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ESA Spent $980K on Lobbying American Government in Q2

The Entertainment Software Association, the industry organization representing the games industry in governmental and legal matters, spent $980,000 lobbying the American government between April and June, according to a press release. The figure is a marked increase from the $714,000 spent in Q1.

Aside from lobbying Congress, the ESA also spent cash towards influencing the US Copyright Office, the FCC, and the FBI, among others.

That investment paid a dividend this morning when the organization celebrated the sentencing of two software pirates and thanked the FBI and Department of Justice for their help.

The ESA has fallen on hard times recently, as the group has had several key members leave in the last few months and come under heavy fire for the poor perf...

Analyst: Activision Doesn't Need Warner Music for Guitar Hero

In recent history, Activision--publisher of the Guitar Hero series--and Warner Music--a massive record label with songs included in the music-rhythm games--have publicly played out a drama resembling an abusive relationship.

Famed gaming analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Morgan has now chimed in on the troubled couple, bluntly telling Gamasutra that "Activision doesn't 'need' Warner Music at all."

Warner started the fire by publicly complaining that video game studios, whether selling Guitar Hero or EA's rival series Rock band, don't pay record labels enough money for the rights to use those songs in the games. Activision countered by saying that Warner lacked respect for Guitar Hero.

Pachter's reasoning is straightforward: "There are over one million songs out there-...

Will Wright: E3 is a Zombie

Will Wright, the Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame designer responsible for Spore and The Sims, dubbed the E3 trade show "the walking dead."

Talking to GamesIndustry, Wright added to a rising chorus in the games industry claiming the E3 Media & Business Summit has outlived its usefulness since evolving from the over-the-top Electronic Entertainment Expo to a low-key industry meet. This year's E3 came under heavy fire for having a weak collection of products on show.

"I think they [the organizers of E3] were looking for a way to sign the arms treaty and de-escalate the whole thing," Wright reasoned. "I understand why they really pulled the plug on the big E3. Looking at the amount of money a company like EA would spend on it, it was ridiculous amounts of money ...

Defense Grid: The Awakening Brings More Tower Defense to PC

Hidden Path Entertainment, developer of the Xbox Live Arcade trivia game Wits & Wagers, is bringing the tower defense genre back to the PC with Defense Grid: The Awakening.

Tower defense started as a popular modification to Blizzard's Warcraft III. The gameplay--building and upgrading various towers that shoot at ever-stronger lines of enemies marching toward the player's base--proved addictive enough to pave way for the PlayStation 3 release of Q-Games's PixelJunk Monsters and an expansion pack earlier this year.

With Def...

EA: Used Game Sales Represent 'Critical Situation'

Jens Uwe Intat has declared the sale of used games "a very critical situation."

Speaking to GamesIndustry, the Electronic Arts Europe VP denied that the current cottage industry for used games can be compared to the highly developed industries for second-hand cars or books.

"We are actually giving away the rights to play," said Intat, "and if you just pass it on, pass it on, pass it on, that is not comparable to second-hand sales in the normal physical goods area where you have physical wear-out."

On solutions, Intat was vague but optimistic. "We're not going to be overly confrontational [with retailers], we're going to solve it with better, more interesting and online offerings going forward."

Intat echoes other industry leaders in his concern that used game sales are potentially dangerous...