ESA Spent Over $1 Million In Lobbying In First Quarter Of 2011

The Entertainment Software Association is still basking in the glow of its landmark victory over the state of California in the Supreme Court, but the industry organization has not let up in its efforts to lobby on behalf of video games in Washington. In a recently released filing with the Office of the Clerk to the House of Representatives, the ESA spent $1,144,700 in lobbying during the first quarter of this year.

While the perception with the public is that the ESA largely concerns itself with combating attempts to censor or restrict the sale of video games, in actuality much of the money being spent on lobbying is on important, but less controversial issues like copyright law, piracy, trade issues, Internet regulation, and work visas.

While $1.1 million is certainly a nice chunk of change, it's actual down from $1.2 million spent during the same period last year.

Back to the Future Episode 5: Outatime

Telltales ‘80s Ode Finishes Just In Time

It feels like it’s been a long road to the finish, but Telltale’s Back to The Future series is finally coming to a close. The episodic adventure series – which has taken us into three separate decades and what feels like an innumerable number of alternate timelines – was beginning to grow stale, but it finishes with a clever cliffhanger that ties the whole series back to the original film. While I’m happy to have followed Telltale down this wistful road, I can’t shake the feeling that there were a few missed opportunities along the way.

Episode recaps would have benefited this series greatly. It’s only been a month since the last episode, but my memory was a little fuzzy on some of the secondary plot points. For the record, after Marty travels back to the 1930s to rescue Doc Brown from false imprisonment, the duo becomes entangled in a complicated narrative that alters the future. In order to correct the time stream, Marty has to ensure that a young Emmett Brown’s science exhibit goes off without a hitch, reconcile the young scientist’s relationship with his father, and track down Emmett’s ex-girlfriend after she runs off with the DeLorean.

If you haven’t played some of the series’ earlier entries, you don’t want to start here. After all, it’s not like Telltale has altered any of the series’ mechanics or changed its formula in any significant way. Like in previous installments, Marty still blunders around the environment and many puzzles boil down to touching one of your inventory items to an object within the environment. Since your inventory usually only contains about three items anyway, these kinds of puzzles aren’t that hard to decipher.

Despite Back to the Future’s lack of diversity, Outatime still contains a few clever moments that made me smile. One moment in particular – a sequence in which Doc and Marty have to reenact a series of events for a delusional old woman – stands as one of my favorite moments in the series.

Outatime is also significant as it is the first entry in which Michael J. Fox joins the cast, jumping into the role of one of Marty’s ancestors. While I found Fox’s involvement exciting, the actor’s character seemed out of place during these sequences (as if the role was written late just so Telltale could slide him in), and Fox himself uses a goofy southern accent that does little to disguise his aging voice. It’s sad, but the most authentic sounding McFly in the game is a Michael J. Fox impersonator.

Like this voice acting oddity, everything great about Telltale’s Back to the Future series seems to have some accompanying disappointment. The series’ narrative offers a fun, lighthearted adventure, but at this point it has more holes in it than a Siberian mud road. Telltale’s environments are ripe with in-jokes and Back to the Future references, but when you’re not sure what to do next, jumping straight to the hints system is often more entertaining than exploring the world. Sadly, you can’t recreate the phenomenon that the original trilogy sparked, but that doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t try. For all its faults, Telltale’s Back to the Future series was a noble attempt to capture the magic of the films.

Report: Microsoft Pursuing Free To Play 360 Games

Recent rumors suggest that Microsoft might support the model with microtransactions.

Develop posted a story late last week that offers up some interesting tidbits about upcoming Microsoft plans. Specifically, the report claims that 360 may soon be getting free-to-play games. The article goes on to describe a system where free-to-play games get money back through in-game items sales or premium upgrade options.

Would you be open to exploring free-to-play games on your Xbox 360? How about paying small amounts for incremental upgrades to the experience?

Former Marvel Studios Head Taking Control Of Angry Birds' Slingshot

Rovio's ubiquitous Angry Birds has infiltrated the iPhone, Android devices, the PSN, and evenbrowser windows. The next stop on its tour of world domination is films, and the indie studio has enlisted a veteran producer to help with navigation.

Former executive VP at Marvel Studios David Maisel has joined Rovio, where he'll continue in a similar capacity. As Gamesindustry.biz reports, Maisel helped to develop the studio and was a key player in Marvel Studios' eventual sale to Disney.

"Rovio has already had amazing success and established a great brand with Angry Birds," he said. "The business model, intellectual properties, and the franchise potential of Angry Birds give Rovio the most exciting prospects I have seen in the entertainment business since Marvel in 2003."

Angry Birds is definitely a fun little game about throwing birds at towers and watching them fall. Will that translate to success as a movie? Rovio and Maisel sure seem confident. Personally, I can't wait to learn more about the black bird who explodes when he's touched. Where did he come from? Where does he go after each detonation? Are his explosives a way to protect a heart that's been hurt one too many times?

Microsoft Releases Summer Of Arcade Schedule

Summer may be painfully barren when it comes to the triple-A retail games, but Xbox Live Arcade is bursting at the seams with promising titles. Here is the release schedule for the official Summer of Arcade lineup.

Bastion
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developer: Supergiant Games
Release Date: July 20
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

From Dust
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Release Date: July 27
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Fuelcell
Release Date: August 3
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

Fruit Ninja Kinect
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Halfbrick
Release Date: August 10
Price: 800 Microsoft Points

Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Signal Studios
Release Date: August 17
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

If you buy all five games, Microsoft is throwing in a free copy of Crimson Alliance, the Gauntlet-meets-Diablo hack 'n slasher that won over several GI editors at E3.

EMA Releases Statement On Supreme Court Decision

This morning, the Supreme Court struck down California's law that restricted the sale of violent video games to minors under the First Amendment (in the case of Brown v. EMA), and the EMA has commented on the situation.

Bo Andersen, president and CEO of the Entertainment Merchants Association released the following statement:

“EMA welcomes today’s Supreme Court ruling that let stand the Court of Appeals’ decision finding the California video game restriction law to be unconstitutional. We are gratified that our position that the law violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression has been vindicated and there now can be no argument whether video games are entitled to the same protection as books, movies, music, and other expressive entertainment."

While Andersen and the EMA took their victory lap, he isn't oblivious to the core reason for the law in the first place – the need for parents to be informed so they can monitor what their children play.

“While we appreciate this victory in the court of law, it does not obviate the concern that parents may have about the appropriateness of some video games for their children. But, as the Court noted, the ESRB rating system for video games ‘does much to ensure that minors cannot purchase seriously violent games on their own, and that parents who care about the matter can readily evaluate the games their children bring home.’”

“Video game retailers understand that they have a responsibility to help parents make informed decisions about the video games they buy for their children and to ensure that children are not able to purchase Mature-rated games without their parents’ permission. EMA-member retailers have a high level of ratings education and enforcement and, in fact, in an undercover shopper investigation released in April of this year, the Federal Trade Commission found that video game retailers turned down minors that attempted to purchase Mature-rated video games 87% of the time. Video game retailers remain committed to maintaining what the Federal Trade Commission termed their 'vigorous' enforcement of the video game ratings."

Final Fantasy VII And VIII Nearly Released On Steam

True story: My first playthrough of Final Fantasy VII was entirely done on PC. Square Enix isn't known for having a great PC support for its Japanese releases, but FF VII and VIII both received somewhat rough but workable PC versions. Since I had a suitable gaming PC at the time but no PlayStation, that's what I went with. As it turns out, I could have relived those memories on Steam, but it looks like the stars might be crossed for that particular dream.

RPG Site reports the surprising news that Final Fantasy VII and VIII have apparently been uploaded onto Steam's servers and ready to go "for months." This comes via the Steam Registry Toolkit, which allows users to view a Content Description Record listing every game and file available on Valve's Steam servers.

With some more digging, RPG Site was able to figure out that Square has been tinkering with launch code for the two notoriously unstable PC ports. Unfortunately, the last time that they updated anything was back in 2010, so it looks like brief hopes for nice, playable versions of FF VII and VIII on PC are probably not worth holding onto. RPG Site speculates that Square probably will not release the current, shoddy versions of the game at all.