Joystiq

ESA stingy with campaign money early

Justin McElroy — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:20:00 EST

Filed under: Politics

You probably remember -- well, that's not true -- there's an off chance you remember that ESA president Mike Gallagher announced that the organization was going to be throwing some coin behind national candidates via a political action committee, with contributions somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 by year's end. Well, according to GamePolitics, the going has been slow so far.

The site reports that just three candidates have received money from the organization so far to the tune of $4,300 all told. They are:

Rep. Jim Clyburn D-SC, $1,000
Rep. Artur Davis D-AL, $1,000
Rep. Mary Bono Mack R-CA, $2,300

The small start could also be the result of slow fundraising: The PAC has garnered just six donations so far for a total of $27,500. Also of note, as of April 15 the ESA had financially backed no presidential candidates.

ESA stingy with campaign money early originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 May 2008 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video game industry seeks political clout

Ross Miller — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Business, Politics

The strange relationship between the video game industry and politics just got more complicated. Mike Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, spoke with the New York Times today about his intentions to start a political action committee (PAC) for making campaign contributions. The PAC -- which represents major publishers like Disney, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony -- was approved by the board last fall and will reportedly be ready to go in March.

Gallagher estimated the PAC would donate $50,000 to $100,000 to national candidates this year, a number which he labels as small, but a good start. He also talked about combining contribution efforts with the ESA initiative Video Game Voters Network. "If I can walk into the office of a member of Congress and tell them we have 20,000 voters in their state who are already signed up to write letters and act based on game-related issues that concern them, that's powerful," he said. You know what also helps? Money; good thing that's covered too. We're interested in seeing how game rhetoric on Capitol Hill changes, if at all, following the PAC initiative.

[Via Game Politics]

Video game industry seeks political clout originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DS Daily: Happy Father's Day!

JC Fletcher — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: DS Daily

In honor of Father's Day, we thought we'd ask a themed question: Who's your favorite father and son/daughter team? Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., or, uh, hmm. Oh, how about Bowser and the Koopa Kids? Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man? Pitfall Harry and Harry Jr. from Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure?

Man, we already had to go to Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure? Maybe you guys can think of more. We can't be retrogaming encyclopedias every day, okay? It would be pretty hard to limit this to the DS, but if you can think of DS characters, you win at commenting.

DS Daily: Happy Father's Day! originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 17 Jun 2007 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Real-life Halo suit ready for deployment?

James Ransom-Wiley — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:25:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Business, Fashion

Perhaps it's more akin to the PAC full-body armor featured in Battlefield: 2142, but there's no denying that Troy Hurtubise's 'Trojan' suit is straight outta video game lore. The man responsible for inventing the bear-proof suit has developed, in his own words, the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armor."

Weighing just 18 kilograms (40 pounds), Hurtubise believes the Trojan will be comfortable to wear in the field (he wore it for a 4-hour drive); not to mention protective. An empty suit has withstood bullets fired from an elephant gun -- and Hurtubise is more than ready to perform a live test. ""Bring it on," he says. In addition to armor, made from high-impact plastic lined with ceramic bullet protection over ballistic foam, the suit features storage for morphine, salt, a knife, and emergency light. Plus, a recording device, pepper-spray gun, and detachable (and swallowable) transponder are built into the forearms. There's also an in-suit fresh-air system, drinking tube (attached to back-mounted canteen), laser pointer, and some hip LED face lights.

Hurtubise has said that he drew inspiration for the suit from Star Wars, RoboCop, Batman, and indeed video games. He believes that Trojan suits can be produced for roughly $2,000 a pop and is actively seeking potential buyers, including military and police units. Anyone wanna pool resources and go in on a couple?

[Via Engadget]

Real-life Halo suit ready for deployment? originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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