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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land The ESA are in a pickle. E3 ain’t what it used to be, and high-profile members like Activision, Lucasarts and id have up and left the organisation. Can things get any worse? You bet! Hal Halpin, boss of the Entertainment Consumers Association, has told the Washington Post that he knows of a further two companies planning on leaving the ESA, while adding that there are “several others that are unhappy but remain with the organisation”. Like a marriage gone bad. “Pass the salt, would you dear“, etc etc.
Fewer Players in the Gaming Group [Washington Post]
Technology columnist Mike Musgrove got Entertainment Software Association CEO Michael Gallagher on the horn (we got him first!) to talk about, what else, ESA’s membership losses. Everyone here should be familiar with the story and the pressures that realigning E3 have brought to bear on membership dues, believed to be the motivation for so many big name publishers flying the coop. ESA refers us to the companies to get the reasons for leaving, and so far none have, really.
The Entertainment Software Association, already suffering from an exodus of member companies, took on Game Politics today over a post the Entertainment Consumer Association-backed site wrote calling into question the choice for the upcoming E3′s keynote speaker.
You better sit down, this gets really confusing really quickly.
The Entertainment Consumers Association will now support chapter organisations created by its members, it announced today. The ECA hopes to create new networks by which consumers within the same area can connect with one another, participate in ECA-sponsored LAN parties, fundraisers and other events.
The ECA has also stepped up to advocate a social network for politically-minded gamers, taking over the National Association forthe Protection of Video Games group on Facebook and hosting a new “action center” on
Nonprofit advocacy group The Entertainment Consumers’ Association is hailing the results of a recent Federal Trade Commission study that showed 80 percent retailer compliance with the ESRB’s ratings system, a continual year-over-year increase that puts games ahead of other media in self-regulating mature content.
ECA President Hal Halpin called the results, which improved significantly over 2007, “an extraordinary accomplishment,” praising retailers’ commitment to keep M-rated games out of kids’ hands. “Perhaps most impressive is the incredible reversal in their failure rate over such a short period of time and with a comparatively new rating system,” Halpin said.
Hal Halpin, head of the Entertainment Consumers Association, has issued a statement following the tragic events at Northern Illinois University, events which our dear old friend was so quick to seize upon and blame on videogames. The statement reads: We’d like to extend our condolences to the families, friends and classmates of those who were affected in the school shooting at Northern Illinois University. Separately, we are disgusted, but no longer shocked, to find that anti-game activists are again rushing to conclusions about what drove Stephen Kazmierczak, the clearly disturbed 27 year old who police say was responsible for this tragedy, to commit such an act.
Blaming video games for the behavior of the mentally-challenged is vile on many levels. And, as Generations X and Y mature, it is extremely likely that just about all of us have played at least one video game at some point in our lives. Drawing a parallel between games and violence without any substantive proof is sensationalism for its own sake. This is a sad event, made worse by the irresponsible actions of attention-seekers and the media that has given them a platform for their reckless venom. So sad that a statement like this has to even be issued, and that such calm, reasonable statements are ignored by types like Fox News in favour of the ravings of a spotlight-hungry, ambulance chasing loon.
You read that right, the Entertainment Consumers Association, an organisation dedicated to promoting consumer advocacy with concerns to political issues involving gaming, has cut military spending by 25%. Granted the discount only applies to military personnel who wish to join the ECA, and it only comes out to five bucks off the normal fee of $US 19.99 a month, but hey, it’s something! It’s all thanks to GamePolitics.com regular and ECA member Robert Kalal, stationed in Turkey with the Air Force, who wanted to promote the association to his fellow servicemen. “We’re excited to extend our 25 percent Student Discount for annual membership dues to all active service men and women with a valid dot mil domain extension,” said Hal Halpin, president of the ECA.
There you go, proud men and women of the military. Getting shelled by enemy artillery doesn’t sound so bad now that you’ve got 25% off ECA membership, now does it?
