Last month we posted an article about the confirmation of Doug Lowenstein's resignation as President of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). Further reports have revealed that Lowenstein will be making his last speech as ESA President before attendees and guests at this year's DICE Summit.

According to Games Industry, Lowenstein's talk is titled "The ESA: Past, Present and Future". He will be delivering the talk on the second day of the summit, which will take place at the Green Valley Ranch Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from February 7 to February 9. Later in the month, Lowenstein will start his new role as as head of the new Private Equity Council in Washington DC.

The keynote speaker for this year's DICE Summit will be Yair Landau, vice chairman for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Personages such as Sony's Phil Harrison and Will Wright, creator the popular Sims games, will also be speaking at the summit.

The Emsdetten shooting in Germany has only fired up even more the likes of Jack Thompson into pushing for not only having stricter gaming regulations, but actually making the creators and the consumers liable. Their battlecry: We must protect our children, and these video games are only feeding their minds aggressive and potentially criminal tendencies.

Now, who would dare contest that noble goal? Who wouldn't want to protect their children, and who would want them to grow up as criminals? No one, naturally. But if that is the case, then why is this issue making such a ruckus, if in the end, we only want to forward what is best for the children's interest?

Because the issue goes way deeper than just what these kids get their hands on for entertainment. Blaming the violent video games for the criminal actions of teenagers is but the tip of the iceberg. Considerably, the proposed legislations of prohibiting the sale of violent video games to minors and penalizing the producers and players alike of the said games encroach into other deeper primordial issues, such as privacy.

But let us not get into that yet. Allow me first to lay out to you what exactly are the basis for the aforementioned proposals. We all know for a fact that this anti-violent video games campaign is nothing new. Several countries, at one point in time since video games became such a hit, have already come face to face with legislations that would curb the reach of video games.

While there may be a lot of cases involving minors and shooting sprees, the landmark case would have to be the Columbine High School shootings. The event proved to be absolutely shocking, that people for the most part were just dumbfounded at what transpired that fateful day. The perpetrators, mere students themselves, did not show any signs of aggressive behavior prior to their killing spree. They were, however, avid fans of first-person shooter games.

To see more analysis on whether or not video game censorship is the way to go, read on to Full Article.

One very cool way of earning money is by playing videogames and joining competitions. While it sounds easy and heavenly, it is actually not. Just imagine the number of participants in any given gaming event. Of all those players, only the top three would be getting prizes normally. So if you want to make a living out of playing games, you better make sure you end up on the top of the heap.

Anyway, to all of you who are interested, the Electronic Gaming League (ELG) will be hosting a regional tournament this coming January 19 to 21 at the Sheraton Reston in Washington, DC. This is actually the fourth regional tournament of the league's inaugural interstate U.S. pro tour for this season. According to EGL Tournament Director Ryan Baron:

The D.C. tournament is one of our most ambitious venues yet and promises to be a real battle of wits. We're expecting to see some of the most intense gaming of the season. We've got people coming from all over the east coast to either make a name for themselves or defend their reputations. The area is known for fostering some the world’s elites and it's definitely going to be a shootout.

Speaking of shootout, the games roster for the competition include Halo 2, Super Smash Brothers Melee and Dead or Alive 4 as well as some unannounced ones. Group or team competitions involve cash prizes of US$ 3,500 while individual winners can bag in up to US$ 750.

The EGl 2006-2007 season will end sometime in May of 2007. Top teams and players by then will be invited to  a post-season finals in Las Vegas to contend for the National EGL.  Prizes there, needless to say, are much higher totalling up to US$ 15,000 for the grand winner.

Yes, we love our violent video games, but the truth is, we're entitled to them. Most of us gamers are over 18 after all, so we should be considered "mature" enough to handle and at the same time be entertained by all the blood, sex, and gore that we immerse ourselves in while playing our favourite games.

The problem with that, is that's all that the outside world thinks about us. Outsiders generally view the gaming sub-culture as a collection of violence addicted pre-pubescent-underage or overage-yet-still-stuck-in-the-basement, pimply anti-social avoidant, self indulgent, will never enjoy the company of the opposite sex, individuals. Despite the presence of gamer-culture/geel-culture centric websites and TV channels, a lot of old farts in power still don't "get it."

They tend to forget that a lot of gamers now-a-days aren't only young people who play games, but are people who make art, people who earn billions making games, people who have children of their own, and people who are care.

Think of this post as a collection of recent news stories that show very good examples of how we gamers should represent ourselves to the world.

Giving back to the community...

You've got to hand it to those guys from Penny-Arcade, they know how to give back to the community. They really do their best to make claims that say that gamers are know-nots or that gamers are violence addicted yahoos irrelevant. For one thing, officials of the Child's Play Charity, a gamer-focused toy drive organized by Penny Arcade, has recently announced that more than $495,000 worth of toys, games, and books on the wish lists of more than 35 participating children's hospitals have been donated as part of the gamer supported charity.

It doesn't stop there. The annual charity auction dinner of Child's Play is set to be held next week. All proceeds from the auction will be set to assist hospitals within the charity's network. This year's dinner is scheduled to take place on Wednesday December 13 in Bellevue, Washington.

Items up for bid this year include a Wii console autographed by Reggie Fils-Aime, a speaking line in Halo 3, a PS3 console, an appearance in the Penny Arcade comic strip, Penny Arcade artwork, tickets to the Halo 3 launch party, an Xbox 360, ATI Radeon video cards, collectors edition of Guildwars Nightfall, and a whole lot more.

With items like those, people will definitely bid.

Get the rest of the article after the Jump!

Next generation reports that the state of Michigan has been ordered to pay the game industry over US$ 180,000 in legal fees associated with a failed video game law.

If you're memory is sharp, you'll recall that way back in April when Judge Steeh struck down the law, Saying that the proposed measure was "discriminating against a disfavored 'newcomer' in the world of entertainment media."

Well, Judge George Carem Steeh has recently ruled that the state is required to pay-back the money that the game industry spent fighting a game law that was supposedly meant to ban the sale and rental of violent videogames to minors. The legislation was found unconstitutional as it infringed on First Amendment rights.

This is another notch in the ESA win belt. Illinois has been ordered to pay the industry US$ 510,000; Washington state US$ 344,000; St. Louis US$ 180,000; Indianapolis US$ 318,000; and Michigan US$ 128,000.

As much as we don't want 8 year olds to get high on GTA, and discover the joys of puberty via extreme beach volleyball, bans are far from being the only solution.

Despite the many "accomplishments" of Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas, he's still a bit depressed about not having a PlayStation 3 or a Wii. Arenas writes on his blog:

Man, I couldn't get it. I stood outside no hours and got nothing. That's when you sit in your room and try to use your celebrityism. I didn't get nothing. I knew I should have called and said I was D-Wade. 'Um, hello, this is D-Wade - This is LeBron - Can I come over there and get one of them?' Then I would have had one.

So much for celebrityism. Looks like another person is going to eBay. You really have to feel sorry for the guy. He was snubbed a slot on the roster of players selected to compete at last summer's World Championships in Japan, even if he was added to the list of players for USA Basketball's Olympic team and even if his scoring average has increased with each season. Rejection hurts.

On the bright side, his Halo team, "Final Boss" came in second in Vegas. Also, he can look forward to follow-up shipments.

As soon as you read this post, get your behind moving to the nearest Circuit City store near you to be ahead of the pack. That's because on November 16th, six of their branches will be giving you guys a chance to have your own PS3, a day earlier than the rest.

Here's how it goes. Starting at 8:00 p.m., the event starts. Although, we're definitely sure you'd want to get there early. Inside the stores await 100 units of your much-awaited PS3, all available for purchase. By 10:00 p.m., the first 100 people in line will be handed vouchers. And come midnight, it's a free for all (or at least for the first 100 people) as the doors to Circuit City open, and you can now buy the next-gen console.

Now, if you didn't get there fast enough to be part of the lucky bunch, don't mope because you still have a chance to win one. Five of those stores will be giving away five PS3s each - operative terms: giving away - while the Union Square store will be spreading the love with 100 units! Is that cool, or what?

The six Circuit City stores about to make your dreams come true are the following:

• Union Square store no. 3679, Union Square, New York, NY
• Torrance store no. 404, Hawthourne, Los Angeles, CA
• Cherry Hill store no. 0734, Mount Laurel, Philadelphia, NJ
• Schaumburg store no. 3111, Schaumburg, Chicago, IL
• Rockville store no. 866, Rockville, Washington, MD
• Short Pump store no. 3549, Richmond, Richmond, VA

The local radio stations on the aforementioned sites will be part of the event, announcing the contest winners and handing out T-shirts.

So what are you waiting for? Get your game on!

It was about three weeks ago that we brought you reports of IGN's test play of NBA 2k7, and how they said it roxxorz compared to its Xbox 360 incarnation. The problem is, we're telling it to you, and anybody who's ever shot hoops will tell 'ya that bragging about your perfect shot's one thing, but "Bringing it" to the court is another.

This time, we're bringing it. We've picked some game trailer vids of the NBA 2k7 port to the PS3, which should give you serious basketball fans out there something to say about this game's much-vaunted "Signature Style" game feature, and how this affects the gameplay physics.

The videos we've included are two stadium matches: the Orlando Magics vs. the Washington Wizards, and the Miami Heats vs. the New Jersey Nets. The third video's a typical streetball 2-on-2. Well, everybody hates long intermission, so here're the videos. Just remember to spot your favorite players here and let us know.



More NBA 2K7 videos after the jump!

eBay's ban on PS3 auctions is not quite over, but expect the price war for the next-gen console to start at around US$ 2,000. And you thought its normal US$ 600/US$ 500 price tag is expensive. The question is... is the PS3 worth all that cash? Two freaking lucky Washington journalists were able to test drive the PS3 courtesy of official PS3-pusher Joshua Weinberg.

Washington Post columnist Mike Musgrove and freelancer Daniel Greenberg did what others can only dream about for now, and their verdict is: "There are worse ways to spend a Friday morning."

The two reported window glass cracking realistically when shot with a virtual bullet, to which Weiberg crowned the company physics guy who may have spent six months to perfect it. The PS3 PR guy then showed off Genji, one of the games in the console's starting line-up. The journalists described the intro as something out of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Musgrove and Greenberg didn't say if they would be bidding on the PS3s that will soon appear throughout eBay, but this may probably be only because reporters don't make as much money as The Donald. Or do they...?

The rumors are true. And if you do not have a PS3 preorder receipt from Gamestop or EBGames you won't ever get one now. Just 24 hours after the top video game stores announced that they would be accepting PS3 pre-orders from today, Tuesday, October 10 they have sold out. The stores wanted a lump sum of $ 100 for a preorder of Sony's next generation Playstation console which will hit the shelves of North American stores on November 17th this year and only a limited number of PS3 consoles were available for each EBGames/Gamestop store, leading gamers into a mini-lottery that they had a very small chance of winning.

The more addicted gamers from across the US camped out overnight and were first in the stores when they opened to pay their $ 100 deposit and get a place on the golden PS3 pre-order list for the $ 599 60GB version of the console, fighting crowds, and limited supply which ranged from four at a store (in Detroit) to 16 (at a store in Seattle, Washington).

A Gamestop representative told IGN that each store had a quota of "no less than eight pre-orders or up to 16. The number allocated is based on store location and traffic." The rep went on to state that currently pre-orders for PS3 were closed. Currently, there are no pre-orders available in Canada but the representative did say that Canadian PS3 pre-orders will be "available as soon as possible." But surely if no store had less than eight pre-orders, how did that store a Detroit only have four available? Let's hope that it wasn't those dreaded EBGames employees buying all the stock.