Kotaku

ESA, Game Critics' Awards Debate "Best Of E3" Eligibility

A heated debate has erupted between the Entertainment Software Association and the Game Critics' Awards over the eligibility of games in this year's E3 Media and Business Summit. The dispute was prompted by Activision and Vivendi's recent departure from the ESA and, simultaneously, from the show.

The association assumed that the departed companies' games would no longer be eligible for any of the annual "Best of E3" awards, given out by an independent group of Game Critics' Awards judges at each year's show.

But Geoff Keighley, GameTrailers executive producer and co-chairman of the Awards, said that decision hasn't been made yet. The critics' group, of which Kotaku managing editor Brian Crecente is also a member, still needs to meet to discuss the issue and decide how exactly to define which games are and are not eligible.

"The fact that Activision is not a registered exhibitor for E3 has brought to light the issue of how to determine the eligibility of games," Keighley said.

Breaking: ESA Confirms LucasArts Exit

LucasArts is no longer a member of the Entertainment Software Association, the ESA officially confirmed today.

Speculation about LucasArts' status within the Associaton followed the recently-announced departure of Activision and Vivendi from both the Association and its E3 Media And Business Summit, amid possible discontent with both.

"Today, we can confirm that one of our members, LucasArts, has decided not to renew its membership. We value each member of our association, but respect the unique factors that led to LucasArts' decision," Rich Taylor, senior vice president of communications and research at the ESA, told Kotaku.

Margaret Grohne, director of Public Relations for LucasArts, confirmed to Kotaku that the publisher will still be participating in E3:

Did LucasArts Just Bolt From The ESA, Too?

The Entertainment Software Association confirmed late last week that two of its members—Activision and Vivendi Games—were no longer with organization, after they decided to "discontinue their membership." The pair were just two of the publishers who opted to bail on E3 this year, showing potential signs of discontent with the ESA and its annual show. They may not be the only ones.

Today, it would appear that another publisher may be joining Activision and Vivendi as a former ESA member, as GamePolitics points out that LucasArts is no longer listed as one of its members, a recent and unannounced change. The official E3 Summit web site still lists LucasArts as a participating company. We have a request in with the publisher to learn more about their ESA status and will update when we hear back.

ESA Members

Five Publishers Drop Out of E3 This Year, Some Blame ESA President

By: Brian Crecente and Leigh Alexander

Rumored developer displeasure with Entertainment Software Association president Mike Gallagher may be partially to blame for nearly half a dozen member publishers dropping out of this year's E3 conference, Kotaku has learned.

This morning we broke the news that not only are Vivendi and Activision not attending this year's E3 they've both decided to drop out of the association all together. We've since learned that NCSoft, Her Interactive and id Software have all decided not to attend this year's show, though they are all remaining members of the association.

Only NCSoft had returned calls about the decision as of press time, saying that their decision to not attend E3 this year, the first time they won't in the company's history, was due to the development cycle of their games and in no way reflects on the ESA or it's leadership.

But several industry sources who wish to remain anonymous say Gallagher is in part to blame for issues surrounding this year's E3.

ESA Confirms Activision/Vivendi Departure

The Entertainment Software Association told Kotaku today that both Activision and Vivendi are no longer a part of the industry trade organization, confirming a rumor we broke earlier this morning.

"While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry's objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged."

- Rich Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research, Entertainment Software Association

This comes a day after it was noted that Activision and a number of other notable publishers were not listed as showing at the industry's big conference.

Neither Activision nor Vivendi have responded to requests for comment. More as this breaking story unfolds.

Advocacy Groups Want Games Locked Up

As the GTA IV launch is once again trotted out as a controversy flashpoint, there's one thing the gaming audience tends to agree on: This game is not for children. Of course, just how zealous they are about enforcing such a mandate varies wildly.

Nonprofit advocacy group the Parents' Television Council takes their position on enforcement beyond just demanding legal consequences for retailers who sell M-rated games to kids under the age of 17. The council wants games like GTA IV locked up behind store counters, like cigarettes, tobacco and porn.

ESRB Releases Ratings Search Widget

The Entertainment Software Rating Board teamed up with Clearspring Technologies to create this neat little widget that lets you search for video game ratings by entering a game's name.

The widget hunts through the more than 14,000 games indexed at the ESRB and spits out the answer without ever leaving the site.

"Our single most important message to consumers, particularly to parents, is that they should always check a game's ESRB rating when considering a purchase or rental for their children," said ESRB president Patricia Vance. "Parents are hungry for this information, and research shows that three-quarters of parents regularly check ESRB ratings when making purchase or rental decisions about which games to bring home. Our ratings search widget makes checking the rating that much more convenient. We're very excited to be offering this widget with the help of Clearspring."

The widget can even be customized by visiting the ESRB site so you can try and match it to your site's colors. You can even enter color codes in Hex to match stranger site colors like, say, deep red and baby poo green.

The ESA's New Head of State Government Affairs

Another Mexico Raid Snatches 28,800 Pirated Games

Stuff We Already Know About Female Gamers: Now In A Study!

A report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has released the SHOCKING findings (re: not so shocking) that 38% of gamers are female. The study also showed that the average female gamer played for 7.4 hours a week, with the most common platforms of choice being the Nintendo DS and the PC (particularly The Sims). According to the article on dbTechno, females are also the people who predominantly make up the casual gamer market. It was also found that many female gamers enjoy social games, such as MMOs.

Jeez, I feel like such a statistic. As a female who is permanently attached to her DS and spends way too many hours playing The Sims, I fit the profile they describe to a T (although accounting for all the DS-playing I do on the bus and Sim playing I do in front of the TV, 7.4 hours is - ahem - a conservative estimate). Does this describe other female gamers, too?

ESA report shows 38% of gamers are female [dbtechno.com, via Gamasutra]

Malaysian Gaming Pirates Busted

The Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs just busted a sizable video game duplication lab in the southern Malaysian city Johor Bahru. Authorities confiscated a multitude of games and equipment, including 110,000 pirated discs (including FIFA Soccer 08, EA Sports Rugby 08, NBA Live 08, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08) and 46 DVD-R burners. For dramatic effect, the ESA explains that these DVD-R burners had the capability of producing 2.4 million pirated discs per year.

For dramatic effect, we'll explain that 2.4 million discs is enough to give one pirated game to every person if you had a group of 2.4 million people.

The Santa Monica E3 is dead, long live the Los Angeles E3... again? Not quite.

The Entertainment Software Association today announced that the E3 Media & Business Summit will be returning to the spacious digs of the Los Angeles Convention Center for next year's event which will run from July 15 through July 17. But that doesn't mean that the new E3 is returning to its old ways.

'We are very much not going back to the old E3," Rich Taylor, senior vice president of communications and research for the ESA, told me in an interview. "I think we are all on the same page for the industry on what we want those days in July to be about."

"This is the new E3, new and improved."

I have now, sitting on my laptop, a leaked copy of the National Institute on Media and the Family's annual Media Wise Video Game Report Card, set to be officially released tomorrow.

The annual report card is becoming increasingly out-dated and unnecessary, something that probably explains the desperate tone of this year's report. In his executive summary for the report, David Walsh tries to drum up a little fear, a little attention by first admitting that things have actually gotten quite good when it comes to ratings awareness and enforcement, but then hints at an "ominous backslide on multiple fronts."

What's interesting is that the summary cites very specific examples for the positive, such as Target removing Manhunt 2 from shelves after finding AO content was viewable with a hack, or that GameStop has started firing people for selling M-rated games to minors, but doesn't really do the same for the negative. Instead Walsh writes that "Complacency, especially on the part of retailers and parents, appears to have caused a backslide in ratings awareness and enforcement."

Walsh continues:

And, at the same time, while the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has continued to educate the public about its video game rating system, several shocking incidents have inadvertently revealed dangerous loopholes in the ratings process. Simply put, some of the hard-won progress seen in previous years has been lost, and now, too many children are spending too much time playing inappropriate video games that can harm their health and development.

His only example, the fact that a few churches were using Halo as a way to attract young gamers back to the church.

It is in from this morass of self-doubt and shaky evidence that NIMF launches their detailed "report card" on gaming this year.