What's this? Video games shown on Capitol Hill and it wasn't a congressional game-bash?

It's true... Our friend Ben Sawyer at Games For Health clued GamePolitics into his organization's event last week in Washington, D.C..

More than 350 congressional staffers and other guests feasted on the likes of Nintendo's Brain Age, Sony's Eye Toy Play, Konami's DDR Mario Mix and several less commercial titles (full list after the jump). Games for Health project team members also held more than a dozen briefings with the staffs of congressional committees or individual members of Congress, including leaders of both the majority and minority side of the house Medical Technology Caucas, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). Also publicly supporting the event were Senators Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Tom Harkin (D-IA)

In categorizing the congressional response, Sawyer said, "In general we found staff very receptive to our work although many hadn't played many games and so when we'd show screenshots to things one of the first impacts was that things looked so interesting and advanced. Some had heard about DDR. We had to keep reminding ourselves not to use acronyms like that! ...but certainly... games were still something foreign. Despite all that we got some great questions. It's amazing how fast some staff get up to speed as you start talking with them. One staffer was immediately drawn to the idea of how games could help redefine interfaces to health IT systems - that's pretty advanced thinking."

Obesity and disease management were major concerns for congressional attendees, Sawyer told GP. Staffers were intrigued by the idea of creating systems that help or teach people to avoid or manage chronic conditions and injuries.

"This of course," Sawyer said, "is tied directly to lowering costs and adding personal responsibility to some extent and given the political spectrum on the Hill it seems like a consensus point to explore. Use games to educate cheaply, reach populations that are hard to reach, induce more personal responsibility, focus on management of health issues that tax the personnel and resources of the healthcare system."

More photos from the event can be seen here. A trailer video is available on YouTube.
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Professor Dmitri Williams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamaign was kind enough to alert GP to transcripts of witness testimony from Wednesday's Brownback subcommittee hearing. Dr. Williams expects full transcripts of the subcommittee's questioning of the various witnesses to be available in a few weeks.

Prof. Williams is the author of an influential longitudinal study which found that playing a violent online game (Asheron's Call 2) did not cause substantial increases in real-world aggression.

Meanwhile, the always-excellent Terra Nova blog, devoted to MMO issues, has a report on Prof. Williams' Senate appearance.

GamePolitics broke the news about yesterday's Senate hearing... Well, actually we broke it back on March 14th, but nobody took much notice - then. Now it seems everybody's tongue is wagging over Wednesday's extravaganza chaired by Sen. Sam Brownback, seen at left (R-KS).

Sadly, GP wasn't able to catch the hearing (life... it is so annoying at times). In the meantime, we're dying to read the reports of those who sat in or listened to the webcast. MTV's Stephen Totilo will have something on it, for sure. Some GP readers have been posting what they heard in our comments area. And, hey, if anyone has an audio file, don't hold back...

What follows is a brief summary of written testimony submitted to the subcommittee by non-attendees...

Hal Halpin, IEMA (retailers): "The IEMA remains firmly committed to ensuring that children do not gain access to video games their parents deem inappropriate for them. But just as the Government has not and should not involve itself in determining what movies minors may watch and what music they may listen to, the Government should not decide what games they may play..."

Crossan Andersen, VSDA (video stores): "while we must oppose legal restrictions, the home video industry understands we have an important role to play in helping ensure that children do not gain access to videos and video games their parents deem inappropriate for them. VSDA and its members are committed to actively assisting parents in this regard."

Leland Yee, California Assembly: "In Ginsberg v. New York, the Court said, 'even where there is an invasion of protected freedoms, the power of the state to control the conduct of children reaches beyond the scope of its authority over adults.' ...And finally, just last year, the Supreme Court ruled in... Roper v. Simmons, that children are different in the eyes of the law because of brain development."

The ESRB's Pat Vance, who appeared before the subcommittee, also has written testimony available here.

The video game/political axis shifts back to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday as a subcommittee of the powerful Senate Judiciary holds a hearing titled What's in a Game? State Regulation of Violent Video Games and the First Amendment

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights and will gavel the hearing to order at 2:00 P.M. Brownback, rumored to have 2008 presidential aspirations, is no stranger to video game content issues. As reported on GamePolitics last Decemeber, the conservative senator raised game industry eyebrows by urging retailers to display video game ratings, including ratings other than those of the ESRB.

Brownback is also a co-sponsor of Sen. Hillary Clinton's Children and Media Research Advancement Act (CAMRA), which calls upon the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to undertake a massive study of the effects of media on children. CAMRA was approved by the Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions earlier this month.

Witnesses for the hearing are a varied lot and include speakers both pro and con with respect to video game content and First Amendment issues. They include:

Reverend Steve Strickland, brother of Fayette, Alabama Police Officer Arnold Strickland, who was murdered by "GTA killer" Devin Moore in 2003. Strickland is a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against Sony, Take-Two, Wal-Mart and GameStop.

Elizabeth Carll, Ph.D., Chair of Interactive Media Committee, Media Psychology Division, American Psychological Association.

Dmitri Williams, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Speech Communication University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

David Bickham, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Center on Media and Child Health, Harvard Medical School

Patricia Vance, President, ESRB

Rep. Jeff Johnson, Assistant Majority Leader, Minnesota House of Representatives

Attorney Paul Smith, partner, Jenner & Block LLP (has represented the industry in recent state-level First Amendment cases)

Kevin Saunders, J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law, Michigan State University

California Assembly Speaker Leland Yee, whose appearance at the Game Developers Conference sparked controversy in recent days, was originally scheduled to testify at today's hearing, but an aide told GamePolitics that Yee was required for Assembly businss in Sacramento and will submit written testimony to the subcommittee instead.

At least not any time soon.

Here is the full text of ESA President Doug Lowenstein's response to Senator Clinton's call for legislation and an FTC investigation of the percolating Hot Coffee scandal:

"The legislation proposed by Senator Clinton is unconstitutional on its face as it amounts to government enacted restrictions on creative and artistic expression protected by the First Amendment. This is not just our view, but the view of every Federal Court which has rendered final judgment on similar laws enacted by states in recent years, including appellate courts in the Seventh and Eighth Circuits, and the Western District United States District Court. So while we understand Senator Clinton's motivation, in the end her solution will never pass constitutional muster and thus will do nothing to help parents raise their kids

"That said, we agree with Senator Clinton and Dr. Walsh far more than we disagree with them: retailers should not sell Mature games to minors, parents should watch what their kids watch, and parents should and can rely on the ESRB ratings to make the right choices for their families. And we hope that after further reflection and dialogue, Senator Clinton will abandon the bill and work cooperatively with industry and others to ensure that parents take advantage of the effective tools on the market to regulate the games their kids play.

"We reject any suggestion that parents cannot trust ESRB ratings. In fact, a scientific national survey by the highly regarded Peter D. Hart Research shows parents themselves agree with the ESRB ratings 83% of the time. Further, even the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) usually agrees with the ESRB. In fact, for the 10 games recently highlighted and rated on its web site, the NIMF ratings almost always agree with the ESRB rating. In a pluralistic society, any rating system which gets it right 83% of the time is doing a pretty good job.

"We also disagree with those who suggest that violent video games are harmful. The most objective science in the world from the U.S. Surgeon General, the State of Washington Health Department, and the Government of Australia, among many others, has not found that games cause actual aggression or real-life violence. Indeed, one federal court after another has dismissed as unpersuasive and flawed much of the very research Sen. Clinton cites in support of her bill.

"Finally, as Dr. Walsh and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) have repeatedly said, and the FTC itself has reported, the video game industry has been a proactive leader in self-regulation and we have a long standing track record in encouraging retailers not to sell Mature-rated games to children, and we will continue to do so. The last word on enforcement is this: according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), parents are involved in the purchase and rental of games more than 80% of time, which means that in the vast majority of cases when kids get games that may not be appropriate, they get them from Mom and Dad. You can introduce all the bills in the world but none of them will ensure that parents exercise the necessary control over the games they buy for their kids."