Industry-friendly candidates will be getting financial support this election year from a political action committee established last fall by the Electronic Software Association (ESA). The New York Times spoke to ESA chief executive Michael D. Gallagher on Tuesday (January 15, 2008) regarding the status of the new committee and how it could affect politicians this year:

We will be writing checks to campaigns by the end of this quarter. This is an important step in the political maturation process of the industry that we are ready to take now. This is about identifying and supporting champions for the game industry on Capitol Hill so that they support us.

With the presidential candidates having already surpassed the twenty million dollar mark a full year before the election, $5,000 hardly seems like big money. But Gallagher’s action committee intends to write about $50,000 to $100,000 worth of donations, which is…

What, you thought was the only big video game event this month? Sillihead.

The casual game industry is having its own gathering July 16-19, 2007, in Seattle, WA, put together bu the Casual Games Association (CGA).

Lest you think this is a casual affair, as the name might imply, there are some big hitters attending this year, including Peter Moore (Microsoft), Nolan Bushnell (Atari) and Steve Youngwood (MTVN/Viacom), who are giving keynote addresses. Other names – and companies – of note include …