworthy, Gov. Bobby Jindal, who was at one point mentioned as a possible VP choice for Republican John McCain, says he is a gamer.

EA exec Sharon Knight said that the QA facility with begin testing NCAA Football, Madden and Tiger Woods Golf on the PC, PS2 and PSP platforms/

No stream for this one, unfortunately, but click here for the video.

As recently as 2006, Louisiana's state government embarrassed itself by hopping into bed with Jack Thompson for an unconstitutional piece of video game legislation that quickly crashed and burned in federal court.

But the worm has seemingly turned with today's announcement that Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal (left) and Electronic Arts have partnered to create a new global quality assurance (QA) center in Baton Rouge. EA will work with Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Department of Economic Development to bring the project to fruition.

Along with Gov. Jindal and other Louisiana officials, EA exec Sharon Knight was on hand for the announcement. Said the Guv:

EA putting the first-of-its-kind video game testing center in the U.S. right here in Baton Rouge is a terrific win for the city and the future of our state. We know our economic development initiatives have to be aggressive, but they must also be innovative, and EA has both of these important attributes.

 

This testing center will create 20 full time jobs, and more than 200 part-time jobs for LSU students who will get paid to play video games. I know this will be a dream job for some kids, but it is also a key part of strengthening our state's economic development so we become the best place in the world to do business and all of our children can stay right here at home to pursue their dreams. This job win is a critical step in creating a digital media economy that will generate even more high-paying high tech jobs and help us compete for even more jobs within EA in the future.

A Lousiana media rep points out that the state's financial incentives for digital media helped seal the deal. EA will be eligible for a tax credit of up to 20%

The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the interests of US game publishers, issued a press release today announcing that it had received a check for $282,794  from the state of California.

The money represents legal fees incurred by the video game industry while contesting California's 2005 video game law. The statute was declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court Judge in August, 2007.

Commenting on the payment, ESA CEO Michael Gallagher said:

California deserves more from its legislators than pursuing flawed legislation. State employees are facing pay cuts. California’s services are being scaled back. And, anxiety is rising in Sacramento to find funds. Rather than tackling real problems affecting Californians, they chose to waste time, money and state resources. It is shameful that legislators pursued personal agendas in spite of the facts.

 

Caregivers are not well-served by court battles and legal fees. Rather, they would have been far better off if state officials worked together with our industry to raise awareness about video game ratings and the parental controls available on all new game consoles—both of which help ensure that the games children play are parent-approved.

It is unfortunate that the state is stubbornly pursuing an appeal that is likely to lead to even more court-awarded fees.

Last month Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) keynoted E3 2008, where he touted the Lone Star State as a destination for game developers.

Today, developer Pixel Mine issued a press release announcing that its newly released PC title Fireteam Reloaded is the first game to receive a production grant under an incentive bill passed in 2007.

Fireteam Reloaded can be played online for free. Extra maps and special items are available as microtransactions. Pixel Mine President David Reese, a native Texan, commented:

This is an exciting time to be a part of the entertainment industry in Texas. We have been privileged to work with several very fine local video game and film production studios in Texas and look forward to seeing what they’ll be showcasing at [Austin Game Developers Conference] in August.

The bill requires the office to consider "general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the citizens of Texas" when considering grant applications. The bill also requires submission of a final script to determine if changes occurred during production would conflict with these standards.

The 2008 presidential campaign is getting ugly, what with a John McCain TV spot that paints Barack Obama as a celebrity lightweight in the grand tradition of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and the Obama campaign fighting back with sharp words about McCain.

Given the nasty political climate, Darren Gladstone of PC World (who clearly has too much time on his hands) decided to use Soul Calibur 4's custom character creator to let martial arts versions of the prez candidates go mano-a-mano:

Barack always struck me as a Jeet Kun Do master: nimble, deadly with his words--and with a pair of nunchucks. McCain? This guy's tough as nails. I don't know if I could've made it through half the stuff he did, so, of course, I have to equip him with the biggest mallet available.

 

Barack has youth on his side, so of course he's dancing rings around McCain... But stand still too long, and the cagey Vietnam vet is gonna deliver a haymaker: his mile-long service record.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who both outraged and amused Net Neutrality advocates with his 2006 assertion that the Internet was a series of tubes, is reportedly now facing a series of federal allegations.

As reported by MarketWatch:

Sen. Ted Stevens has been indicted on criminal charges related to his business dealings in his home state, the Justice Department is expected to announce Tuesday.

 

Stevens, 84 years old... is up for reelection this year and has served in the Senate for 40 years... Last year, USA Today reported that federal agents searched Stevens's Alaska residence as part of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation.

 

Stevens faces seven counts of false statements involving VECO, the oil services company in Alaska, and the renovations done on his home...

Last week GamePolitics broke the news that Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) had introduced video game legislation.

The bill, S.3315, enjoys the support of watchdog group the Parents Television Council. If made law, it would:

...prohibit the distribution or sale of video games that do not have age-based content rating labels [and]  prohibit the sale or rental of video games with adult content ratings to minors...

Did we mention that Wicker is running for re-election?

In any case, we now have the full text of S.3315. It is the Senate version of a measure currently before the House. HB 5990, the Video Games Rating Enforcement Act, is a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) and Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT).

Did we mention that Terry and Matheson are also running for re-election?