It was 15 years ago today that the video game industry introduced the ESRB rating system to Congress, reports Wired's This Day in Tech blog.

The move came in the wake of Congressional criticism of game violence, particularly the original Mortal Kombat, which seems laughably tame by today's standards. Wired's Chris Kohler writes:

The [Congressional] hearings were largely a response to the popularity of... Mortal Kombat...

Nintendo chairman Howard Lincoln and Sega vice president Bill White took potshots at each other during the hearing. Lincoln said that the Sega CD game Night Trap, another photorealistic, occasionally violent game that the company had rated MA-17, “simply has no place in our society” and testified that “small children” had bought it.

Meanwhile, White’s position was that Sega was more responsible than Nintendo, because his company had [its own] rating system in place...  [Connecticut Sen. Joe] Lieberman would later express his shock that the two executives went after each other with such ferocity.

Lieberman's threat to regulate game content via legislation persuaded the game biz to get its act together. The IDSA (now known as the ESA) was formed and quickly set up the ESRB, which went into operation on September 1st, 1994.

The man who brought Mortal Kombat to the big screen has sued Midway in U.S. Bankruptcy Court over what he claims are his intellectual property interests in the franchise. The suit may interfere with a proposed  $33 million sale of Midway assets to Warner Bros.

In a complaint filed yesteday, Lawrence Kasanoff, through his company, Threshold Entertainment, asked the Court to preserve his IP rights including copyrights to certain MK series characters. Kasanoff also wants to retain the right to create derivative film and television projects based on the popular fighting game franchise.

Kasanoff claims that it was he who made Mortal Kombat more than just a video game:

In 1993, Kasanoff visited Midway... with an idea to launch the Mortal Kombat concept in a totally new direction. Specifically, Kasanoff proposed to develop... a full feature-length motion picture, a television series, and other productions. Midway was initially skeptical, as Kasanoff's idea was revolutionary at the time...

 

The Mortal Kombat series, as it stands today, is far more a creation of Threshold and Kasanoff than of Midway. Midway's creative input was almost entirely limited to the videogames. On their own, the videogames provided only minimal back-story and mythology, and only flat, "stock" characters... Kasanoff and Threshold were responsible for virtually all of the creative input that went into turning the videogame concept into a multimedia enterprise.

In his lawsuit, Kasanoff also claims credit for making MK characters like Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Scorpion into recognizable names. The suit estimates that the franchise has grossed more than $4 billion over the years.

In petitioning the Bankruptcy Court, Kasanoff seeks to block the proposed sale of Mortal Kombat assets to Warner Bros.

DOCUMENT DUMP: Grab a copy of Kasanoff's complaint here.

Do you get the feeling that Midway's ongoing bankruptcy drama isn't going to end well?

Reports yesterday indicated that executives planned to either structure a reorganization or sell off the company's only major IP asset - Mortal Kombat. Guess which one of those will be easier to do.

But a filing by Midway's new owner seems just as alarming.

GamePolitics readers may recall our February 15th exclusive report on allegations of sleazy insider dealing in the Midway affair. At the time, some Midway creditors wondered who new owner Mark Thomas was and how he was able to purchase Midway from media mogul Sumner Redstone for a mere $100,000 in November.

Thomas, through his shell corporation, Acquisitions Holding Subsidiary, fired back in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday. Midway, says AHS, is hemorrhaging cash and Thomas wants his investment collateral protected:

[Midway has] an immediate need to access and use AHS's Cash Collateral. Nor can it be disputed that, based upon the Debtors' 13 week forecasted Budget, [Midway is] hemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate. Indeed, the [Midway] Budget indicates that between February 9, 2009 and May 4, 2009, [Midway] will burn through approximately $12,392,598 in cash representing an approximately 75% depletion of its cash reserves...

 

The Objecting Noteholders have made several unsubstantiated and unsupportable accusations - none of which are true - regarding the relationship and transactions between Sumner Redstone and AHS' s principal Mark Thomas... each of those allegations is without merit... 

 

The Limited Objection is replete with unsupported and, frankly, irrelevant factual allegations regarding the relationship between Mark Thomas and Sumner Redstone...

We asked Wedbush-Morgan analyst Michael Pachter to comment on Midway's situation:

Unfortunately, their low cash position, high debt load, and unforgiving creditors place them in the position of having to generate cash at a bad time, and it's always easiest to sell the assets with the most value.
 
I think it's premature to say that they are dead, but fair to say that a [potential] sale of Mortal Kombat will weaken them.

DOCUMENT DUMP: The AHS/Mark Thomas objection...

Lamar Roberts is going away for a long time.

In December, the 18-year-old pleaded guilty in the December, 2007 death of 7-year-old Zoe Garcia, the step-sister of Roberts' girlfriend, Heather Trujillo. Roberts and Trujillo reportedly acted out moves from Mortal Kombat on Zoe.

9News reports that a Colorado judge has sentenced Roberts to 36 years in prison. Of the sentence, Roberts told the court:

I do agree to get what I get. I'm not a monster, your honor. I'm truly sorry (for) what happened.

Roberts, who was 17 at the time of the slaying, was tried as an adult. Trujillo received 18 years, but her sentence will be suspended if she successfully completes a six-year program for youthful offenders.

A man whom prosecutors allege killed his girlfriend's stepsister in a re-enactment of the Mortal Kombat video game series pleaded guilty in a Colorado courtroom yesterday.

The Associated Press reports that 18-year-old Lamar Roberts (left) admitted to charges of child abuse and knowingly/recklessly causing death in the case.

Seven-year-old Zoe Garcia died in December after a night of babysitting at the hands of Roberts and Zoe's stepsister, 16-year-old Heather Trujillo (also at left). Trujillo received a suspended sentence earlier this year and was placed into a program for youthful offenders.

While prosecutors focused on the Mortal Kombat angle, some relatives of the victim questioned that theory. Child welfare reports indicate that Zoe lived in a highly dysfunctional household and that there was at least one prior incident in which Roberts was reportedly abusive toward the child when drinking.

Roberts will be sentenced in January.

Financially-troubled game publisher Midway has been sold for a mere pittance of its former value.

Reuters reports that media tycoon Sumner Redstone (left) unloaded his controlling interest in the Mortal Kombat publisher for $0.0012 a share, or about $100,000.

Hell, at that price any gamer with a full-time job could have gotten a loan and owned their own game company.

The buyer is investor Mark Thomas. In addition acquiring Midway's assets, however, Thomas also bought himself $70 million worth of Midway debts.

In doing the deal Redstone, 85, takes a huge loss on his initial investment in Midway but realizes an $800 million tax saving for his media conglomerate, National Amusements.

As for Mark Thomas, in a year or two we might be toasting him as the man who saved Midway. Or, he could be the answer to the trivia question, "Who was Midway's final owner?"

A fist bump?

A pound?

A terrorist fist jab?

With those words, Fox News talking head E.D. Hill ignited a bit of a controversy last month. Hill was referring to a small, celebratory bumping of fists between Barack and Michelle Obama. The "terrorist fist jab" comment would eventually lead to an on-air apology from Hill.

A parody video has placed Obama in a Mortal Kombat setting with the terrorist fist jab as his special attack.

GP: Pretty funny stuff and we thank reader Scott Snell for the heads-up...

GamePolitics readers will likely recall the tragic killing of 7-year-old Zoe Garcia last December.

The child died from injuries received at the hands of Lamar Roberts, the boyfriend of her sister, Heather Trujillo, 17, who was babysitting for Zoe at the time.

At some point the pair apparently made comments to investigators that they were acting out moves from Mortal Kombat. However, as we reported earlier this year, Heather's aunt believes that Roberts made up the Mortal Kombat story to "look tough" (see: Is Brutal "Mortal Kombat" Murder Lacking the Mortal Kombat Part?).

As reported by Colorado's 9news, Trujillo has received an 18-year sentence which will be suspended if she successfully completes six years in a program for young offenders. She must also testify against Roberts at his upcoming trial.

GP: This case is a terrible tragedy. But beyond that it demonstrates the media's focus on the sensational - and perhaps untrue - Mortal Kombat aspect. What has not received nearly as much coverage is that this was a completely dysfunctional family situation, one that was well known to family service authorities in at least two states.

Via: Kotaku