An experienced First Amendment lawyer warned that political correctness is a looming threat to the video game industry.

Lawrence Walters made his remarks at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco yesterday. GameSpot offers a report:

Just when the decency police and moral values groups have been all but defeated in the courts--both of law and public opinion--a new threat has emerged from our left flank: political correctness. The leftist thought police are now wanting to impose their view of propriety on modern cultural discourse...

 

Think about [a New York bill that would prevent minors from purchasing games containing racial stereotypes]... Would we ever in a million years tolerate the government passing a law that movies cannot have profanity, racial jokes, or derogatory language? That would eliminate practically every movie made.

Now we can debate all day long whether racist stereotypes or derogatory language is even appropriate in video games, but that's for us to debate, and not for the government to decide... [The video game industry] needs to reveal its enemies for who they are--radicals on the left and on the right--and marginalize them...
 

The Games for Change Festival has opened registration for attendees. The 2009 G4C will take place in New York City, May 27-29 at Parsons The New School for Design.

A press release describes the event:

The Annual Games for Change Festival brings together the world's leading foundations, NGOs, game-makers, academics, and journalists to explore this potential and how best to harness games in addressing the most critical issues of our day, from poverty to climate change, global conflicts to human rights... 

Called "the Sundance of video games" for "socially-responsible game-makers" we're promoting a new genre of video game - games to change the world - for the better. 

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times will deliver the keynote. Other speakers include:

• A fireside chat with leading scholars Jim Gee and Henry Jenkins
• A conversation between Lucy Bradshaw, Executive Producer, Spore, Electronic Arts and N'Gai Croal, Newsweek
• Ian Bogost, CEO of Persuasive Games
• Heather Chaplin, journalist and author of Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution.
• Seth Scheisel, New York Times game critic and technology journalist

Valve founder Gabe Newell did some outside-the-box musing during his DICE Summit keynote, reports Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer.

Among other topics, Newell ripped DRM for games:

Newell believes that [DRM] that is presented as copy-protection gives a game a stink. It leaves customers unsure about how flexibly they can access their games. So they turn to pirates who offer games with fewer strings, he suggested. “There is evidence anecdotally that DRM is increasing piracy rather than decreasing piracy.”

 

Valve’s solution: battle the pirates by providing better services than the pirates do. The effectiveness of pirates, he said, is to get content to people who want it more swiftly and easily than the companies who make the content do. An outfit like Valve, however, can get provide even better service, even by doing something as intrusive as data-mining their customers’ computers — as long as they are transparent about it and can prove to the customer that taking such measures will make the customers’ games better.

GP: Nice... We're adding Gabe Newell to our list of game industry white hats who are keeping the most important person in the business - the game consumer - in mind.

The Entertainment Software Association banned booth babes from E3 in 2006, but they may be returning to the game industry's big dance in 2009 as the ESA seeks to restore the expo's former glory.

In an interview with Danny Pena of GamerTag Radio, ESA exec Rich Taylor alludes to - but doesn't quite confirm - that booth babes will make a comeback.

Play the one-minute clip to hear Taylor's comments.

Activision's back!

The Entertainment Software Association has issued a press release which offers new details on E3 2009. But the biggest news is that Activision, which was not an official exhibitor at E3 2008, will be on the show floor when E3 opens in June.

While Activision will be exhibiting at E3, it has not, apparently rejoined the ESA's membership ranks.

As for ESA, the game publishers' trade group seems to be improving its P.R. efforts.  E3 2009, for instance, has a great-looking new website and the ESA has also established an official E3 presence on both Facebook and Twitter,
 

It may be Turkey Day here in the United States, but the sister of a prominent German video game violence critic has termed Electronic Arts "that pig of a company" at a conference in Munich.

As reported by gamer.tm, Regina Pfeiffer made the remarks at the Computer Game and Violence conference late last week. Ms. Pfeiffer is the sister of Christian Pfeiffer, the head of Lower Saxony’s Criminological Research Institute (KFN). Regina Pfeiffer also works at KFN. According to the report, she was frustrated in her efforts to sue EA over a violent game (Dead Space?) because the publisher is not headquartered in Germany.

EA exec Martin Lorber fired back at Pfeiffer, saying:

Should Mrs. Regina Pfeiffer have actually lost her composure to the point of describing Electronic Arts as being a ‘a pig of a company’, then I can only recommend that she apologises in full – at least, [she should] if she wishes to be taken seriously again in the future...

The [conference] organisers had no interest in holding discussions with the people who manufacture the games that were being criticised there. Initially, I found this very regrettable, because I had told the conference that I would be willing to hold a question and answer session. But now that I see how low the level of discussion obviously was, I’m glad that I didn’t waste my time.
 

European GamePolitics reader Soldat Louis offers more insights into the controversial gathering:

There was a conference held in Munich about "computer games and violence", that reunited many researchers on the effects of violent games. Most were German, to the exception of [Iowa State's] Douglas Gentile. I created a thread [in GP Forums] and tried to translate the first reports on this conference as best as I could...

One longitudinal study presented at the conference (and published in the Journal of Media Psychology) claimed that "violent games" are the #1 risk factor in violent criminality... Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann took advantage of this conference to call for a ban on "extremely violent video games". And fourth, because despite all that, there were voices of the reason, such as Douglas Gentile and, to some extent, [journalist] Rainer Fromm.

For Soldat Louis' fascinating, full write-up, hit the jump...

Posting was a bit light yesterday as I was traveling from Philly to Texas for the Independent Game Conference in Austin.

I'll be presenting at the conference later today. My ramblings aside, the IGC has some terrific speakers lined up, including Gordon Walton of BioWare Austin, Alex Seropian of Wideload Games and author/developer Sheri Graner Ray (Gender Inclusive Game Design-Expanding the Market).

It should be a fun day. I'll try to post a recap later on.

UPDATE: The group which attended my session was an interesting mix. The conference is mostly attended by game developers and game development students. As I traced the nexus between video games and politics for the audience, I was a bit surprised to hear from a couple of attendees who were quite concerned about violence in games. I don't normally hear that from industry types and I was pleased to see that it kicked off a spirited discussion.

Games that get kids up and moving are being discussed at the 2008 McGill Health Challenge Think Tank in Montreal this week.

As reported by the Montreal Gazette, conference organizer Laurette Dubé said:

When we talk about obesity, we often talk about the fast-food industry. But that's only one side of the equation - the energy-in side. We also have to look at the energy-out side, and that's why it's very important to look at ways in which we can reduce kids' inactive time and increase their share of time that gets them moving.

West Virginia University professor Linda Carson admitted that not everyone is comfortable with the exergaming concept:

There are some folks who feel that by promoting physical activity through the use of video games, children are being socially isolated or not be encouraged to go outside and play. There are some opponents who say that it takes away from traditional physical-education exercise.

[But] I think exergaming needs to be recognized as an exciting alternative to traditional physical education. There is a lot of value to children having physical activity options in their home and even at school.

Via: Edge Online

As many gamers know, Gary Gygax (left), the famed creator of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away earlier this year.

By way of honoring the man and his achievement, the folks behind GenCon’s yearly charity auction decided to donate the proceeds to Gygax’s favorite charity, the Christian Children's Fund.  The auction, held at this year's GenCon, raised more than $17,000.
 
Unfortunately, according to a post on Live Game Auctions, the CCF refused the donation when it found out that the money would partially come from the sale of D&D merchandise.  GenCon instead donated the money to the Fisher House Foundation, an organization that enables family members to live nearby their hospitalized loved ones.
 
A curious member of the Giant in the Playground forum e-mailed the CCF about its decision and received the following reply:

Christian Children’s Fund made the decision to decline the gift from GenCon, LLC as the request presented to us gave the appearance that CCF (the organization) was an endorser or supporter of a gaming convention, which CCF was not.

 

As [with] many non-profit organizations, CCF is selective in its endorsements or support in order to maintain the integrity of its name and logo. We cannot lend our name to an event for which we have no involvement. This decision should in no way be interpreted as CCF holding an opinion on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeons and Dragons.

GU Comics offers an amusing take on the situation.
 
-Reporting from San Diego, GP Correspondent Andrew Eisen

Is piracy ruining the video game market in Saudi Arabia?

That's the spin coming from the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance at this week's Dubai World Game Expo. But, as GP sister-site GameCulture explains, it is actually game censorship by the Saudi government which pushes gamers into pirating the titles they want.

AAA official Scott Butler claims that Saudi officials aren't doing enough to combat piracy:

In the UAE they are sending pirates to prison a lot, whereas in Saudi Arabia there has never been a judgment like that for any kind of pirate. When they mete out the judgement of imprisonment, that's when the market will finally crack.

But, as GC editor Aaron Ruby points out:

That might be the first time the Saudi legal system was chastised for being too lenient. And therein lies the absurdity of Butler's proposal... Censorship in that country has effectively driven the videogame industry underground. The kingdom's fear of media that challenges its cultural values has created a thriving entertainment black market, of which games are a key segment...

 

Iran, whose entertainment is also heavily regulated by the state, is also a hotbed of piracy. According to Mehrdad Agah, chariman of Puya Arts Software, 99% of all games sold in Iran are pirated...

 

It's no coincidence that the countries with the highest piracy rates (Saudi, Iran, China) have some of the most draconian censorship policies on the planet. The true counter to piracy is more freedom, not less.

Bonus: In this fascinating article, a Saudi gamer pens a history of game piracy in the kingdom.

Los Angeles Mayor Mayor Antonio Villaraigos has given props to the video game industry over the new, three-year E3 deal that was announced last week.

Villaraigos is quoted in a press release issued by the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau:

There is much to be said about a convention of this magnitude returning to the entertainment capital of the world. The video game industry is one of the few industries in the nation that continues to show signs of growth, and ESA’s three-year commitment to Los Angeles is a testament to our City’s formidable hospitality and technology sectors.

According to the LACVB, E3 2009 will account for better than 33,000 hotel room nights and will add $18 million to the city's economy.

Big Download reports that we may have seen the last of the underwhelming E For All Expo.

In fact, Mary Dolaher, CEO of the company which operates E For All, offered what sounds very much like a eulogy for the consumer event:

We want to thank all of our E for All partners for their support, and we encourage E for All exhibitors to participate in the E3 new event, which we believe will meet their needs as well as those of the industry at large. IDG World Expo is very pleased to be partnering with the ESA on E3 and continuing to play a central role in that important industry event. We look forward to furthering our contribution to the success of the video game community.

GP: No surprise here, given that PAX 2008 had four times the attendance (and 40 times the buzz) of E For All. Game publisher support was missing in action as well.

Via: GameDaily

UPDATE: E For All is officially dead. Joystiq's Alexander Sliwinski scored this definitive quote from Mary Dolaher yesteday:

Unfortunately, E for All will not be occurring in 2009, as our focus now turns to E3.

We couldn't help noticing that yesterday's E3 2009 press release the ESA included quotes from two of the most prominent video game industry critics of the 2008 expo.

Both John Riccitiello of Electronic Arts and Laurent Detoc of Ubisoft USA run ESA member companies, so their harsh criticisms of this year's show certainly stung the ESA. It is significant that they are on board with the new format.

Then and now, here's what Riccitiello and Detoc had to say about E3:

Riccitiello:

(July, 2008) I hate E3 like this. Either we need to go back to the old E3, or we'll have to have our own private events.

(yesterday) The E3 Expo will be the pre-eminent North American gaming show next year. The new, larger event is better for industry leaders and for serious gamers.

Detoc:

(July, 2008) E3 this year is terrible. The world used to come to E3. Now it's like a pipe-fitters show in the basement.

 

(yesterday) The video game business will be twice as big in 2009 as it was in 2006 when we had the last real E3 Expo - so get ready for some fireworks! The changes made will ensure that the 2009 E3 Expo conveys the best of what makes us proud as entertainment leaders.

Reports this week which claimed that E3 2009 would be at least partially open to the public were just wrong, it would now appear.

Yesterday game publishers trade group the ESA, which owns E3, issued a press release detailing the new format. And you're probably not invited. Here's what we know:

• Dates: June 2-4, 2009
• Location: L.A. Convention Center
• Invited: "all qualified computer and video game industry audiences, including international and U.S.-based

When we asked ESA P.R. guy Dan Hewitt to clarify whether the public would be eligible to attend, he told us:

There will be opportunities to view the E3 Expo and learn about what's going on at the show, but it won't be open to the general public.

The show will be capped at 40,000 attendees, well up from the ghost town feel of this year's 5,000 attendee flop, but just a bit more than half of E3's peak years of 2004-2006.

ESA boss Michael Gallagher was interviewed on the new E3 format by Destructoid. Among his comments:

We have a much, much broader audience than the targeted show that we ran the last two years, which was very focused on press-only and really U.S. press. This is meant to target international press, mass media, as well as just gamer press. It's meant to look at retailers in particular.

 

We moved it earlier in the year to make it more relevant to the retail environment. We're looking [for] developers, business partners, hardware and accessory manufacturers. It's a much broader audience, which is much more traditional, or shares more in common with the older versions of E3.

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal reports that the new, publicly accessible E3 was born of "long, bruising and politically difficult negotiations."

Although Croal does not specify which entities were hashing out the E3 2009 formula, such talks would presumably include the ESA, which owns the show, the ESA board of directors, ESA member companies and, possibly, representatives from the city of Los Angeles.

The new E3 will run June 2-6 at the L.A. Convention Center. Croal's Level Up blog includes comments from his unnamed source on the deal:

It was a long journey to get there, politically. After vehemently opposing a bigger show three years ago--to now go back to the board, admit a mistake, and advocate for a bigger show. It reflects well on the [ESA] and the [ESA] board to recognize they made a mistake and, regardless of how it would look publicly, go ahead and fix it.

 

The [big] three [console manufacturers'] positions are opposed, indifferent and mildly supportive--not going to say which is which—to adding a consumer show on the back of the media and business summit.

GP: Croal's source credited EA with leading the push to a new format. Indeed, EA CEO John Riccitiello was on record as among those who hated the awful 2008 show.

If we were guessing as to the Newseek source's comments on the big three, we'd say that Sony was opposed (strapped for cash), Nintendo was indifferent (making big money either way) and Microsoft mildly supportive.

E3 2008 was a disaster. But what will the 2009 version look like - provided there is one?

According to Destructoid, all will be revealed tonight on G4's X-Play, hosted by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb.

GP: Since there is hoopla involved, the ESA must be holding E3 next year - and it must be a very different animal (because if it was the same, everyone at ESA would be fired). Here are the possibilities as we see them:

• open to the public
• open to the public & combined with that other L.A.-based flop, E for All
• back to the pre-2007 extraganza, but open to industry and media only
• an entirely new show with an entirely new name... in an entirely new city?

UPDATE: I'm hearing unconfirmed reports that the ESA - which owns and operates E3 - is not on board with whatever E3 news G4 has planned for tonight.

UPDATE 2: G4 reports that E3 2009 will remain in L.A., but offer public admission - for a fee. Expect the ESA to drop the official announcement on Tuesday morning.

London Mayor Boris Johnson (left) seems to have a love-hate relationship with games. Or, more accurately, hate-love. Johnson, you see, used to be a harsh critic of video games, but, suddenly, he's a supporter.

As GamePolitics reported in January, 2007, Johnson, who had not yet been elected mayor, equated games with illiteracy in this rant:

Millions of seven- to 15-year-olds are hooked, especially boys, and it is time... as a society, that we admitted the catastrophic effect these blasted gizmos are having on the literacy and the prospects of young males.

 

...in the six years following 1997, the numbers of young children who said that they didn't like reading rose from 23 per cent to 35 per cent... I refuse to believe that these hypnotic little machines are innocent...

And in June, 2008 as mayor he linked video games to a wave of stabbings in London.

But gamesindustry.biz reports that Johnson has experienced an apparent change of heart. The Mayor is backing Be The One, an EA event scheduled for later this month in London's Trafalgar Square. Of the scheduled goings-on, the suddenly game-friendly Johnson said: 

I'm delighted that the London Games Festival is back in our city for its third year. It demonstrates the creativity and range of the gaming industry, which, as an important part of London's creative sector, makes a vital contribution to the economy as a whole.

 

With events across the capital, the festival has something for everyone and illustrates the popularity of this thriving form of entertainment. I am pleased to see EA's Be The One event is returning to Trafalgar Square. It was an undoubted highlight of last year's festival, which reinforces London's position at the centre of one the most fastest-growing creative industries in the world.

Big Download reports that last week's E For All Expo in Los Angeles was not well attended:

The second annual E For All Expo is over and the self-proclaimed "North America's premier video game event" actually came away with lower attendance than last year's inaugural event. The show, held at the LA Convention Center, had 15,000 official attendees this year compared to 18,000 for the first edition of the show (the number might have been even smaller had E For All not hosted two pro gaming events organized by third parties).
 

Joystiq was similarly unimpressed:

The E for All attendance numbers aren't exactly the most robust for an event being held in a megalopolis like Los Angeles, especially when compared to PAX 2008's 58,500 attendees who trekked up through the great wilderness to find the sleepy town of Seattle. Meanwhile, BlizzCon is capped at 15,000 attendees and those tickets, at $100 apiece, sold out almost as soon as they went on sale.

Among major game publishers, only Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft had a presence at E For All.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents the interests of U.S. video game publishers, will be among the organizations exhibiting at EXPOnential 08 on September 24th in Washington, D.C.

The event is being staged by the Copyright Alliance, a consortium of content-side groups which includes the ESA, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America and others.

EXPOnential is being held in the Senate Russell Caucus Room, and runs only from noon-2 pm.

So, who actually owns your MMO avatar's high-end gear?

Not you, according to the fine print for most online games.

End user license agreements (EULA) and real money trading (RMT) were among the topics debated by a panel at this week's Austin Game Developers Conference (AGDC), reports Worlds in Motion. Panel members included game designer Raph Koster, Scott Hartsman of Ohai, attorney S. Gregory Boyd, author (and "EA spouse") Erin Hoffman as well as moderator Erik Bethke of GoPets. Boyd and Koster made some key points in relation to player ownership of avatar gear:

Boyd: Couple of reasons [why the player doesn't get to own in-game items]. The first is liability. If I want to cancel someone’s account, I don’t want to have to pay the person the value of that sword. Second I don’t want to compensate them or own up to anything when I nerf that sword for balancing reasons...

Koster: All of these things are ultimately just bits and bytes in the database... I’m just fine with saying ‘yeah, that’s SOE’s sword. Damn straight!’ Where it starts getting a little weirder is that those databases are all a log of a player’s experience. In any place but gaming, something like your quest log should be protected by privacy laws... If you really want to know what’s the cutting edge of this, I’d look at China. Because their government has stepped in and said ‘I don’t care what your EULA is, here are the new rules.’

In a guest column for Edge Online, Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, offers his impressions of the recent PAX 2008:

This year [PAX] reminded me of the first few E3s. It was something to behold. Where else can you see a room full of 15,000 people in line… with ear-to-ear grins on their faces?!

 

The importance of this all... is an emergence; one that can and will effect change... As I explained to the reporters who we did interviews with, Generations X and Y have been negatively stereotyped as apathetic, lazy and uninvolved. And yet, by doing things such as attending these types of conferences, engaging in weighty panel discussions and becoming advocates for their passion, they disprove that label...

 

More important than the success of PAX as a business, or the comparisons with parallel events, is the underlying cultural significance of the attendees, individually and collectively, and how they choose to harness that power. Perhaps we’re not that far away from the mass media beginning to take gaming seriously. Maybe this is only the beginning.
 

GP: The Entertainment Consumers Association had a large presence at PAX this year. The ECA booth, for one thing, was more than double the size of that at PAX 2007 and included a members-only lounge where ECA members could take a break from the crowded show floor.

The ECA also ran two panel discussions as well as Hal's one-on-one conversation with Geoff Keighley of Spike TV. In the pic at left, Hal is being interviewed by Sean Curran of GamerVision who, I found out at the show, lives a block and a half from GP HQ. Small world... Anyway, here's a link to the GamerVision interview, one of a couple of dozen that Hal did at the show.

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

Nintendo cozied up to the 50-and-older crowd last week at the AARP's Life at 50+ Expo in Washington, D.C.

Not unexpectedly, titles like Brain Age and Wii Bowling were on display.

Madworld trailer? Not so much...

Kotaku reports that the ESA's board of directors is considering opening the trade-only E3 Expo to the general public.

That's not at all surprising, given that the show at the Los Angeles Convention Center was an unmitigated disaster this year. It's only natural that the ESA and its board would be evaluating their options.

GameSpot got a corporate-speak comment from ESA exec Rich Taylor on the issue:

As we do every year, the ESA solicits feedback and direction from exhibitors and attendees on how best to adapt and evolve the E3 Media & Business Summit to ensure it meets their needs. Each element of the Summit is opened for discussion, and that process is ongoing to execute a productive and efficient experience. Regarding today's published reports, the ESA does not comment on rumors and speculation, and will make an announcement about the details and logistics of the 2009 E3 Media & Business Summit at the appropriate time.

Click To Play

On Saturday at PAX, Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin and Spike TV's Geoff Keighley veered from the typical panel format by offering a "casual conversation."

For the better part of an hour Hal and Geoff discussed a variety of topics of importance to gamers. Hal also took a number of questions from attendees.

We've got the video, and it's worth checking out...

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

I knew that Pax was crowded but numbers released today indicate that an astounding 58,500 gamers streamed through the three-day game love-fest in Seattle.

Prior to the show, most predictions foresaw the PAX crowd in the 45,000-50,000 range.

37,000 attended in 2007. Big Download reports on comments by PAX's Robert Khoo:

Regarding the overcrowding, it was definitely a symptom of the popularity of the show, but not one that can't be overcome. At 2 or 3 of the main theatre events 3-4% of the line wasn't able to make it, but we hear those 3-4% loud and clear. We have a few ideas to manage that problem for 2009 including wristbands for popular events or just a straight-up hard count of people in line. The worst thing is if people line up for something and end up not getting in.

As PAX attendees return to the real world, their impressions of the show are beginning to drift in...

At his Reality Panic blog, Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, writes:

Despite my earlier lamenting on not having the time to play all the awesome games (digital or otherwise) on show at the Penny-Arcade Expo, I cannot help but walk away super enthused and energized.

 

The level of energy and enthusiasm among the (rumored) 50k+ participants was palpable - and a joy to see vs. the often frenetic pace of more industry/business oriented events.

Dan Rosenthal of GamesLaw writes:

PAX 2008 was an amazing success, from the exhibit hall to the freeplay rooms.

 

Our panel on “Legal Issues in Contemporary Gaming” was a smash hit, the room was packed, and our panelists were a riot. The always entertaining Tom Buscaglia, wearing his Quake II team jersey, regaled the audience with stories about Jack Thompson, Microsoft, and Digipen. Ross Dannenberg, a.k.a. “A parasite of the industry”, told the story of how John Carmack gave him that nickname, talked to the crowd about Second Life and the Bragg v. Linden case and bantered with Tom.

The ECA's Hal Halpin did interviews seemingly nonstop at PAX. Skewed & Reviewed has posted theirs. Here's a sample:

GVK: What are some of the biggest challenges facing the ECA?

 

HH: Broad Stroke 1st Amendment issues, anti-gaming factions, net neutrality, Universal Broad Band and Fair Use doctrines. That and the negative image many gamers get especially Generations X and Y as they are portrayed as being lazy slackers... Keep the faith, as we feel your pain. Many [overseas] politicians are banning games based on false research and information that is being passed around by people like Jack Thompson who have a clear agenda against gaming. The best way to fight this is to partner up with overseas groups who defend the rights of gamers and consumers.

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

Couldn't make it to Seattle for PAX?

Maybe Boston will work better for you.

As reported by GameSpot, the Penny Arcade crew has officially announced that they will be adding an East Coast PAX, beginning in 2010. The new show will be based in Boston.

GP: There's no truth to the rumor that game-legislating Mayor Thomas Menino will deliver the PAX 2010 keynote...

While E3 bashing has quieted with the passage of time, new comments by famed game designer Will Wright have driven another nail into the show's coffin.

In an interview with gamesindustry.biz, Wright likened E3 to a zombie - and not in a positive, Resident Evil fashion:

It almost feels like a zombie at this point; it's the walking dead. It's such an abrupt end to what was E3, which had been this huge escalating arms race.

 

I understand why they really pulled the plug on the big E3. Looking at the amount of money a company like EA would spend on it, it was ridiculous amounts of money just to be present and competitive with everyone else, so I think they were looking for a way to sign the arms treaty and de-escalate the whole thing.

 

Right now we're in this kind of dicey, do we have an event, what event is it, which one do we go to? I think we're in an uncomfortable transition zone when really the real E3 died a couple of years ago.

Gamer-friendly PC publisher Stardock (Sins of a Solar Empire) has released what it is terming the "Gamer’s Bill of Rights" at PAX.

The company calls the document:

...a statement of principles that it hopes will encourage the PC game industry to adopt standards that are more supportive of PC gamers. The document contains 10 specific “rights” that video game enthusiasts can expect from Stardock as an independent developer and publisher that it hopes that other publishers will embrace...

 

the objective of the Gamer’s Bill of Rights is to increase the confidence of consumers of the quality of PC games which in turn will lead to more sales and a better gaming experience.

Of the Bill of Rights, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell commented:

As an industry, we need to begin setting some basic, common sense standards that reward PC gamers for purchasing our games. The console market effectively already has something like this in that its games have to go through the platform maker such as Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. But on the PC, publishers can release games that are scarcely completed, poorly supported, and full of intrusive copy protection and then be stuck on it.

Chris Taylor, CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games, expressed support for the Bill of Rights, which Stardock enumerates as:

• Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
• Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
• Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
• Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
• Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
• Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
• Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
• Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
• Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
• Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

GP: While this would more properly be termed the PC Gamer's Bill of Rights, we have to say, Bravo, Stardock! 

Sorry for the lack of stories today... Had an early flight to PAX, including a mid-day change of planes in Detroit.

I'm in the cab at the Seattle Airport, and will get some GP goodness posted a little later...