Sometimes it seems the job description of a politician includes not having fun with things the kids like, because, well, think of the dignity of the office or something. P'shaw. Dallas' mayor must have been thinking of the coolness of the office when he kicked off a 24-hour Guitar Hero III fund-raising marathon on Friday.

Best-selling author Stephen King points up and rips down the double-standard of what's tolerable in violent films, compared with video games, in a brilliant op-ed for Entertainment Weekly. You should take a look at this, because as a creator of worthy stories filled with violence and suspense, he speaks with real authority. Plus, it's great to see this kind of defense in a mainstream medium.

King's been writing horror novels for nearly four decades, many of them reaching the big screen, some of them even winning Oscars. And he rightly points out that to a politician, a 17-year-old can see gruesome flicks like Hostel or Saw, but would be a danger to society playing the less graphic Grand Theft Auto or Hitman series.

Then he loses it on a bill before the Massachusetts state legislature, and it gets good.

Obama Sees Gamers as Underachievers

Democratic presidential candidate nominee Barack Obama hasn't made major claims about the content video games like his rival Hilary Clinton has in the past, but he's definitely been mentioning them. According to GamePolitics.com, Obama's been using video games as a metaphor for underachievement throughout his campaign speeches.

Many of his campaign speeches have contained advice for parents to get kids to "put away the video games." This isn't anything new, either. GamePolitics.com also points out that he's been talking about video games and underachievement in the same breath since April 2006.

In his victory speech in Wisconsin last night, Obama reiterated this sentiment:

NY Assembly Game Law Approved

Clips: FFXII's NYC Borefest