It seems that Peter Baxter's messaging had been polished to a high sheen.

When Baxter first told Danny Ledonne that he was pulling the game from the Slamdance festival it was because of the threat of lost sponsors. When he told me why, it was because of personal objections to the game's morality. When he re-released a statement on the Slamdance page it was because of the threat of a suit. And now, well here's now:

The story of how this once-electric gathering lost its luster began with a phone call earlier this month by Mr. Baxter to Danny Ledonne, a 25-year-old Colorado filmmaker and the creator of Super Columbine. Overriding the panel of the judges who had included the game among the 14 finalists, Mr. Baxter told Mr. Ledonne that he had decided to withdraw his game because of outraged phone calls and e-mail messages he'd been receiving from Utah residents and family members associated with the Columbine shooting. He was also acting on the advice of lawyers who warned him of the threat of civil suits if he showed the game.

"I personally don't find the game immoral, because an artist has a right to create whatever he wants, whether a filmmaker or a game maker," Mr. Baxter said. "But when you're responsible for presenting that work to the public, it becomes more complicated."

That "how family members associated with Columbine" thing is patently not true. He said something similar to me in my interview, but when I asked him directly if any of the family members of those killed or injured in the Columbine shooting contacted him, he said no. Then he said something about people pointing out to him that the game was about real people who had been killed. Something I'm sure he knew going into the festival.

I hate to use the word liar, but if the shoe fits...

Check out Heather Chaplin's full NYT story (she's the one what wrote SmartBomb) for more details about half empty presentations and squirming festival directors. Brian Crecente

Video Game Tests the Limits. The Limits Win [New York Times]

Here's the clip from my appearance last night on Attack of the Show's The Loop. While I enjoyed the experience, I wish we had more time to discuss the issues and game on a deeper level. Brian Crecente

The game's creator, fellow Coloradoan Danny Ledonne, will be in the other hot seat as we discuss the game, the reaction and my luxurious hair.

Your gut reaction might be to say, why are they doing this now, the story broke weeks ago. But in fact the fest just got underway and yesterday they hosted a little round table to discuss their decision to be spineless.

That's what I want to know. How did they go. I mean, was the first question something on the lines of "OK, so we just censored an artist's work, discuss..."

On a sad note, all of my hip clothes are at the cleaners, so I doubt I'll be getting any kudos on my hipness this time around. Oh, the segment should be about 10 minutes into the show, which airs at 7 p.m. EST.

Slamdance Festival

Earlier this month, we broke the news that Slamdance pulled accepted Super Columbine Massacre RPG based on moral grounds and concern for the festival's future. The exact quote at the time from Slamdance president Peter Baxter was:

On the one hand a jury selected this game, and as a result of that decision it leads to our organization supporting their creative decision. On the other hand there are moral obligations to consider here with this particular game in addition to the impact it could have on the Slamdance organization and its community.

In protest against Slamdance's position, other entries dropped from the competition. A sponsor soon followed. And the word "Slamdance" left a bad taste in most everyone's mouth. Pulling this game certainly has created more fuss than leaving it in would've.

On the festival's website, Slamdance has expanded its stance on Super Columbine Massacre RPG, which we've included after the jump. New bits are in bold. Brian Ashcraft

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

The Super Columbine Massacre RPG game has been withdrawn from Slamdance'07. While understanding the different positions people have already taken with the game, we want to express the struggle we had with ours. On one hand, a jury selected a game they believed merited programming, a decision that always leads to our organization supporting the creator's independent vision and freedom of expression. On the other, there are moral obligations to consider with this particular game and the preservation of the Slamdance organization and its whole community. There are always legal checks and balances with any Slamdance program. Specifically with the subject matter of Super Columbine Massacre Role Playing Game Slamdance does not have the resources to defend any drawn out civil action that our legal council has stated can easily arise from publicly showing it. Though the organization annually takes on legal matters in support of the independent artists in this case such an undertaking could mean the end of Slamdance. Altogether, our decision has been extremely hard to make and hope a choice like it will never have to be made again. This is not a case of Slamdance lacking courage, sponsor disapproval of showing Danny's game or wanting to control freedom of expression. Simply and practically, Slamdance can't afford to take on the scope of this potential loss by showing the game to the public. And now this decision must be faced head on. We are planning a panel event at Slamdance on Sunday, January 21 at 5 pm where the different positions and the public exhibition of this Game can be heard and openly discussed. It is our goal that all interested parties can learn something from this event and most importantly offer some contribution toward the advancement of independent Games. Please join us and open up this whole matter.

Slamdance's Statement [Official Site, Thanks David!]

In light of the recent decision by the festival organizer Peter Baxter to pull Super Columbine Massacre RPG from the line-up of finalists, we no longer feel that the contest represents the best interests of independent game makers; rather, the decision undermines the credibility of the festival as a venue for independent games and invalidates the reasons that USC Interactive Media had been proud to sponsor this year's student prize.

Check out her lengthy, and thought-out reasoning for withdrawing support of the wavering game fest. Brian Crecente

USC Interactive Media Division Withdraws Slamdance Sponsorship [Ludicidal Tendencies]

I'm trying to keep all of the news updates, barring major ones, in one post. So I'm going to send you there to comment and read the details. But to summarize, more finalists have dropped out of the festival and more people have written up lengthy objections and treatises on the subject, including our very own John Browlee aka Florian.

Hit the link for the backstory and an updated list of the fervor.

Developers Protest Slamdance Game Festival [Kotaku]

In it the festival president Peter Baxter says that he made the decision free of any outside pressure based on moral grounds and concern for the future of the organization.

"On the one hand a jury selected this game, and as a result of that decision it leads to our organization supporting their creative decision," said Slamdance President Peter Baxter. "On the other hand there are moral obligations to consider here with this particular game in addition to the impact it could have on the Slamdance organization and its community.

"Ultimately it was my decision to pull this game and I hope that a choice like it will never have to be made again."

We first broke the news of the game being pulled from the Slamdance game festival yesterday and the reaction has been, as expected, very mixed.

Surprisingly, one of the strongest reactions seems to come from Sam Roberts, the man who is in charge of the Slamdance's games' competition and helped convince Ledonne to enter the game in the first place.

"I believe this festival's mission is to give the artists a place to express themselves," he said. "This is a decision I disagree strongly with. I think it will hurt the competition. This is not what we are supposed to be doing, this is the very opposite of it."

And while Baxter even seems to worry over the implications, both Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference, and Simon Carless, chairman of the International Games Festival, see to caution moderation in the reaction.

"We in the game industry love to compare films to games but the analogy is not 100 percent complete," Moledina said. "Games are interactive medium. There is this kind of grey area here. We need to be careful and not automatically fall for that analogy."

Simon Carless, chairman of the annual International Games Festival competition, while concerned about the decision to pull the game, said he doesn't think it will impact many other game designers.

"I don't think this will discourage people from making games that have social meaning," he said. "I think there is plenty of interesting and important ground we can cover in games before we get that far out."

Super Columbine Massacre RPG "is such a polarizing title," he said.

Check out the full story over at the Rocky.

Columbine Game Pulled From Competition [Rocky Mountain News]