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![]() GP homepage | |
Type of site | Blog |
---|---|
Owner | Entertainment Consumers Association |
Created by | Dennis McCauley |
URL | GamePolitics.com |
Commercial | No |
Registration | None |
Launched | March 2005 |
Current status | Defunct |
GamePolitics.com was a blog which covered the politics of computer and video games. GamePolitics was launched by freelance journalist Dennis McCauley in March 2005. At the time, McCauley was the video game columnist [1] for The Philadelphia Inquirer , a position he held from 1998 to 2009. Growing somewhat bored of writing video game reviews, McCauley created GamePolitics in order to track the political, legal and cultural impact of video games. [2] The site was often referred to as GP by followers.
Under McCauley's tenure as editor, frequent topics included video game legislation, the effects of media coverage on video games and gamer culture, and stories about high-profile critics and/or supporters of the industry. Early on, GP established itself as a site which included a great deal of original content based on McCauley's reporting. For example, GP published the first interview [3] with Patrick Wildenborg, the Dutch modder who discovered the infamous Hot Coffee mod sex animations embedded in Rockstar Games' controversial Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas .
GP's frequent and incisive coverage of the unfolding Hot Coffee scandal brought mainstream media attention to the site from publications such as Fortune [4] and The New York Times [5] as traditional news outlets attempted to come to grips with the political and societal aspects of the burgeoning video game controversy. In December 2007, Entertainment Weekly named GamePolitics to its "100 Greatest Websites". [6] GP has also been cited in The Washington Post . [7]
GamePolitics was referenced [8] in Sex in Video Games, a 2007 book by game developer, activist and academic Brenda Brathwaite and has also been cited in numerous scholarly writings. [9]
The activities of Jack Thompson, an activist against violence and/or sex in video games, [10] [11] [12] were a common subject of coverage, particularly between 2005 and 2009.
During McCauley's time as editor, GamePolitics adopted a pro-consumer orientation, leveling sharp criticism at the video game industry on certain issues. Most notable among these was a series of editorial and articles charging that game publisher Electronic Arts had engaged in monopolistic practices in regard to its popular Madden NFL franchise. As early as April 2005, GamePolitics called for the United States Department of Justice to investigate E.A.'s conduct in regard to a possible Madden monopoly. [13] While no Justice Department investigation was forthcoming, in 2008, a class action suit was filed against Electronic Arts on behalf of gamer consumers who were negatively impacted by Madden pricing. [14] The allegations in the lawsuit largely followed the line of reasoning laid out by McCauley's coverage. In July 2009, GamePolitics broke the news that plaintiffs in the class action suit alleged that monopolistic practices by E.A. had cost Madden buyers $926 million. [15] The class action was eventually settled for $27 million in 2013. [16]
GamePolitics has had on occasionally contentious relationship with video game industry lobbying group the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). In 2008, the site criticized the choice of Texas Gov. Rick Perry as keynote speaker for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The commentary provoked a harsh response from the ESA, whose spokesman told video game blog Joystiq , " ...calling GamePolitics a news site is as laughable as saying there's a Cuban free press." [17]
GamePolitics has also covered a small number events live, including a demonstration in Philadelphia which was staged to protest against a first-person shooter game published by the United States Army as a recruiting tool. [18]
Hal Halpin subsequently founded the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), a non-profit organization for video game consumers. On October 25, 2006, it was announced that GamePolitics.com had been acquired by the ECA and that McCauley would stay on as editor. [19]
GamePolitics was initially published on the LiveJournal blogging platform with the GP blog embedded within a standard HTML site design. However, this structure proved problematic, particularly with RSS feeds. For this reason the site was redesigned and migrated to the WordPress platform in late 2006. Following the ECA acquisition, GamePolitics was migrated to the Drupal CMS format.
On September 14, 2009, Dennis McCauley announced that he was stepping down as editor. Pete Gallagher (former editor-in-chief of ECA Today and GameDaily ) was named as his successor. [20] Gallagher's run at GamePolitics was short-lived, however. James Fudge succeeded Gallagher as editor. In the wake of McCauley's 2009 departure, GamePolitics editorial focus underwent a significant change in direction. The site discontinued original reporting with the vast majority of articles simply linking to content created elsewhere.
In April 2016, managing editor James Fudge announced that GamePolitics would be shutting down, as the site's mission of protecting games had been accomplished after Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association and the site was no longer needed. The site no longer updates as of April 18, 2016. [21]
E3 was an annual trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, with its final iteration held virtually in 2021. The event hosted developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, and other industry professionals who used the occasion to introduce and advertise upcoming games, hardware, and merchandise to the press. During its existence, E3 was the world's largest and most prestigious annual gaming expo.
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as "software artists". EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987's Skate or Die! The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991.
Madden NFL is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has sold more than 130 million copies as of 2018. Since 2004, it has been the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport. Among the series' features are detailed playbooks and player statistics and voice commentary in the style of a real NFL television broadcast. As of 2013 the franchise has generated over $4 billion in sales, making it one of the most profitable video game franchises on the market.
The video game industry is the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the development, marketing, distribution, monetization and consumer feedback of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
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The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in Washington, D.C. Most of the top publishers in the gaming world are members of the ESA.
Madden NFL 2003 is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the Madden NFL series, the game features former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk on the cover. This edition of Madden was the first to have EA Trax, the Mini Camp mode, and to feature Al Michaels as play-by-play announcer, who took over for Pat Summerall. Although it featured the expansion Houston Texans and the relocation of the Seattle Seahawks to the NFC, it was actually the second to do so. The game was released on August 12, 2002 for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The PlayStation version also includes the Sega Genesis version of John Madden Football 93.
Joystiq was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOL's primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general and the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft in particular.
Hal Halpin is an American computer game executive and entrepreneur, and is the president and founder of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA).
Michael John Atkinson, a former Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, was a member of the Parliament of South Australia from 1989 to 2018.
EA Orlando is an American video game developer located in Orlando, Florida, founded in 1994. It was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1998. After the acquisition, the studio was renamed EA Tiburon. EA had already purchased a minority equity interest in Tiburon in May 1996, the terms of which included that Tiburon would develop games exclusively for EA.
Entertainment Software Association v. Foti is a lawsuit filed on June 16, 2006 claiming that a Louisiana law should be declared unconstitutional. The recently passed Louisiana law was a way for the state to censor video games by making it illegal to supply minors with video games considered violent, similar to laws making pornographic material unavailable to minors, but using violence as the criteria instead of sexual content. The lawsuit claims that the law infringed on the video game industry's constitutional right to freedom of expression.
Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is a United States-based non-partisan, non-government, non-profit organization dedicated to the interests of individuals who play computer and video games in the United States and Canada.
Entertainment for All Expo or E for All was a public video game trade show, created to allow the general public to see and experience new products from the video game industry. The inaugural E for All Expo was open October 18 to October 21, 2007, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Second E For All Convention took place from October 3 through October 5, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Madden NFL 09 is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. The game was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, and mobile phones. It was the last video game for the original Xbox produced and released in North America and the last Madden game to be released for the Nintendo DS.
Jack McCauley is an American engineer, hardware designer, inventor, video game developer and philanthropist. As an engineer at RedOctane, he designed guitars and drums for the Guitar Hero video game series. He later worked at Oculus VR, which was eventually acquired by Facebook for $2 billion.
Polygon is an American entertainment website covering video games and popular culture by Vox Media. At its October 2012 launch as Vox Media's third property, Polygon sought to distinguish itself by focusing on the stories of the people behind games and long-form magazine-style feature articles.
Christopher Erb was the Vice President of Brand Marketing at EA SPORTS and the Executive Vice President of Brand Marketing at Legendary Pictures. Erb is currently the Managing Partner of tripleclix.