Game over for the National Institute on Family and the Media

The National Institute on Family and the Media is shutting down, as the economy forces the media watchdog group to Minneapolis-based to close its doors. The National Institute on Family and the Media, founded by psychologist David Walsh and funded mostly by Fairview Health Services, is best known for its annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card, which often criticized game makers for creating and marketing mature themed games to children.

“Thank you for 14 years of amazing accomplishments and success, said a personal message on the organization’s web site today. “Though our doors will close on December 31, 2009, our important work and programs will continue through you.”

A blog post by David Walsh further explains why the organazation is shutting down - and most of it points to the current state of the economy.

“Two years ago, the National Institute on Media and the Family’s board of directors started strategic discussions about the organization’s evolving mission and goals. The current challenging economic environment accelerated those discussions. As a result, the Institute’s board of directors made the decision to close the Institute, effective December 31, 2009 and to begin transitioning the programs to other organizations who share our mission and values.”

The National Institute on Family and the Media says that it will transition many of its programs and initiatives to other national organizations, and founder David Walsh promises to continue speaking out on the things he feels are important like the affects of violent media on children.

China’s Ministry of Culture tightens grip on MMO industry

It’s tough for a Western game developer, working with partners in the region, to maintain creative control of its product in China. And it is getting tougher every day. The Chinese government announced late Wednesday night that it will tighten regulations on online games even more.

China’s Ministry of Culture said in a circular that it would require game operators to re-examine the content of the games they offer to make sure it doesn’t contain and “obscene or violent content” or anything that might be considered “lowbrow.” But what it really means is that the Ministry of Culture wants to stamp out any themes that go against the government’s socialist views. The circular also said that operators must limit the number of virtual marriages and player-versus-player combat sessions in these games.’

The circular says as much plainly enough: they want game operators to “enhance socialist values” and hire “specialist” to monitor content. No doubt these “experts” will be provided or recommended by the Ministry of Culture.

The changes will affect a lot of operators including Shanda Games, NetEase, The9, CDC Games, Tencent Holdings etc. Most of these companies will simply comply with these requests. But do game developers in North America, Europe and other parts of the world want the Chinese government to say what it can and can’t have in its games?

On the other hand, Blizzard learned the hard way that you can’t win against the Chinese government when it tried to switch operators (from The9 to NetEase). Now World of Warcraft is no longer running in that region.

As harsh as this truth is, it should be troubling to any MMO creator who wants to maintain their original vision and have it running in China.
Operators in the region have no choice. NetEase’s Chief Executive Officer William Ding said in an earnings call on Thursday, that, while he had not seen the full details of the circular, his company is willing to comply..

China’s online game industry is incredibly lucrative and growing; by the end of 2009 it should record growth between 30 - 50 percent, with estimated sales revenue of 24 - 27 billion yuan (that’s $3.5 - $4 billion USD). The total number of online game players is estimated to be more than 50 million.

Lord of the Rings Online gets Chinese Government approval

CDC Games has received final government approvals to operate The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar (LOTRO) in China. This enables the company to begin open beta testing of Turbine’s MMO later this week with commercial launch to follow one week later. The Chinese government has a strict approval process that requires prior approval of all games before proceeding into an open beta and commercial launch enviornment.

During the final phase of the closed beta test, CDC Games reported a registration number of 2.2 million users and a high activation rate during the last week of testing. Playing time steadily increased throughout the test resulting in about four hours per session.

CDC Games holds the exclusive distribution rights in China for The Lord of the Rings Online.

Health Games Research gets $1.85 million grant for 9 projects

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has given a $1.85 million grant to the Health Games Research to research game-based health intervention solutions. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is an organization dedicated to improvinge the health and health care by helping Americans lead healthier lives and getting the care they need. Health Games Research is a national program that funds research to advance the effectiveness of digital games and game technologies intended to improve health. It does this by doing research, creating technology and teaming with developers from around the country. It is headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The grant will help fund research on 9 different projects, with each receiving $100,000 - $300,000 USD; enough for a one to two year study per project. The 9 research projects were chosen from 185 different proposals. Among them are projects to help Parkinson’s patients reduce the risk of falling using Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution game, a mobile phone game with breath interference to help smokers quit or reduce their tobacco use, facial recognition games for use with helping autism patients identify emotions, and a game project to reduce obesity rates in high school students using EA Sports Active game on Wii. All of these projects will focus on what the program describes as “diverse population groups.”

Personally, I applaud these kinds of efforts. On a related note, check out Steve Steinberg’s most recent Health Meter column, where he puts a spotlight on AbleGamers.

Modern Warfare 2 sanitized for Russia

ECA urges gamers to go green

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) today announced an initiative motivate gamers to contact their government representatives to support a pair of bills that would make gaming greener. The two bills are “S.1397″ (Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act), which would research ways to deal with the proper disposal of electronic devices; and “S.1696,” (the Green Gaming Act of 2009), which would require the Secretary of Energy to conduct a study of videogame consoles’ energy efficiency.

To read the full letter and to learn more about this initiative, go to the ECA’s action center at action.theeca.com.

Fox News vs. Modern Warfare 2

According to our friends at Game Politics and the Entertainment Software Association, Fox News will be taking on the contrived controversies of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 this morning on the Fox & Friends morning show.

The ECA, which owns and operates the Game Politics blog, received an email from FOX News at around 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday asking to speak to an “expert gamer” about the controversies surrounding the game. Here’s a quote from that email:

“I write to inquire about a possible interview tomorrow on Fox & Friends. We’re the morning show of the Fox News Channel, and are planning on doing a segment on the new Xbox game, Modern Warfare 2. We’re hoping to have a debate on the game, and would love to speak to an expert gamer on the controversies surrounding the game. The debate is for 6:50am tomorrow morning, on camera.”

The email was sent to the ECA’s Jason Andersen, director of PR. The ECA declined to take part in the discussion, because according to GP, Fox News would not offer any details on the discussion planned for the segment. We all know how their last major segment on Mass Effect with psychologist Cooper Lawrence, so sending someone in there blind seemed like a bad idea, no doubt.

The segment will run on the morning show at 6:50 a.m. EDT, according to GP.