It's fun to watch Mike Gallagher, the still-new head of the ESA, as he evolves into his position slowly but surely. His image has transitioned from total noob, to hired gun, to softening up a bit and gaming with The Washington Post. If nothing else his image seems to be on the right track to represent the industry and have his big coming out at next year's E3.The WaPo piece paints Gallagher as a man who brings a Nintendo DS to Capitol Hill meetings to show lawmakers games that are actually more representative of the industry. He also apparently got a vanity plate from his children for Father's Day that says: GAME DAD. Robbie Bach, Microsoft entertainment division president, who is on the ESA board, gets a quote in the piece saying that Gallagher was chosen because he "games and understands the space." Then the WaPo writer and Gallagher have a gaming competition that ends in a draw. Gallagher continues to build a solid image that shows that he's political, but also understands "the gamer."
And we really need a new photo of this guy. This photo of him from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is *snore* and we're done using the Pokémon one. Oh, and we sure as heck ain't using the WaPo picture of Gallagher walking around with a PS3 like a boombox on his shoulder. Time for some respectable glamour shots with the ESA logo in the background -- maybe the ESA can hire Annie Liebovitz, industry should be able to afford their spokesman some good portrait shots..
[Via GamePolitics]
