If the recent disappointing Attack of the Show debate between Jack Thompson, G4's Adam Sessler and GameDaily's Mark Friedler left you yearning for some real give-and-take, I've got some suggestions.

Would you like to hear a lively debate that lasts more than eight minutes, involves in-depth discussion of game-related issues, and features speakers who are eloquent and well-mannered? Well, thanks to Gamasutra, now you can.

Available as part of a series of weekly podcasts alternating between original Gamasutra content and Game Developers Conference recordings, readers can download last March's Murder, Sex and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom panel. As reported by GamePolitics, the lively discussion, moderated by the IGDA's Sex SIG chair Brenda Brathwaite, featured IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca, California Assemblyman Leland Yee, architect of his state's controversial video game law, and author James Gee (What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy).
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Grab a coffee, it's time once again for GP's Sunday review of editorials...

First we turn to Inside Bay Area, where columnist Tom Leupold takes on California Assembly Speaker Leland Yee:

"...there are better things Yee could be doing in California with his time, rather than being the European ad police."
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The flap over Sony's PSP White European ad campaign continues. Last week GamePolitics broke the news that the NAACP had condemned the racially-charged ads.

Now GP has learned that Sojourn to the Past, a youth civil rights education project, has joined forces with the San Jose Chapter of the NAACP as well as California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee in opposition to Sony's controversial European marketing campaign.

"Sojourn to the Past works with young people to break down stereotypes and end discrimination," said Executive Director Jeff Steinberg. "We would hope that in 2006 major international corporations would no longer use such derogatory and racially-charged images to sell their products. This latest Sony ad is yet another unfortunate modern day example of tactic that only serves to divide us."
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The flames of controversy surrounding Sony's European PSP White ad campaign just got a bit hotter.

GamePolitics has learned that the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP Chapter has voiced a protest over the racially-charged ads, one of which depicts a blonde woman dressed in white squeezing the face of a black woman dressed in dark clothing with the caption, "PlayStation Portable White is Coming."

"The days of blacks being portrayed in minstrel shows are long gone, and with good reason," said Rick Callender, chapter president. "The minstrel show was an awful chapter in history and this ad smacks of that age and time. It is even further unacceptable that some corporations still think it is okay to use racially charged media images. The latest Sony ad conjures up bad memories of when stereotypical and offensive images of people of color were accepted means of selling a product. Sony should immediately apologize and discontinue these archaic, advertising tactics."

Callender's remarks were contained in a press release issued late yesterday by California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D), author of California's contested video game violence law. Yee also expressed concern over the PSP White ads, saying, "I am deeply disappointed in Sony's senseless decision to publish this racially-charged advertisement. I can't begin to determine Sony's motivation but I believe this marketing strategy is unnecessary and is clearly offensive to many in our community."

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Video games and a party - hey, sounds like a mini-E3!

In this case, however, the gamers at the party were also politicians.

Through a knowledgeable source, GamePolitics has learned that the ESA held a lobbying event for California legislators on Monday. ESA President Doug Lowenstein and the organization's General Counsel Gail Markels were among those who met with elected officials in Sacramento.

Following the meetings the ESA hosted a bash for state legislators, their staffs and families at a ballroom in downtown Sacramento. GP hears that about 150 people attended, enjoying refreshments and playing the E-rated likes of Dance Dance Revolution and a ping pong game (Rockstar's Table Tennis?) on monitors set up around the room.

We're not 100% sure it was Rockstar's game. It could have been a really early build of Nintendo's Wii Ping Pong, but we doubt it. Perhaps this was a way to show the assembled pols that Rockstar is capable of creating more than just GTA mayhem.
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One would-be video game regulator moved ahead in yesterday's California primary, while another fell by the wayside.

Leland Yee (D, seen at left), architect of California's video game sales law, grabbed 65% of the vote in yesterday's State Senate contest. His closest opponent, Mike Nevin, received only 29%. Running in a heavily-Democratic district, Yee is virtually assured a seat in the California State Senate come November's election.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo was hammered by former Governor and one-time presidential candidate Jerry Brown in the Democratic primary for California Attorney General. Delgadillo, who made headlines earlier this year when he filed deceptive marketing charges against Take-Two and Rockstar over the Hot Coffee scandal, received only 21% of the Democratic vote to Brown's overwhelming 78%.

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My wife always tells me, "GP, don't be so cynical."

Easier said than done, honey. When you're wading through the muck of the political arena day-in and day-out, it's tough to avoid looking at things with a slightly jaundiced eye. And, yes, I make her call me GP.

So why am I a cynic? Here are a couple of reasons:

In Oklahoma, Rep. Fred Morgan (R, seen at left) has succeeded in getting his video game legislation, HB3004, passed by both the House and Senate. It is now on its way to Gov. Brad Henry who seems likely to sign the bill into law.

As for Morgan, due to Oklahoma's term limits, he's currently staring at the end of his career in the State House. As part of his plan to reduce unemployment (his own), Morgan is running for Congress in his Oklahoma City district. He faces a July 25th primary. His campaign website, naturally, touts the video game bill.

And then there's Minnesota, where Rep. Jeff Johnson (R) has rammed through his own video game bill. Instead of the more traditional "Let the buyer beware" approach, let's call Johnson's measure "Let the buyer be scared," since the Assistant Majority Leader has turned the tables on typical video game legislation by making underage game consumers - not retailers - subject to civil fines for attempting to buy M-rated games like Halo 2 or The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion.

Did we mention that Johnson is running for Attorney General of Minnesota? His campaign site trumpets Johnson's testimony on video game violence before a U.S. Senate Judiciary sub-committee hearing chaired by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) in late March.

Morgan and Johnson aren't the only ones, of course. In California, Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D) faces a June primary in his bid for the State Senate. And of course, Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential aspirations are well known.

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It's been a rough weekend for California Assembly Speaker Leland Yee (D).

Although no ruling has been yet issued by Federal District Court Judge Ronald Whyte, early indications are that California's video game law, which Yee championed, did not fare well during final arguments on its constitutionality in a San Jose courtroom on Friday.

Today, the respected San Francisco Chronicle endorsed Yee's opponent Mike Nevin for State Senate in California's June 6th Democratic primary.

Although crediting Yee with being "attentive to constituent concerns," and calling his video game bill "worthy," the Chronicle cited what it called Yee's "troubling tendency to do the wrong thing, for the wrong reasons, when he thinks no one is paying attention."

Citing concern over a pair of environmental cases in which Yee cast questionable votes, the Chronicle notes, "In both of these cases, campaign contributions from the affected interests soon landed in Yee's war chest."
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If published reports are accurate, California's video game law will soon join those of Michigan and Illinois on the scrap heap of history.

Readers may recall that it was GamePolitics which broke the news that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would sign Assembly Speaker Leland Yee's bill into law on October 7th of last year. The video game industry protested on constitutional grounds, and Federal District Court Judge Ronald Whyte issued a preliminary injunction blocking the bill from taking effect on December 22nd.

Final arguments before Judge Whyte were held yesterday in San Jose. According to ABC-7 News, courtroom observers, trying to read the tea leaves during the hearing, felt the industry's First Amendment argument carried the day.

ABC-7 reports that Judge Whyte "appeared to side with the video game industry's position," citing the application of a legal standard known as "strict scrutiny," which offers the broadest free speech protection.

"It appears to me that the strict scrutiny standard does apply," Judge Whyte is reported to have said from the bench.
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The fallout continues.

Yesterday, of course, the ESRB abruptly changed the rating of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion from T (13 an older) to M (17 and older) based upon some extra blood and gore as well as a user mod which allowed players to create topless female characters.

Moments ago, the office of California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D) issued a press release in which Yee savages both the ESRB and Take Two Interactive, co-publisher of Oblivion.

"Take Two Interactive just doesn't learn," said Yee. "It was only ten months ago that this same publisher deceived parents by first putting hidden sex scenes into their already ultra-violent video game and then lying about the fact that they allowed the content to be included."

Yee also criticized the game rating process used by the ESRB for not evaluating the entire content of the games it reviews. On this, the Assemblyman's press release says, "Unlike the movie industry's rating board which reviews the entire content of a film, the ESRB rates games based on very limited viewing of the game and rely almost entirely on information provided to them by the game manufacturer."

"While the retailers may have been made aware of the re-ratings, how many parents are still unaware that these games include such graphic content," added Yee. "In both instances, thousands of children had already purchase the game as well as many parents who bought the game thinking it may be appropriate for their child. Take Two Interactive continued to receive all profits and was not penalized in any way."

"The ESRB again has failed our parents and clearly has shown they can not police themselves," Yee continued. "Plain and simply, the current rating system is drastically flawed and here is yet another reason why we need legislation to assist parents and protect children."

The timing of the Oblivion flap and Yee's response has an ironic California twist. Next week lawyers for the game industry will face off against the California Attorney General before a federal judge in San Jose to argue the fate of California's 2005 video game law, which Yee sponsored.

At present Yee is also involved in a tough three-way primary battle for a seat in the California Senate.

The ESRB declined to comment for this report.

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Last week, GamePolitics broke a story detailing California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee's (D) plans to introduce legislation shielding college newspapers from faculty censorship.

Yee's bill was especially interesting in light of his status as architect of California's video game law, which currently faces a First Amendment challenge from the video game industry. The case should be decided sometime in May.

Over at 1UP, Luke Smith did some follow-up with Yee, asking for clarification on what at first glance might appear to be irreconcilable positions on a pair First Amendment issues.

"The difference," Yee told 1UP, "is that we are looking at children. And that's the major distinction. And what we are limiting with children are these ultra-violent video games. These kind of horrendous acts of violence that we are limited children's access to. That is the major difference."

Nor did Yee express confidence in the video game industry's ability to self-regulate.

"The Federal Trade Commission's undercover study (said) that nearly 70% of kids would be able to purchase an M-rated video game. More recently, the Harvard study says that the ESRB doesn't give accurate information," Yee remarked. "The content descriptor doesn't give accurate information about the material found within these games. The coup de gras was the 'hot coffee' incident where hidden sexual material was found in an M-rating game. It was failure upon failure of the ESRB to regulate itself that I felt I needed to step in..."

IEMA boss Hal Halpin was quick to issue a rejoinder, sending his comments to both 1UP and GamePolitics.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Yee remains woefully uninformed regarding the FTC's findings with regard to voluntary retail efforts at self-regulation," Halpin said. "He is either quoting an out-dated several year-old study, or has missed the press regarding their latest findings: that the nation's leading retailers, our members, are successfully carding for M-rated games 65% of the time - which puts the games industry on par with his 'Gold Standard,' the movie theatre owners, who card at 69% of the time. While we appreciate Mr. Yee's convictions and his right to a perspective, we would appreciate an effort to, at the very least, represent the statistics correctly to his constituents. Misleading them must surely not be in anyone's best interests."

Some gamers will find this story perplexing.

California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D), the driving force behind his state's video game law, plans to introduce the nation's first bill designed to protect the free speech rights of college newspapers.

Yee will hold a press conference this morning at Skyline College in San Bruno to announce the bill. Joining Yee will be a representative of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, as well as a Skyline journalism professor and the editor of the school paper.

Motivating Yee's action is a recent federal court ruling that college administrators can require student editors to submit articles for prior review before publication. Yee's bill would prohibit censorship of student newspapers at any University of California, California State University, or community college.

GP: Although this newspaper thing sounds like a great idea, given that Speaker Yee's California video game law is currently facing a free speech challenge raised by the video game industry, some head-scratching is certainly understandable. We'll check with Yee's office for his thoughts on how the two issues reconcile with one another.

UPDATE: According to Yee staffer Adam Keigwin, "the violent video game bill was about protecting children and giving parents a tool to help raising healthy kids. The state had a compelling interest. (the college newspaper bill) is about protecting college students' right to free speech and free press. These students are not minors and not affected by the video game bill, but they are very deserving of 1st Amendment Rights. Without a free college press, who will serve as the watchdog and bring sunshine to actions of school administrators? As said many times, Speaker pro Tem Yee is very committed to protecting the 1st Amendment, but his top priority has always been about protecting children and assisting working families."

The fallout continues from a controversial Harvard study of ESRB ratings released earlier this week.

In the latest news, California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D) has cited the Harvard data in a press release which is highly critical of the ESRB.

GP came across Yee's comments in the California Chronicle, where Yee is quoted thusly: "This is yet another piece of evidence showing that the current rating system just doesn't work. I have urged the industry on numerous occasions to appropriately rate and disclose the content of M-rated video games. Yet, time and time again we have seen that parents can't trust the ratings; now this study shows they can't trust the content descriptors either."

"It is imperative that parents play an active role in discussing and reviewing the content of the games their children play," Yee added. "Parents should not completely rely on the game rating or even the content descriptor in deciding which games are appropriate for their kids."

Yee, of course, is the architect of California's video game law, which was signed into law last October by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A federal district court judge issued a temporary injunction in December, which blocked the law from taking effect. Final arguments on the industry's claims that Yee's law is unconstitutional will be heard in federal court in May.

By all accounts, it was quite a memorable debate.

As reported by GamePolitics and other sites, California Assembly Speaker pro tem Leland Yee (D) took part in a sometimes confrontational panel discussion at last week's Game Developers Conference (GDC).

Joining Yee onstage for a session called Murder, Sex and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom were University of Wisconsin professor James Gee, author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, IGDA honcho Jason Della Rocca and game designer Brenda Brathwaite, leader of the IGDA's Sex in Games SIG.

Looking back, what does Yee think of his foray into what might seem enemy territory? GamePolitics interviewed the veteran politician Monday night and found him in high spirits following his GDC appearance.

"A number of the speakers thanked me for coming," he told GP. "And I was very honest with them. I said, 'I don't see this as enemy territory. My ultra-violent video game bill was never against the gaming community or the gaming industry whatsoever. I see [the game industry] as partners in trying to make things better for our children. I felt I was treated fairly."

"The gentleman who was sitting next to me (IGDA's Jason Della Rocca) - with all due deference - many of the concerns he raised about the bill were clearly answered. A number of the arguments he raised were handled in our bill presentations and press confererences."

"All in all," Yee continued, "I thought it was a good opportunity for me to at least correct some of the misunderstandings and put a face behind this Assemblyman Leland Yee. He's clearly not a crazy radical anti-video game [person]... What I'm trying to do is be reasonable and protective of kids... I thoroughly enjoyed the time I had on the podium at the Game Developers Conference."

The California Assembly Speaker mentioned that he spoke to some attendees at the show. "A couple of them did say that they agree with what I was doing. Others argued do you have the evidence to support this particular ban? Well, that's one of the reasons why we are going into court to argue that particular point. But we believe that we will prevail."

By the way, GP has learned that Federal District Court Judge Ronald Whyte will hear final arguments on the California video game law in May. Perhaps to allay gamers' fears, Yee nixed the idea of further legislation.

"This [current California law] is all that I'm going to be doing with the gaming," he told GP. "I think the other concern that many people have was that this was a slippery slope. 'Are you going to go after other things,' and so on. The honest truth right now - I don't see myself doing anything now or in the future on this gaming thing. It was only this one that dealt with the ultra-violent video games."

Yee confirmed that he rushed from a legislative session in Sacramento to San Jose that day in order to appear at GDC.

"Everything worked out really nice," he remarked. "I want to just thank everybody for their courtesy and their forthrightness in whatever questions they had for me."

GP: GP thanks Joystiq's Vladimir Cole for the great picture of Leland Yee working the room at GDC. Be sure to check out Vlad's take on Yee at GDC...

Political debate highlighted yesterday's events at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose.

The fireworks took place during a conference session titled Murder, Sex and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom. Panel members included California Assembly Speaker pro tem Leland Yee (D), author James Gee (What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy), Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, and Brenda Brathwaite, leader of the IGDA's Sex in Games SIG and author of an upcoming book on sex in games. Yee, of course, is the architect of California's contested video game law, which is expected to be reviewed by a federal judge in May.

Next-Gen has some coverage on the session, including Yee's comment that, "The bill I was able to pass limits the sale of ultra-violent games to children. It does not prevent the sale of violent games... We believe that this law stands the test of First Amendment exceptions."

Yee also said, "Those involved in government aren't interested in getting deeply in involved in how kids are raised. However, we see the consequences of inappropriate child rearing and we have a responsibility to protect children. It was government that stopped kids from working in factories... Some of these games are about cutting off heads and urinating on people..."

Gee, a University of Wisconsin professor, offered counterpoint. "I argue that playing videogames in the right context can be good for you. We spend a lot of time asking about how games can be bad for you, but not how they can be good for you. We rarely hear about how games could revolutionize the school system. I wonder how many people have been hurt by games, and how many have been helped by games? I suspect if we split those two groups up and put them in two rooms, one would be full, and the other would contain a relatively small group of people."
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No, it's not a re-make of a Frank Capra film.

Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee, architect of California's contested video game law, has accepted an invitation to testify later this month before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights.

Yee was asked to appear by Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS). The hearing, listed as "State Regulation of Violent Video Games and the First Amendment," will feature a variety of nationally recognized political, legal and medical figures.

"I look forward to working with Congress as they examine legislation to protect children and families," said Yee. "Clearly, violent video games have become a national issue and I applaud Congress for taking a serious look at ways we can help parents raise healthier kids."

In addition to Brownback (Chair) and Feingold (Ranking Minority Member), the Subcommittee consists of Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC ), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Tom Coburn (R-OK).

The hearing is scheduled to take place on March 29, 2006.

In a controversial New Year's Eve selection, GamePolitics gave the nod to California Assembly Speaker pro tem Leland Yee as 2005 Person of the Year in the realm of video game politics.

But here at GP we're big fans of the democratic process, so readers had a chance to vote for their choice in an online poll that has been running all week. With over 500 votes cast, ESA honcho Doug Lowenstein has emerged - barely - as the GP Readers' 2005 Person of the Year.

Lowenstein, the video game industry's point person in the political arena, scored 27.8% of the reader vote, followed closely by "No One Deserves It," which received 27.4%. ESRB president Patricia Vance was the third leading vote-getter (9.3%), while game industry nemesis Jack Thompson was a surprisingly high fourth-place finisher as a write-in choice with 7.4%. GP's official 2005 Person of the Year, Leland Yee, was fifth in the reader poll (5.6%)

Here is a listing of all vote recipients, including write-ins:
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GamePolitics has learned that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign California's video game legislation into law later today. This information is based on GP's conversation with a source who is well-connected in California politics.

Adding credence to the information is the Governor's official schedule for today, which reads as follows:

"Governor Schwarzenegger will make brief remarks and sign legislation to protect children. "

Media have been invited to set up for the event at 11:45 PST.

72 hours.

The deadline for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the state's video game bill into law is October 9th, next Sunday. Now, GP confesses to not being all that familiar with the Guv's work habits (other than that they involve a lot of barbells and stuff), but we're guessing that he will wrap this up by close of business on Friday.

So that means we should know whether the bill will sink or swim inside of 72 hours.

Arnold's options are to sign the game into law, veto it, or ignore it. If he chooses to do nothing, it's as good as signing the bill and it will become law on January 1st.

In the meantime, GP has its ear to the ground with informed sources in Sacramento. We'll post something as soon as we hear...