Does violence in video games lead to real-life violence? This has been a hotly discussed and controversial topic for many years, to the point that it has reached the Supreme Court. If you happen to live in or near San Francisco, the Commonwealth Club will be hosting a debate on this topic on Thursday March 17, 2011, and all are invited.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) wants you to get fit and healthy in the new year and have fun doing it at the same time. How can you do both of those? By getting healthy through video games! Gamers For Heath is a new group formed by the ECA with goal in mind of getting gamers to play workout video games like Nintendo’s Wiifit or EA Sports: Active, to get healthy and in shape.

EA has called out California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on his stance against violent videogames. Schwarzenegger is the main opposition in a piece of legislation that will soon be heard in the Supreme Court. If passed, it would be illegal for stores in California to sell what it considers to be “excessively” violent videogames to minors. Other forms of entertainment such as movies are not subject to such laws.

The government is trying to regulate what we play and that ain’t right!

It’s hard to be a gamer when our rights to play whatever we want are constantly being challenged. Just look at Australia, whose government won’t allow them to play anything above a teen rating (and sometimes not even that).

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear Schwarzenegger v. EMA which basically says that any video game deemed too violent would need to bear a 2 in. x 2 in. sticker displaying the numeral “18″ on their front covers and not be allowed to be sold in certain stores. This law is a clear violation of the First Amendment, plus it makes no sense to pass another law prohibiting certain game sales when there is already a similar law already in place. This new law would just make it harder for adults who are of age to be able to buy the game we want.

Each year I receive a stack of holiday greeting cards from various game and entertainment companies. Some come with small physical gifts (*cough* Sony *cough*) while others simply highlight a few featured game characters.

This year, more companies have sent electronic cards and none have included a small gift (so far). I’ll take it as both an effort to be a bit more green (as in less paper) and economical (as in no expense except maybe a couple hours to designer, if that).

To check out the full gallery, click the Photo Gallery link or click on the thumbnails below. I’ll be adding more cards as I receive them, either in pulpy paper or digitized format.

Jack Thompson has filed a Plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend complaint with the U.S. District Court in Florida. In the latest complaint, Thompson accuses Dennis McCauley of GamePolitics and its parent company, the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), for assisting video game industry “…retailers and others who seek the continued distribution of Mature-rated video games more »