The National Institute on Media and the Family has announced a date and location for its long-awaited National Video Game Summit.

The event, promised by NIMF president Dr. David Walsh in the organization's 2005 Annual Video Game Report Card, will be held October 21-22 at the University of Minnesota's Continuing Education and Conference Center in Falcon Heights, MN.

According to a NIMF press release, the two-day summit will focus on video game ratings and education. David Walsh will chair the gathering, assisted by Doug Gentile (left) of the Iowa State University Center for the Study of Violence.
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Sen. Joe Lieberman has joked in the past that ESA boss Doug Lowenstein owes him his job. The Connecticut Democrat is at least partially right. Lieberman's legislative efforts to stop the marketing of violent video games to children in the mid-1990's were a major part of the impetus which led the industry to form the trade group known today as the ESA.

This morning, however, Lieberman could use some job help of his own.

The three-term incumbent lost Tuesday's Connecticut primary to challenger Ned Lamont. Although he was trailing by double-digits in early returns, Lieberman closed the gap as the night went on, finishing with 48% of the vote to Lamont's 52%.

Ultimately, it was Lieberman's position on the Iraq war that cost him the support of Connecticut voters, who came to see the moderate Democrat as a puppet of the Bush Administration's failed Iraq policy.
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Even though a Federal District Court judge trashed Minnesota's video game law in a sharply-worded ruling yesterday, one of the sponsors of the legislation is ready to try again.

As reported by the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, State Sen. Sandy Pappas (D, seen at left) may propose new video game legislation in next year's session.

"The whole ruling defied common sense. I am so disappointed," she told the Pioneer-Press.

"The federal court said we don't have a right to protect our children, but we protect our children from other things. We don't let them smoke or buy liquor. You score points (in video games) for how many women you rape, how many cops you kill. How could that not affect them psychologically?"

GP: The ruling by Judge James Rosenbaum said nothing of the sort. Sen. Pappas is clearly politicking here. And by the way, we'd like to know where she gets her information about games. Is there a game that awards points for raping women? If so, GP hasn't seen it...
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Once again it's time to fire up the Tivo...

GP has learned that Dr. David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media & the Family, will appear on ABC's Good Morning America program tomorrow. GMA airs at 7:00 A.M. Eastern Time. Walsh is scheduled to be on the second segment, which we assume means sometime after 8:00 A.M.

His topic? The teen brain, so expect games to come in for more than a passing mention.

The politically-connected Walsh stood with Hillary Clinton during last summer's Hot Coffee press conference. He has also taken on, at various times, the ESRB as well as game-hatin' attorney Jack Thompson. Gamers may not often agree with Walsh, but his Good Morning America appearance should be interesting.

GP: Despite some differences on game content issues, there are two things we like about the NIMF boss: first, he invariably treats gamers with respect; also, you'll never hear him brag about being on T.V.

Yesterday's hearing before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection was a contentious one, especially for the video game industry and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Among witnesses, ESRB president Patricia Vance came under the heaviest fire. It was clearly a day on which the assembled members of Congress opted to use the bully pulpit to drive home their collective frustrations with the video game industry.

Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL, seen at left) opened the hearing by paying homage to the creativity, fun and educational value of games. For the industry, it was all downhill from there. Stearns, like virtually all of his committee colleagues, was harshly critical of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Stearns also called on the FTC to make a full report to Congress on its recently-completed Hot Coffee investigation, a theme that was repeated by other subcommittee members during the hearing.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), who identified himself as a Civilization IV fan, chimed in on the FTC-bashing, calling the organization "tardy" in reporting to Congress. Barton added, "I am fed up with games like Grand Theft Auto being marketed under false pretenses."

Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) was also angry. "I guess I thought the FTC would have had some more teeth than they apparently have... I'm not at all happy with the consent decree... In essence there are no consequences. None... I would like to have thought that (Take-Two and Rockstar) would have been able to be fined for millions of dollars for the trash they put out across this country."
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He may the one thing that the ESA, ESRB and Jack Thompson all agree on: they don't like him.

Despite that - or perhaps because of it - Dr. David Walsh, 60, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), is celebrating the organization's 10-year anniversary.

An Associated Press report terms Walsh "low-key" for a crusader. GP would tend to agree, and add that gamers may not often agree with Walsh, but he always treats them with respect.

"We're not, in any way, any kind of a censorship organization," Walsh told the AP. "We're not anti-media. We believe very strongly in the importance of the First Amendment."

"The real impact of media violence is, it starts to shape how it is that we treat one another - from 'have a nice day' to 'make my day,' Walsh quipped. "The 15-year-old brain is not the same as a 30-year-old brain, and so things are not going to affect it the same. And that's true of alcohol and it's also true of violent video games."

Walsh cites last summer's Hot Coffee scandal as NIMF's biggest moment, and it's true that Walsh's National Parental Alert moved Hot Coffee from a web-only story (broken by GamePolitics) to a mainstream sensation via his contacts with U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT).

"We were the nonprofit that exposed the fact that there was explicit pornography in the best-selling video game on the market. And the producer of that game denied for a month that it was there," recalled Walsh.

In demand as a speaker, Walsh made some 200 speeches last year. He also was a guest on a December GamePolitics podcast.

Things are certainly not in warm-and-fuzzy territory between Walsh and the video game industry just now. As reported on GamePolitics, NIMF's 2005 Annual Video Game Report Card was harshly critical of the industry, including awarding a failing grade to the ESRB. Walsh plans to call a national conference in September to address video game ratings.

The ESRB, in turn, was equally scathing in its reaction to the Video Game Report Card, saying, "NIMF's real agenda... is to destroy the commercial viability of games it deems objectionable. Unlike NIMF, ESRB's job is to be a neutral rater, not a censor... The ESRB rejects this year's MediaWise Report Card just as we did last year..."

To be honest, whatever one thinks of the NIMF-ESRB controversy, there were some other glaring problems with the 2005 report card, including its ridiculous assertion of a cannibalism trend in games and its disputed claim that the National PTA concurred with NIMF's findings.

Walsh also made big news when - in a story broken right here on GamePolitics - he publicly distanced himself and his organization from vitriolic anti-game activist Jack Thompson.

GP: You can discuss this story via the "comments" feature (click below), or in the new GamePolitics Forums...

GP regulars know him as YukimuraSanada, a knowledgeable, friendly face - and sig - around the comments area of GamePolitics.

To Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family, however, he's Matthew Metzo, a gamer whose recent letter to Walsh impressed the NIMF founder with its sincerity. Walsh, of course, is not especially favored in the gaming community, thanks in large part to his efforts to limit violent content in games, his work with notables like Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman on video game issues, and his role in moving last year's Hot Coffee scandal from an Internet story to a mainstream media sensation.

As Yuki told GP, "Maybe we can use this to show that gamers can have a voice. Just something cool. To be honest, I never expected him to answer, so his response was a welcome suprise."

Here's what Walsh had to say about our pal Yuki in the latest edition of his MediaWise column, which appears in three dozen newspapers (sorry, no links yet) and is distributed in many school districts across the country. The column is titled "Gamer is Not a Dirty Word":

"One morning a few weeks ago, I opened my inbox and found an e-mail from a man named Matthew Metzo. Like a lot of people who send me messages, Mr. Metzo is an avid video game player, or, as he puts it, a gamer.

"...his letter asks me to help 'those of us who are tired of being judged because of something we choose to do as a hobby.' His concern: with all of the negative attention on video games, the term gamer 'is rapidly becoming derogatory.' Although, Mr. Metzo admits he had not always agreed with the stands I've taken in the past, I was struck, even touched by his letter..."

"I can see why Mr. Metzo is concerned... Suddenly, it seems that nearly everyone who cares about children has something to say about video games. And most of the time these people don't have many positive things to say. As I've said for years, some video games, especially ultraviolent and killographic games and certain industry practices deserve some public condemnation..."

"And with so much money to be made, some in the industry often seem to lose sight of their public responsibility to protect children. As I've said before, however, there are a lot of very good video games. The term video game shouldn't be derogatory, and the term 'gamer' shouldn't be a dirty word either."
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Friday was a very interesting day on the airwaves...

First, we happened to catch the contentious last 15 minutes or so of our old pal Jack Thompson on Minneapolis talk radio station WCCO-AM late yesterday morning. This was a random happenstance for GP. We noticed Jack's mention of his upcoming appearance in an e-mail he sent to Minnesota Department of Education and dialed over to the WCCO website just in time to pick up the juicy bits via the station's streaming audio feed.

Among other things (Minnesota-based retailer Best Buy taking pre-orders on Bully, blah-blah...), Jack got into it on the air with an associate of Dr. David Walsh of National Institute on Media and the Family fame. Walsh's colleague called in to contest Jack's claim that people associated with Best Buy are big NIMF donors.

This is a point of contention for a variety of reasons. It's important to remember, of course, that, in a story broken right here on GamePolitics, NIMF publicly disavowed Thompson last fall. The controversial barrister did not take NIMF's slap well, to say the least.
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So that didn't take long.

Last week GamePolitics broke the story of a National Parental Alert issued by Dr. David Walsh and the National Institute on Media and the Family over a graphic oral sex scene in an online advergame for the film "Running Scared."

"It is clear to everyone that this content shouldn't be accessible to children," said Walsh, who called for the sex game to be pulled from the movie's website. "New Line Cinema, should be ashamed that it thought it could get away with this tactic, without being held accountable."

Now comes word from Minnesota T.V. station WCCO-4 that New Line Cinema, distributors of Running Scared, have acceded to NIMF's demand. The website for the film remains up, but the sultry interlude has been replaced with a driving skills game.

"We are very pleased that New Line Cinema has removed the pornography from the video game," Walsh said in a prepared statement. "However, we are still extremely concerned as to why an X-rated sexually explicit video game was used to promote an R-rated movie in the first place."

GP: The Running Scared online game was developed by Heavenspot, a web design studio based in Los Angeles. It is important to note that the game was in no way connected with what we generally consider the video game industry, nor was it subject to or submitted to the industry's ESRB rating system.

Is it Hot Coffee all over again?

Not exactly, but...

The National Institute on Media and the Family held a press conference today during which NIMF president Dr. David Walsh issued a so-called Nationwide Parental Alert. NIMF took the action in order to warn parents of graphic sexual content in a free online game being used to promote the upcoming movie Running Scared.

The only other time NIMF has taken such a step was in response to last year's Hot Coffee revelations. Today's NIMF release reads in part:

"Parents need to be aware of explicit pornography in an online game easily accessible to children readily available on the Internet. 'It is clear to everyone that this content shouldn't be accessible to children,' said Dr. David Walsh. 'New Line Cinema, should be ashamed that it thought it could get away with this tactic, without being held accountable.'"

GamePolitics and other news outlets reported on the game, which features player-controlled oral sex, last week.

In large part, NIMF's July, 2005 parental alert moved Hot Coffee from a web-only item to a mainstream news story that continues to have repercussions for the video game business. The Running Scared online game, of course, has no connection to the ESA, ESRB or any major video game publisher, and a NIMF spokesman told GP the organization is aware of that.

Still, the game industry may take at least part of the bad publicity hit should Walsh's alert resonate with the media, parents and politicians the way Hot Coffee did. Not fair, of course, but the average soccer mom is only going to hear "video game sex" and probably won't grasp the distinction.

Opposition to the Grand Theft Auto series makes strange bedfellows...

...like the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) and Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media & Family (NIMF).

SWOP has a statement concerning GTA on its website, which reads, in part:

"...in the interest of furthering sex workers' human and civil rights to life and personal safety, we object to any media which represents sex workers as legitimate targets of violence, rape and murder. Censorship is a blight on the freedoms we hold dear but we wholeheartedly encourage citizens to vote with their dollars by refusing to purchase products which encourage the denigration and destruction of prostitutes. Since the video game Grand Theft Auto accrues points to players for the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes, SWOP-USA calls on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto."

The SWOP statement cites a 2001 NIMF research report which, among other conclusions, says, "...(there is) a strong correlation between exposure to violent video games and various forms of antisocial behavior."

GP: If anyone has a right to be heard on this issue, it is the hookers themselves. Real-life prostitutes are often regarded as non-persons and have been frequently targeted by freaks and even serial killers.

Big thanks to GP reader Nature Leseul for alerting us to this story.

The National Institute on Media and the Family has just released its 10th Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card as well as a Ten Year Overview on the Past and Future of the Video Game industry.

The release took place in Washington, D.C. where Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) joined Dr. David Walsh, president and founder of NIMF. Nationally-syndicated columnist Steven Kent spoke as well.

This year's edition of the MediaWise Video Game Report Card highlights what NIMF terms "serious issues" with the ratings system and lack of parental involvement. Among those coming in for major criticism are the ESRB and IEMA (retailers).

Check out that big, red "F" the ESRB received for ratings accuracy. Someone is going to bed without their supper - or their Hot Coffee - tonight...

Here are the grades:

Ratings Education: C+
Retailers' Policies: B
Retailers' Enforcement: D-
Ratings Accuracy: F
Arcade Survey: B-
Industry's 10-year cumulative grade: D+

You can view the entire report card here. The Ten-Year Overview is here.

In a story broken exclusively here on GamePolitics, Miami attorney and self-described "anti-game crusader" Jack Thompson was publicly shunned by Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family late last week.

Thompson, seething over the slight, has contacted Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) to express his frustration with Walsh. Why Lieberman? Of the numerous political figures and industry types cc:'d on the NIMF letter, Thompson told GP last evening that he most valued the opinion of the Connecticut senator. Lieberman has, after all, been in the forefront of video game content issues for more than a decade. GP has confirmed that a member of Lieberman's staff received the letter, which follows:


Dear Senator Lieberman:

I received late last Thursday a remarkably false and hurtful letter from someone who is a friend of yours and who used to be a friend of mine, Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family. Two people who got Walsh's letter are you and Doug Lowenstein of the ESA. Therein is the explanation of why it was really sent.

I have over the years repeatedly told Dr. Walsh of my admiration for his knowledge as to the harm caused by mature video games sold to minors. I have done nothing for years but praise him to others, especially those in the media. Dr. Walsh has gotten himself on plenty of prominent news shows about this issue on his own, but I got him on 60 Minutes this year and in Reader's Digest. Dave indicated that he was pleased that I did. Neither of us seeks the publicity for its own sake. We both care about the message. It will save lives.

The three of us, obviously, have shared this same concern about adult games sold to kids for a very long time. When you meet the bereaved families of these victims, they change your life forever, as did the families in Paducah whom I represented. Critics of the three of us don't understand our concern. They haven't met the victims.

The very day I sent Dave a draft of an affidavit for him to sign for our wrongful death case in Alabama, Dave, instead of calling me wrote this letter saying that I needed to stop suggesting publicly and otherwise that he endorses what I do. I have NEVER suggested such a thing, ever. Dave and I have joked about how he is the "good cop" on this issue, and I am the "bad cop."

But if Dave had a problem with my "tactics," I believe you and I both know, as people of faith, that the Biblical principle is that you go privately to the person with whom you have a disagreement and express the concern. Dave NEVER did that. Why?

You see, Senator, I am presently suing Best Buy and Target over Take-Two's planned release of Bully, a Columbine simulator in which you can bludgeon your classmates and teachers. I was on ABC World News Tonight and CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight about Bully and my lawsuit against these retailers. The stakes here are very high.

Dave's organization is funded by Target and Best Buy. Elliot Kaplan is a lawyer who defended Best Buy the last time I sued it successfully, and it is his foundation that, in Kaplan's words "has given millions of dollars to Dave Walsh." Kaplan is a director on the Board of Best Buy. You and I both learned to "follow the money" a long time ago. It can explain why friends write letters that have absolutely no basis in fact but which help those who fund them. Why else would Dave tell me publicly to stop doing something he could have asked me to do privately and which I have never done?

Dave copied you with that letter. He did that because he knew of my relationship with your office, how I have sat with your people the day we were both interviewed for Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat documentary that is coming out this fall. I am deeply appreciative of your Chief of Staff's tremendous concern and interest in this issue. I have a lovely letter from you thanking me for my abiding involvement in this issue. Nobody here is saying you endorse my methods. You appreciate my concern.

Why did Dave Walsh send his letter to Doug Lowenstein - to make sure that it would be spread all over the world. That is precisely what has happened. You should hear the things Dave has said to me about Doug, about his prevarications. I think Doug is a liar. Dave is too nice a guy to say so publicly, but I am not. Doug Lowenstein, in my opinion, is personally responsible for a number of deaths. He is paid well to spin like the worst propagandists in history. I don't need to tell you the harm that propagandists can cause, the lives they can cost. The Third Reich was founded upon propaganda as surely as it was founded upon armaments. When Doug Lowenstein says the industry wants kids not to buy these games, he is lying. When he says there is no proof that these games hurt kids, he is lying. Dave would not say so. I say so. I'm not nice, and I don't pretend to be.

The reason Dave sent that letter is the same reason the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome has embarked on character assassination of me in our case in Alabama arising out of Take-Two's GTA games. Blank Rome has as one of its partners Barbara Comstock, the head of "opposition research" at the RNC. Blank Rome has unethically used her RNC techniques on me because they know they can't win this case, covered on 60 Minutes and in Reader's Digest on the merits, so they have cranked up their Swift Boat Vets approach and used it on me, with no facts to back them up. As Twain said, "A lie is half way around the world before the truth puts on its shoes." Dave Walsh's money people took a page out of the Blank Rome/RNC playbook. I am getting used to it. All it has accomplished is make me more determined to destroy the Take-Two's of the world, by God's grace.

Dave Walsh is a very nice man who blew this one. I happen to think there is room in the world for Dave's approach on games, but I also think somebody has to be willing to get in the trenches and slug it out with sociopaths. Take-Two's Mr. Houser proves in today's New York Times he is just such a sociopath.

With all respect, Dave's Annual Video Game Report Card has not slowed down Take-Two, has it? I have used lawsuits in the past to accomplish some very good things. I made enemies in the process. I am proud to count Doug Lowenstein as one of them.

I wish you all of God's best. I wish people like Take-Two all of Satan's worst. Dave Walsh would not say that, and that is part of his charm. Some of us were not called to be charming. I want to win this thing, not for my sake, but because lives are at stake.

That is what makes what Dave did so hurtful. Instead of calling me up and talking to me man to man, he wrote a letter to Doug Lowenstein.

Blessings, Jack Thompson