How do you say “knee-jerk reaction” in political speak? It might look a little something like this.

Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah), pictured above, has introduced a bill – H.R. 287 – to the United States House of Representatives that would give the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s rating scheme – heretofore a voluntary, self-regulatory system – the force of law and make it illegal to sell “Mature” or “Adults Only” titles to minors.

H.R. 287 would “require ratings label on video games” and “prohibit the sales and rentals of adult-rated video games to minors.”

Matheson’s office has yet to return a request for comment.

The timing of this bill – following the Sandy Hook shooting and President Barack Obama’s executive order to study violent media like video games – couldn’t be more conspicuous. Obama had noted that “Congress should fund research into the effects violent video games have on young minds,” and certain groups – most notably the NRA – had blamed violent games for the Newtown, Conn. tragedy.

But the mere existence of the bill is puzzling and more than a bit troubling. The underlying concerns surrounding the bill were presumably settled in the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association. The aforementioned case struck down the 2005 California bill, AB 1179, which banned the sale of “violent video games” (as defined by federal legislators) to minors and required a clear “18” on said titles independent of the ESRB’s system.

That Supreme Court case was a huge victory for the entertainment industry. In no uncertain terms, it declared that “The Act [AB 1179] does not comport with the First Amendment.”

Moreover, the game industry created the ESRB to alleviate the threat of federal action in the early ’90s. And the self-regulatory agency has a sterling record of enforcement. A 2011 Federal Trade Commission undercover shopper survey found that “video game retailers continue to enforce most vigorously the ratings governing age and content that were established by the entertainment media industry.” Only 13 percent of underage shoppers were successful in procuring M-rated games, compared to 38 percent for movie DVDs, 33 percent for movie tickets, and a whopping 64 percent for music CDs.

It’s worth pointing out that gaming’s entertainment brethren enforce voluntary ratings systems. In other words, they don’t have the force of law. The Motion Picture Association of America, which tries to keep kiddies out of the latest R-rated gorefests, posts a voluntary ratings system.

So what makes gaming so unique among all entertainment mediums? And didn’t we already settle these issues in the highest court of the land?

(Image credit: Rep. Jim Matheson’s website)

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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The NRA is an organization of lying hypocrites.

That was my first reaction upon seeing that the 501(c) organization had released an iOS shooter app in the wake of its own comments regarding violent video games.

But the finished product, NRA: Practice Range (by MEDL Mobile), is little more than a crude bait-and-switch (much like this article’s first sentence).

iTunes describes the app as the NRA’s “new mobile nerve center, delivering one-touch access to the NRA network of news, laws, facts, knowledge, safety tips, educational materials and online resources.”

NRA: Practice Range touts its educational benefits on the front page (of the iTunes site, anyhow). But it dresses this “edutainment” in the guise of a low-rent shooting game that serves as the proverbial “bait.”

One minor confession: I’m a gun owner and a supporter of the 2nd Amendment. I love taking my Smith & Wesson 1911 .45 to the local range. And the app’s gameplay won’t win any awards … to put it kindly. “Infuriating” would be a good way to describe NRA: Practice Range’s gyroscopic shooting action (the analog mode improves matters slightly).

I’m not concerned here with the morality of firearms or the objective or artistic merits of the app itself. I’m more interested in analyzing the app’s purpose (or lack thereof) when juxtaposed with NRA President Wayne LaPierre’s statement that “vicious, violent video games with names like ‘Bulletstorm,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Splatterhouse” led – in part – to the Sandy Hook shooting.”

The game portion of NRA: Practice Range places you in an indoor range, outdoor range, or skeet shooting and tasks you with mowing down targets with an assortment of weaponry ranging from an M9 to an M16. And that’s about it.

Each mode offers one free weapon (you may purchase additional guns for $.99). The gameplay – via gyroscopic or analog controls – is repetitive and downright annoying.

But the raison d’etre of NRA: Practice Range is the “Facts” and “Gun Safety Tips” that display during loading screens – much like the historical facts and quotes in a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor title.

Some of these “Tips” – like “Never use alcohol or drugs before or while shooting” – seem simple to the point of pandering. Others – like “Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot” – aren’t so readily obvious to those weaned on Hollywood’s lax depiction of gun safety.

The app also provides separate links to Gun Safety, NRA News, Hunting Season, Gun Laws, and gun-related Legislation on the NRA site.

These are all useful links and – for the novice shooter – afford a great primer on the basics of gun ownership and pertinent background info. And most of the “Facts” and “Gun Safety Tips” are at least somewhat illuminating (though anyone who’s picked up a firearm in their life should have internalized most of them already).

But I question the existence of the shooting game. With its derivative gameplay, what purpose does it serve other than a bait-and-switch for the educational portion of NRA: Practice Range? I’d have no problem with an app that educates about responsible gun ownership – but then, the “game” segment is right there in the app’s title. It’s fundamentally dishonest.

And what is the purpose of the shooting game? I can’t picture anyone tolerating the infuriating gameplay for longer than 5 or 10 minutes. And coming from an organization dubbed the National Rifle Association – dedicated to educating the populace on firearms and their responsible operation — NRA: Practice Range is surprisingly light on gun-related details.

To its credit, NRA: Practice Range gets some minuscule details right. For example, the M16 only fires in semiauto mode (civilian AR-15 models don’t reach full-auto). But at its core, the shooting game is simply point-and-shoot. You’re not shooting at living targets and your victims don’t spew blood and guts, so no one would (or should) accuse the NRA of hypocrisy for simultaneously criticizing violent video games and endorsing an app like this.

But the game portion of NRA: Practice Range serves little to no purpose. Unlike the popular iOS shooting App, i-Gun by Vanilla Breeze, you won’t even learn the proper way to load a weapon and cock the hammer (for revolvers) or rack the slide (for semiautomatic pistols). It won’t familiarize you with the basic layout of a range (mainly because you won’t have the patience to play for more than 5 minutes), and you won’t learn anything about the real crux of firearms – the wood and metal of the firearms, themselves.

NRA: Practice Range isn’t hypocritical. And unlike some of my contemporaries, I see no problem with teaching responsible gun ownership to young shooters (though the iTunes site, in fact, rates it “12+”, which clashes with earlier reports). But the app serves little purpose, the game portion is a transparent bait-and-switch, and interested parties would do better to browse www.nra.org for pertinent info.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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I’m a freelance games journalist. I write for some of the most progressive publications on the planet. I’m also a gun owner, supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and nominally inclined toward the National Rifle Association.

Strange, I know.

So when the NRA blamed the Newton, Connecticut tragedy on violent video games, it struck a raw nerve.

“There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people,” NRA President Wayne LaPierre said in a December 21st statement.

“Through vicious, violent video games with names like ‘Bulletstorm,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Splatterhouse.’ And here’s one: it’s called ‘Kindergarten Killers.’ It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?”

Those who associate make-believe violence with real-life violence (particularly the idea that video games make kids more proficient marksmen) don’t understand gaming, firearms, or both. Since the NRA – the preeminent defender of the 2nd Amendment – is sufficiently acquainted with firearms, I’d have to conclude that it knows jack shit about gaming.

I don’t question Lt Col Dave Grossman’s expertise in firearms and marksmanship. But when the former parachute infantryman and U.S. Army Ranger calls certain games “murder simulators,” I can’t help but think that he’s never played a first-person shooter (or any video game with guns).

Anyone who’s both shot a weapon and played a video game in the last 20-30 years can point out clear differences between the two activities. Proper marksmanship entails a variety of mechanical, psychological, and physical elements that video games cannot possibly simulate.

I straddle the fence between gun owner and gamer so these discrepancies seem readily obvious to me. For example, no FPS, no matter how meticulously researched and detailed, can possibly mimic the recoil of a real-life weapon (especially the heavier automatic weapons).

The Weaver shooting stance. You can observe it in movies or video games but can only learn it by picking up a real-life weapon.

I shot an M2 Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun (“Ma Deuce”) from an enclosed Humvee turret once, and my ears were ringing afterward. No video game recreates the tactile response and visceral reality of firearms.

Playing Call of Duty won’t improve your sight picture, breathing, or hand placement. Medal of Honor won’t teach you the “weaver stance” or how to absorb the recoil of a .45 1911 pistol. Putting rounds downrange is the only way to become a more proficient shooter and learn the mechanical skills for handling a sidearm.

This is a very old argument. Any reasonable person — the key word being reasonable – can sense the innate difference between holding a virtual weapon and handling the wood and metal of a real-life firearm.

But few people can exhibit a basic level of familiarity with both video games and marksmanship. And every school shooting prompts calls for tighter regulation of our industry, and “violent video games” has become an all-too familiar refrain. U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has already passed a bill to direct the National Academy of Sciences to examine the link between violent video games and real-life violence. My guess? The study is inconclusive, finding no causal link between virtual entertainment and school shootings.

The Newton, Connecticut tragedy is symptomatic of many societal ills — ills that would more befit our tax dollars. Violent video games are not among them.

I’m not a member of the NRA. I support their mission but am generally adverse to large organizations. If I were, however, I would cancel my membership forthwith. Instead of launching a probe into the systematic failures that led to the Newton shootings or merely expressing their condolences, this influential lobbying group has cast aspersions on the least likely culprit.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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2012 saw the continued evolution of three consumer technologies — autostereoscopy, touch-sensing, and motion sense – with direct application in the gaming world.

As an analyst in the tech industry (I do this gaming stuff for fun and occasional profit), I’ve witnessed these burgeoning advancements spread from the fevered dreams of OEM engineers to vertical-market trade shows, the Consumer Electronics Show, and finally E3 and the games industry.

None of these technologies debuted in 2012, but they’ve each matured and become an indispensable part of gaming. For perspective, here’s a link to last year’s article.

Seeing in three dimensions without goofy eye wear

For those who don’t know, “autostereoscopy” is an informal term in the tech industry for glasses-free 3D – “stereoscopy” refers to the process by which combining two offset images gives the illusion of depth (three dimensions), and “auto” denotes the glasses-free component.

Autostereoscopy uses a parallax barrier to create 3D images without the need for special glasses. This differs from an active shutter system (like Nvidia 3D Vision), which, through special driver software and glasses that present alternating left- and right-eye images, presents the illusion of depth.

Most consumers are familiar with polarized 3D systems, by far the oldest and most mature of these technologies. These are the sort most often found in theaters and theme parks.

Of the three techniques, autostereoscopy shows the most promise, but the tech is inherently limiting, as the 3DS amply demonstrates. The biggest downside to glasses-free 3D is its highly restrictive viewing angles. In my own experience, it ranges anywhere from 45 degrees to 60 degrees. Move too far in any direction and it breaks the illusion. In that way, the 3DS – and its parent technology – are not dissimilar to a hologram.

When the 3D revival began in recent years, the consumer electronics industry threw all their weight behind this oft-maligned gimmick.  CES became saturated with 3D TVs, 3D movies, 3D projectors, 3D laptops, 3D gaming, and more than enough 3D to turn off consumers — which it did. Whereas the leap from cathode ray tube (CRT) to flat-screen was monumental, 3D wasn’t nearly enough to convince most people to abandon their “obsolete” LED TVs. Most consumers apparently saw it as a stop-gap solution.

OEMs lay the groundwork for autostereoscopy

I saw the foundation of the 3DS’s glasses-free 3D tech at optoelectronics events (essentially, anything having to do with displays and lighting), and a large manufacturer – rhymes with “Carp” – demoed a small form-factor display long before it did (or didn’t … shhhh) become part of a certain Nintendo handheld.

And yet, Nintendo’s autostereoscopic handheld system – which may or may not have utilized display technology from Japanese manufacturer, Sharp – faced an uphill battle due to inherent limitations with the tech, itself.

The 3DS was hobbled from the start – health reports loudly trumpeted claims that 3D was unhealthy for children, while many viewers (myself includes) get headaches and/or nausea from observing stereoscopy for too long. And up to 12 percent of the population suffers from “stereoblindness,” which prevents the individual from seeing 3D images.

But the 3DS’ biggest handicap was its restrictive viewing angles, given that its claim-to-fame was its autostereoscopy technology. On July 28, Nintendo partially mitigated this problem with the release of the 3DS XL, which increased the screen size by more than 90 percent — (top: 4.88 in [124 mm], bottom: 4.18 in [106 mm]). But was it too little, too late?

GamesBeat writer Jasmine Maleficent Rea noted that “The 3DS XL is what the 3DS should have started as.”

But she also addressed the system’s improved capabilities: “A wider viewing area enhances the 3D effect, making some games that were too blurry in 3D a joy to play. For those of us with horrible vision, larger screens are a must, and because of this advancement, the 3DS XL is a great step toward people accepting a ‘gimmicky’ feature as a viable gameplay tool.”

Most consumers still do see 3D as a gimmick, and autostereoscopy is but a fancier gimmick. But for stereoscopy to ever become part of mainstream entertainment, it must shed the clunky glasses and develop into a mature, glasses-free technology.

Pinching, swiping, and styli

Capacitive touch – which underpins your iPhones, Samsung Galaxys, Droids, and countless smartphones – has become more prominent as the platforms supporting it have eked out a bigger piece of the pie. And resistive touch – the passive cousin of capacitive – has done even better for itself, featuring prominently in the Wii U gamepad (not to mention countless commercial applications like ATMs and credit card payment machines).

Resistive touch sensing – which registers pressure via fingers, styli, and other objects – is hardly a new technology. Because of its versatility compared to competing systems (like capacitive touch), resistive touch is popular in commercial applications like ATMs.

Nintendo utilized this relatively primitive touchscreen technology for its DS and 3DS systems, presumably to save a buck and to enable the use of styli.

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Industry vets Martin Goldberg and Curt Vendel have penned a comprehensive history of the retro gaming juggernaut, Atari, in time for the 40th anniversary of the interactive, table-tennis classic, Pong. The book is called “Atari Inc. — Business is Fun.”

Previous accounts associate Atari with its laid-back culture – the lax dress codes, hot tub meetings, and copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. And you’re probably familiar with the company’s seminal contributions to the early histories of video gaming … Pong, Asteroids, Breakout, Tempest, Centipede, etc.

You’re probably also aware of Atari’s principle responsibility for the great video game crash of 1983 via an adorable alien named E.T. 3.5 million unsold units, a $1.3 billion loss in market valuation, and a New Mexico landfill later, and one of the great video game cautionary tales was born.

But the book goes beyond all the facts and figures to focus on the people who made this early ‘70s zeitgeist such a success. Basically – what was it like to work for a company “whose sole intent was to create FUN for a living”?

According to Vendel, “This book will dispel … and maybe also ‘confirm’ numerous rumors by giving readers that front row, first person experience.”

This 800-page tome – over seven years in the writing – contains 300 pages (yes, 300 pages) of previously unseen photos and is available from Amazon right now.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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It turns out that real soldiers don’t regenerate and machine guns don’t have unlimited ammo. Who knew?

It’s no secret that first-person shooters — in all their Hollywood-inspired clamor and spectacle — don’t simulate the realities of war very well. From basic rules of engagement, to gun safety (such as “don’t flag your buddies”), and the dynamics of combat, first-person shooters are more akin to interactive action flicks than a proper re-creation of armed conflict.

Of course, no one wants to play a hyper-realistic military simulator, as this hilarious Onion sketch illustrates.

No one wants to fill out endless paperwork, take mandatory sexual harassment training, write NCOERs (noncommissioned officer evaluation reports), sit through Powerpoint presentations with the potency of 10 Valiums, or stand 12-hour watches. No one wants to experience “hurry up and wait.”

Because that would be boring. Too realistic.

People want an escape from the mundane. But surely we can find a happy medium between silly action flicks and boring reality.

With the recent release of what will probably be the best-selling video game of the year, Call of Duty Black Ops II (for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC), I thought it instructive to get the low-down from a real soldier, a veteran who deployed in support of the Global War on Terror. Sergeant Dave Mull deployed to Iraq in support of the Global War on Terror three separate times: ’04-’05, early ’07-late ’07, and ’08. His Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) is Cavalry Scount (19D), which essentially means that his job is enemy, area, and route reconnaissance. Altogether, he served 12 years.

Our conversation yielded some fascinating insights, and some of it may surprise you.

GamesBeat: What are some of the most basic details that your average military shooter gets wrong?

The author firing the M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon). The barrels get really hot and have a tendency to overheat.

GamesBeat: What inaccuracies seem the most jarring? Is there anything that would prevent you from playing such a game?

Dave Mull: Hmm … they seem to be trying far too hard to make everything “epic” in campaign mode. It can sometimes be a chore trying to figure out which enemies actually count and which ones are the infinitely respawning cannon-fodder bots.

It won’t stop me from playing it, but you’d think they could remember that sometimes nothing happening can be just as, if not much more, suspenseful.

GamesBeat: It does seem like the goal of many shooters — Call of Duty especially — is bigger setpieces, bigger explosions, and bigger bodycounts. Which naturally makes them more like a Michael Bay movie than anything resembling reality.

Dave Mull: Remember in the Metal Gear Solid games, it’s intended that you don’t kill anyone. Of course, you can, but it’s not the way [series creator Hideo] Kojima envisioned it.

GamesBeat: Indeed. And a reader on Bitmob, GamesBeat’s sister site, pointed out that MGS4 is one of the few games to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. In many ways, it’s a more realistic depiction of war than any first-person shooter.

Dave Mull: Very much so — specifically toward the end with Adam’s adoption of Liquid Snake’s personality and with the four gals of the Beauty and the Beast unit.

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Long lines at the mall, cold weather, Christmas music sapping your will to live, and the unbridled terror of visiting family … the holiday season can be extremely stressful.

But I also have plenty to be thankful for that doesn’t include the words “happy New Year” or “welcome to the official start of summer.”

In honor of this most American of holidays – in which we cherish what we have by camping out for doorbuster sales – I’d like to share what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving.

A bonanza of new games

Once I’m done cramming my mouth with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin bread, pie, and several other plates that will increase my pants size, I’m in no mood for small talk or listening to Uncle Joe’s ramblings about globalization while I slip into a food coma.

Not pictured: Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders

This is the perfect time to escape the assembled masses and play some honest-to-goodness video games. Luckily, this season has been good to us: Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Hitman: Absolution, Assassin’s Creed III, ZombieU, Resident Evil 6, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion … not to mention my huge backlog of shame.

The industry has provided even the most persnickety among us an alibi to excuse ourselves from our dinner tables.

Wreck-it Ralph

It’s not based on a real video game, but that doesn’t matter. Hollywood has fumbled every game-based film attempted since the infamous Super Mario Bros. (and the dancing goombas that, to this day, give me nightmares), and some creative folks are finally getting the message.

It turns out that the best way to do a video game movie is to pay tribute to the burgeoning medium instead of fighting a losing battle trying to adapt something with a paper-thin story. Think: The Wizard and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Wreck-it Ralph is born from a love of all things video games yet still recognizes the limitations of the source material. It’s at once funny, engaging, and extremely nostalgic. Everyone should see it and thank Disney for bestowing this gift upon our industry.

The Consumer Electronics Show

Held each year at the beginning of January, CES is the premier stage for the latest emerging technologies, consumer gadgets, and gee-wiz entertainment devices. While Apple never shows up and Microsoft bowed out last year, nearly every leading electronics manufacturer makes an appearance, and you can usually see the bread crumbs of cool gaming technologies (the 3DS’s autostereoscopy or glasses-free 3D, for instance) at CES before anywhere else.

And the show is in Las Vegas, where Insert Coin(s) (a gaming-themed bar/nightclub) just opened last year. Most people go to Vegas to play video games, right?

The Wii U

Hear me out. Nintendo’s latest console has been highly divisive even amongst the GamesBeat staff. Some fans – enamored with the big N’s first-party properties and the opportunity for an HD Nintendo console – sucked it up immediately. Others decry its relative dearth of original ideas, new games (that aren’t rereleases), and odd controller design.

Either way, the Wii U is an extremely important piece of hardware for the industry. It’ll either crash and burn or perform averagely (which, for Nintendo, will feel like crashing and burning), and the ensuing shakeup will cause the Japanese gaming giant to rethink its strategic vision. And let’s face it: After the cultural zeitgeist that was the Wii, anything short of earth-shattering will reverberate far and wide.

Or the system will find its footing, reconnect with hardcore gamers, and recapture a bit of the ‘80s and ‘90s Nintendo charm we all fell in love with. It’s win-win for all.

Family, friends, good cheer … peace on earth and goodwill toward men

Just kidding. That stuff sucks.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Startup Tiny Speck announced that it will be shutting down its quirky browser-based, massively multiplayer game, Glitch, at the end of the year.

According to the website, Tiny Speck (helmed by Flickr cofounder Stewart Butterfield) will close the live game/world at 8 p.m. Pacific time on  Dec. 9, while the website and forums will stay open until the end of the year.

“For many of us at Tiny Speck, the creation of something like Glitch was a long-held dream. There’s no better word than ‘heartbreaking’ to describe what it feels like to have to do this,” the startup said.

Tiny Speck noted that Glitch had not “attracted an audience large enough to sustain itself and based on a long period of experimentation and our best estimates, it seems unlikely that it ever would.”

The whimsical title – a cross between 2D platforming and an acid trip – attracted a cult following, particularly among social gamers and jaded games journalists tired of standard MMO experiences.

Glitch’s trippy trailer explained all you needed to know – it placed you inside the brain of one of 11 giants who collectively imagined the world. According to the trailer, “you’re inside their thoughts,” and your task was to make them bigger.

The trailer had a zany energy that evoked deliciously wacky experiences like Katamari Damaci – no coincidence, since Tiny Speck enlisted the services of Japanese game developer Keita Takahashi, who created Katamari.

Glitch had a somewhat tumultuous history that had many rooting for the quirky little MMO that could.

Back in April 2011, Tiny Speck raised $10.7 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Accel. After the game launched on Sept. 27, 2011, Tiny Speck “unlaunched” it a couple months later to resume beta testing.

And now the end is near for this social game that was perhaps too imaginative for its own good.

Tiny Speck will issue automatic refunds for recent purchases and will manually handle refunds for older transactions, beginning with the newest sales.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Who knew the Department of Defense took operational security so seriously?

Multiple outlets are reporting that the government agency charged with protecting our nation’s secrets – the DoD – is punishing seven active-duty Navy SEALs who consulted on EA’s Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Four more are under investigation.

The DoD docked the SEALs’ pay for two months and placed letters of reprimand in their file. For all intents and purposes, this could end their careers.

Last month, GamesBeat reported that EA consulted with two dozen active-duty and retired SEALs and other Spec Ops personnel – including Matt Bissonnette, who was part of the Seal Team 6 team that killed Osama Bin Laden – for Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

At the time, EA spokesman Pete Nguyen told GamesBeat, “We are not aware of any rules that oblige EA to vet the game with the Department of Defense, and we don’t know if veterans who consulted on the game have been in contact with the Department of Defense.”

The latter has now been definitively settled. Apparently, the SEALs didn’t follow the normal vetting process, and they’re paying the price.

While civilians aren’t obligated to safeguard classified information – think of it as freedom of the press – military personnel are entrusted with security clearances, which entail very specific guidelines and restrictions.

And the military is very clear about interacting with the media: Service members must obtain permission before speaking to journalists. Typically, the DoD will refer the military personnel or media to Public Affairs Officers (PAOs).

I have no doubt that EA’s intentions were pure. The Medal of Honor reboot (2010) – based in part on Afghanistan’s Operation Anaconda – took great pains to honor the heroic sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. See this quote, taken from the game’s ending.

But EA forgot to bone up on OPSEC procedures.

In the interests of full disclosure, I was in the Army Reserves for three years and can attest to the fact that the military takes OPSEC (and idle chit-chat with the media) very seriously – especially after General Stanley McChrystal – formerly the Commander, International Security Assistance Force and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan – got a little too chummy with a Rolling Stone reporter, thereby forfeiting his career.

The military routinely lends technical assistance to Hollywood productions (provided the script passes DoD muster).

See: Top Gun, Transformers, Battleship, Black Hawk Down, etc.

But the DoD is especially sensitive about OPSEC concerns (the ‘ol “loose lips sink ships”), and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty – a fictionalized account of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden – caused a recent stir.

In response to the alleged disclosure of sensitive intel, Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, said that “I am concerned about the possible exposure of classified information to these filmmakers, who as far as I know, do not possess security clearances.”

King has called for an investigation.

Given this turn of events – and the DoD’s ruffled feathers – it’s no surprise that the SEALs who consulted on Medal of Honor: Warfighter face disciplinary action.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Dota 2 is heading to Asia.

“Freemium” publishing guru Nexon (MapleStory) is partnering with Valve Corporation (Portal, Half-Life) to publish the Defense of the Ancients sequel in both Korea and Japan.

The original Defense of the Ancients, is a free-to-play mod for the real-time strategy game, Warcraft III. This birthed the “multiplayer online battle arena” genre of games such as League of Legends. Upon release, the original quickly established a presence in e-sports tournaments worldwide, including BlizzCon and the Cyberathlete Amateur and CyberEvolution leagues.

A 2008 Gamasutra feature, “Defense of the Ancients – An Underground Revolution,” noted that “DOTA is likely the most popular and most-discussed free, nonsupported game mod in the world, judging by the numbers.”

Considering that DOTA also was featured at the annual World Cyber Games (operated by the eponymous South Korean company and sponsored by South Korean stalwart, Samsung Electronics), it’s no wonder the sequel found its way to Asia.

Dota 2’s release date is TBA, but it’s already created a bit of a stir. Enigmatic designer “IceFrog“ will contribute to the game, which uses Valve’s proprietary Source engine.

Interested parties can sign up for a “Free Dota 2 Invite” on the official blog: http://www.dota2.com/survey/experience/

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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GamesBeat would like to remind its American readers that your civic duty today entails more than just buying Halo 4. So put down that controller and go vote for the next president of the United States!

Many gaming luminaries have already cast their ballots or have otherwise become politically active in the days and weeks leading up to the 2012 General Election. Here’s a small sampling from Twitter:

As a rule, most corporations abstain from politics — politics = divisiveness = lost sales. But at least a couple developers have thrown their hat in the race, with public service announcements, in-game ads, and funny videos.

Larian Studios allowed characters from its forthcoming RPG, Divinity: Dragon Commander, to “campaign,” transposing real issues for thinly veiled gamified replacements. Over the last four days, they’ve hosted these informative discussions on their Facebook page. Which side do you agree with?

Gay Marriage

Gun Control

Global Warming

Immigration

South Korean publisher Nexon has created an entire mini-site, “The Great Maple Election 2012,” devoted to this all-important presidential election. Nexon created four public-service videos, including this hilarious one illustrating the powers of the chief executive:

While Obama famously urged kids to “step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside,” this hasn’t stopped his campaign from furiously targeting the game-playing demographic. In a repeat of 2008, the Democrats ran in-game ads in select online Electronic Arts games such as Madden NFL, Battleship, Tetris, and others on Pogo.com. The campaign ran their ads in the following battleground states: Ohio, Nevada, Virgina, Iowa, and New Hampshire.

The gaming community has also gotten involved. Undecided and swing voters who watched the three debates on Xbox Live overwhelmingly preferred Obama. In the third debate, more than 100,000 Xbox Live members tuned in and answered 130 real-time questions.

Tonight, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern, Microsoft is live-streaming two political programs on the Xbox 360:

• “NBC’s News Coverage on Xbox LIVE,” which includes interactive polling.
• A live stream of “Comedy Central’s Indecision Election Night” special with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will begin at 11 p.m. Eastern.

And just for a little levity on this highly stressful day, here’s a political message from the “merc with a mouth,” Deadpool:

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What if LucasArts never existed? What if the irascible filmmaker, beloved (and despised) the world over for his invaluable contributions to the pop-culture lexicon, had stuck to making space operas and juvenile fantasies about archeologists in fedora hats? What if George Lucas never entered the arena of gaming 30 years ago?

LucasArts revolutionized, created, or nurtured several whole genres, so its absence would’ve irreparably hindered the burgeoning video game medium. The San Francisco-based developer and publisher gave the point-and-click adventure – a heretofore obscure niche – a serious shot in the arm (and doctors everywhere an influx of carpal tunnel patients).

It reinvigorated the space shooter, redefined console RPGs, and when Jar Jar Binks took a dump on the collective geek fandom, it even reignited the ailing Star Wars franchise. LucasArts games have appeared on every major console, from early 1980s consoles such as the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision to the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, including dank parlors of teenage truancy (i.e., arcades).

LucasArts has dabbled in almost every genre in gaming: point-and-click adventures, space shooters, first-person shooters, action, sidescrollers, role-playing games, MMORPGs, and even fighting games.

Suffice to say that the forerunner of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Maniac Mansion, and Monkey Island had a significant impact on gaming.

Humble beginnings

George Lucas founded LucasArts, the gaming arm of LucasFilm, in 1982 – the same year that Lucas’ frequent collaborator, Steven Spielberg, unleashed the interactive version of his adorable, alcoholic, bipedal alien, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. While the latter nearly destroyed gaming in its infancy, LucasArts would weather the great crash of 1983 and reemerge for the medium’s second renaissance in North America in 1985.

LucasArts originally partnered with the premier North American video game company – Atari – and in 1984, produced inventive action titles like Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus! for the 5200 and 7800 systems. PC versions followed a year later.

During the era of Reagan, greed, and the imminent fall of the Soviet Union (aka the 1980s), LucasArts developed a number of military simulations, including PHM Pegasus (1986), Strike Fleet (1987), and Battlehawks 1942 (1989). This was no accident.

One of Lucas’ prime inspirations for the Star Wars trilogy – especially the gee-wiz, outerspace dogfighting scenes – were swashbuckling, jingoistic World War II flicks, and he’d explore this more directly with the 2012 film Red Tails.

LucasArts would revisit combat sims years later, but under the guise of its flagship franchise – Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998) and Star Wars: Starfighter (2001), to name but a few. They’d also return to the WWII era with 2003′s aerial-warfare title, Secret Weapons Over Normandy.

Planting the point-and-click adventure flag

LucasArts found its stride with repetitive mouse clicks and a little game called Maniac Mansion (1987). Creators Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick designed a loving tribute to B-movies, kitschy horror films, and ’80s teen flicks.

Maniac Mansion – based on Skywalker Ranch – gave the intrepid point-and-click explorer the opportunity to solve puzzles, navigate the sort of prepubescent stupidity that only exists in horror flicks, and for the budding serial killer, microwave a hamster. Seriously.

It also introduced the Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion (SCUMM), a scripting/programming language that saw action in every subsequent LucasArts adventure game.

SCUMM was the subject of numerous in-jokes, not the least of which was the Razor and the Scummettes band from Maniac Mansion and the “SCUMM bar” in The Secret of Monkey Island (1990).

The latter, of course, established LucasArts as the premier developer of adventure games on the planet. Maniac Mansion and SCUMM alumni, Ron Gilbert, returned for The Secret of Monkey Island, and a young Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Brütal Legend) cut his teeth on this seminal adventure title.

Apart from Star Wars, Monkey Island is probably LucasArts’ most enduring franchise.

Teenaged pirate Guybrush Threepwood returned for four sequels, including Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (1991), The Curse of Monkey Island (1997), Escape from Monkey Island (2000), and the episodic Tales of Monkey Island (2009).

Talk about longevity – from the original Monkey Island to Tales, the series spans nearly two decades. This puts it roughly equivalent to video game stalwarts (and franchise superstars) like Mega Man, the latter of which only has about four years on Monkey Island.

Indy takes the spotlight

Before LucasArts made its bones in the adventure genre with Maniac Mansion, it dipped its toes in the water with Labyrinth, based on the Jim Henson (and Lucasfilm) fantasy movie. But that was just a taste.

The globetrotting archeologist (of the fedora hat and whip variety) also saw numerous video-game adaptations. Many of the early Indiana Jones titles were movie tie-ins (Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Atari 2600, The Last Crusade for the Genesis and NES), and LucasArts didn’t publish or develop most of them.

The house that Lucas built assumed auteur duties for the point-and-click adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992), a critically acclaimed genre title, and LucasArts subsequently took charge for Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (1999), Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb (2003), and Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (2009).

Alas, I feel like I’m forgetting one particular franchise…

Wars among the stars

LucasFilm’s cash cow was a stalwart of video gaming since Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1982) for the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision and the Star Wars arcade game (1983). But Lucas’ in-house development studio didn’t work on it until the X-Wing franchise.

The DOS-based space-combat sim put you in the cockpit of various Rebel starfighters – X-wings, Y-wings, and A-wings – ultimately tasking you with assaulting the Death Star itself. Lead designer Lawrence Holland borrowed a number of gameplay elements from his previous WWII flight sim, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

X-Wing included a revolutionary 3D flight engine, the template for every succeeding space-combat sim, and won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1993.

But it was the sequel – much like with the Star Wars cinematic franchise – that ensured X-Wing’s enduring legacy.

Remember Vader’s wingmen from A New Hope (DS-61-2 and DS-61-3, if my memory serves … yes, I’m a hopeless Star Wars geek)? Ever wanted to be them (or a reasonable facsimile, given that those two chuckleheads screwed up, one collided with Vader, and essentially helped saved the Alliance)?

Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994) gave budding Imperialists the chance to play as the bad guys. This was followed by the multiplayer-oriented X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997) and later by X-Wing Alliance (1999).

Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993) uses FMV cut-scenes, pre-rendered 3D backdrops, and digitized music and footage from the movies to re-create the trilogy beneath the helmet and behind the trigger of “Rookie One” (a transparent stand-in for another famous Tatooine moisture farmer who walks among the sky).

The sequel, Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire (1995), incorporated original footage of real actors, with high production values and expert use of John Williams’ iconic score. But the clunky, on-rails gameplay kept the game from achieving its predecessor’s fortune and glory (to reference another famous LucasArts franchise).

Meatbags, Jedi, and console RPGs

By 2002, the consensus among the collective Star Wars fandom was that the franchise was overexposed. Episode I: The Phantom Menace took the series in what some perceived as a new kid-friendly direction, alienating long-time fans, and most of the games that followed in its wake were mediocre (at best).

Then along came a console role-playing game called Knights of the old Republic (2003), featuring customizable classes, witty dialogue, and a mature, multilayered narrative. In other words, it was everything that the prequel trilogy (Episodes I, II, and III) tried (and mostly failed) to be. KOTOR was an immediate hit with gamers, and PC and Mac ports followed shortly thereafter.

LucasArts published the sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II — The Sith Lords, for the Xbox and Windows PC in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

‘Block’ party

In 2005, LucasArts inaugurated the Lego video game craze with Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, an instant multiplayer classic. And since your characters could never truly die (they explode in a cacophony of cute, Lego body parts, only to instantly respawn), it’s also a family-friendly classic.

While not the first Lego-branded video game (that would be 1997’s Lego Island), it indisputably launched the current renaissance, and its success compelled LucasArts to release a slew of sequels and spinoffs, including Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (2006), Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007), a compilation of the prior two, and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (2011).

Henry Jones Junior (aka Indiana) also got a couple titles, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (2008) and Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (2009).

Credit LucasArts for igniting the Lego gaming craze – non-Lucas franchises, including Batman and Harry Potter, rode the former’s wave of success.

Experimental phase

Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995) capitalized on the popularity of Doom and took the Star Wars franchise into the realm of first-person shooters. It spawned a sequel, Star Wars: Jedi Knight — Dark Forces II (1997) and the Star Wars: Jedi Knight third-person action series.

LucasArts dabbled in strategy with Star Wars: Rebellion (1998), Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001) and Star Wars: Empire at War (2006), and it ventured into the tempestuous world of massively multiplayer online role-playing games with Star Wars: Galaxies (2003) and Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011). While the former was plagued by bugs and an overly complex progression and class system, the latter acquitted itself much better.

In one of the most bizarre uses of the Star Wars license, LucasArts created the 1997 fighting game, Masters of Teräs Käsi, a poorly received mess.

Third-person action title Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, a multimedia craze (punctuated by the official canonical sanctioning by one George Lucas), launched with the Nintendo 64 in 1996, while the recent Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) presented an uncommonly superb narrative, even if it was mechanically flawed (and even if the 2010 sequel threw out all the nuance and subtlety of its predecessor).

The future

By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard that everybody’s favorite cartoon mouse purchased Lucasfilm (and LucasArts) for a cool $4.05 billion. What does this mean for the future of the gaming division? Lucasfilm spokesperson Barbara Gamlen told GamesBeat that “For the time being, all projects are business as usual.”

This might suggest that Disney has no plans to tinker with the forthcoming Star Wars 1313, the M-rated action-adventure title revealed at this year’s E3 (to the delight of fanboys everywhere, myself included). But considering the mass-media juggernaut’s family-friendly facade, gamers are rightfully concerned.

GamesBeat will continue to document the rich history of LucasArts as it develops and hope that a new chairman of the board subscribes to the light side of the force.

Here’s to 30 more years of quality LucasArts gaming.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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A video game may have laid the groundwork for true artificial intelligence (A.I.).

What if “bots” (computer-controlled enemies in first-person shooters) could disguise themselves as human? Would that not pass Turing’s test, which measures A.I. by virtue of imitating human behavior?

Specially designed bots at the BotPrize Unreal Tournament competition apparently did just that, convincing over half their flesh-and-blood opponents that they were, in fact, human.

The best way to pass as a human is to behave like one, and this was the design philosophy of the victorious digital warriors. In the video below, one of the human “judges,” “Miguel,” battles “Ty” (in actuality, the UT^2, one of the A.I. bots), and Ty matches Miguel step for step before fragging him.

The final leg of the contest saw four human competitors duke it out with an equal number of built-in bots and six digital entrants (bots) attempting to masquerade as human. Each combatant had a “judging gun” in addition to his normal complement of weaponry, and the goal — for the artificial players, anyway — was to pass themselves off as human. Two of these digital warriors managed to earn a 52 percent “human rating,” which exceeded any human contestant.

Think about that: A machine (two of them, in fact) appeared more human than actual humans.

Cue Skynet killer-robot scenarios.

Turing’s test and A.I.

While Alan Turing — circa 1950 — couldn’t have foreseen the sophisticated interactive entertainment of today, and his celebrated “test” was largely theoretical, the BotPrize winners certainly exhibited a high degree of artificial intelligence.

But did they actually pass the Turing test?

That’s their claim to fame, after all. University of Texas professor Risto Miikkulainen who, along with doctoral students Jacob Schrum and Igor Karpov, created one of the two winning bots, UT^2, described BotPrize as a “Turing test for game bots.” But does it pass this crucial A.I. threshold?

To answer that, it’s important to understand what Turing — and by extension, the BotPrize competition — was trying to accomplish. The goal wasn’t to defeat humans in a game of skill. Leave that to Deep Blue and Ninja Gaiden Black. Rather, the idea was to blend in and become indistinguishable from humans — which essentially means dumbing it down.

Sixty-two years ago, computer scientist Alan Turing devised a challenge for measuring artificial intelligence. His test was a variation on the “Imitation Game,” where an interrogator (of any gender) must identify the sex of two players, a man and a woman, through a line of questioning (and without seeing the players). Player A’s job is to trick the interrogator into making the wrong decision, while player B is supposed to assist them.

Turing’s version substituted a computer for player A, while player B could be either sex. At the time, he made the following bold prediction:

“I believe that in about 50 years’ time, it will be possible to program computers, with a storage capacity of about 10⁹, to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70 percent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning.”

He also claimed that, by the year 2000, we could speak of “thinking machines” without anyone contradicting us. We’re about 12 years late, but we may have finally achieved Turing’s goal. And it’s all happened fairly recently.

Indeed, Miikkulainen noted that “just a few years ago, the kind of computing power for BotPrize wasn’t possible.”

Designing a bot to fool human players

The definition of machine “intelligence” varies wildly, but in many ways — BotPrize included — we’ve already achieved that. If the goal is to exhibit human-like tendencies and fool the interrogator (or player, as it were) into accepting an artificial construct as real, then the UT^2 passed the Turing test.

To gain some perspective, I interviewed Miikkulainen, and our discussion yielded fascinating insights on the future of game development and humanity in general.

Over the course of five years — the UT^2’s incubation period — Risto Miikkulainen and his team learned a great deal about human nature. Above all else, people are stubborn, overly persistent, and irrational. They’re inefficient. As Risto mentioned, “Humans aren’t fully optimized.”

When playing first-person shooters, people make illogical decisions for a number of biased, subjective reasons (and then teabag each other on X-box Live).

We pursue vendettas. We become attached to treasured instruments of destruction (even when they’re inadequate to the task at hand). And we make mistakes. Lots of them.

So the team needed to train the UT^2’s neural networks to reflect these imperfections. They did this through a two-pronged approach — by integrating previously observed human behavior and an “evolutionary reinforcement learning method” called “neuroevolution.”

Through a “survival of the fittest” vetting process, the team “evolved” a mature bot that could pass as a human. This wasn’t your ordinary, everyday artificial intelligence.

Miikkulainen was quick to remind me that you don’t program neural networks. Rather, you train them through learning mechanisms. And one of the stereotypical robotic behaviors — if we can indeed refer to robots as behaving a certain way — is cold, calculating precision. The team applied certain “resource restrictions” so the A.I. would appear more human.

When they began this project five years ago, the best bots scored a 20 percent to 25 percent human rating (with actual humans 10 percent to 15 percent higher). At the BotPrize competition, UT^2 and another combatant, Mirrorbot, achieved a 52 percent human rating.

Considering the bland patterns and on-rails chicanery we tend to associate with bots, this is a huge accomplishment.

“My CPU is a neural net processor, a learning computer”

To my own dismay — and the broken hearts of sci-fi geeks worldwide — UT^2 isn’t a “learning computer.” It can’t recognize new patterns, improvise, or formulate new strategies. And it doesn’t have a will of its own (though this is probably a good thing).

In other words, UT^2 doesn’t “learn” during its performance. Rather, it “evolves” ahead of time. According to Miikkulainen, “the neural network is not infinitely adaptable,” and it takes some time to change course. This was by design.

Miikkulainen stressed throughout the interview that human players like to observe behavior that mirrors their own (this was the namesake of Mirrorbot, in fact). So UT^2 employs a unique “strategy”: Instead of seeking the optimal approach to each scenario — which would flag it as a robot — the A.I. mimics the actions of its opponent.

Not coincidentally, the learning mechanism mimicked human limitations, which enabled the A.I. to disguise itself as a human. And it accomplished that singular goal admirably. As a gamer, technologist, and bona fide geek, I’m salivating for all the potential applications.

I’ll settle for escort missions — with smarter A.I. — that don’t give me homicidal thoughts.

UT^2 isn’t the Terminator or even a benign fictional android like Star Trek’s Data. But it’s a start. As Miikkulainen pointed out, gaming environments are a good stepping stone. In masquerading — successfully — as a human, UT^2 honored the spirit of Turing’s test and took an important first step in the development of sophisticated artificial intelligence.

The UT^2 software package (including the source code) is available for download at http://nn.cs.utexas.edu/?ut2.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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