SEATTLE, WA – September 2, 2010 - The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), the non-profit membership organization that represents gamers, today revealed a list of new partners that have offered their support to the ECA and the gamer petition campaign. The numerous companies involved are showing their support by promoting the petition and increasing the awareness of Schwarzenegger v. EMA, the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court violence in video games case. The petition will serve as a collective voice of game consumers and will be submitted to the Court on September 17^th, the documents submission deadline for the oral arguments hearing, which will take place on November 2^nd.

Over the past three months, the association has proactively reached out to all of the game publishing companies, development studios, retailers, distributors and media for assistance in getting the word out – asking them to help consumers, help the industry. A cross-section of businesses that pledged their support and are actively engaged include:

A complete list of all petition supporters can be found here.

To sign the gamer petition, please go to: www.GamerPetition.org. For more information on the ECA or to learn more about the ECA’s amicus brief and the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing of California’s violent video game case, please visit: Schwarzenegger v. EMA.

To learn more abut the ECA and to sign the gamer petition in person, attendees of the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle, WA (Sept 3-5, 2010) are invited to visit ECA Booth #1430.

About Schwarzenegger v. EMA

The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear the State of California’s infamous ‘violent video game case,’ Schwarzenegger v. EMA. That means that later this year, the Court is going to decide whether to agree with the lower federal courts or not. Agreeing would mean that they believe that video games are, and should continue to be, First Amendment protected speech; just like books, movies and music. The court disagreeing would mean that they think video games should be treated differently. This could lead to new bills and laws curtailing video game access in states across the country.

About The ECA

The ECA is the non-profit membership organization which represents consumers of interactive entertainment in the US and Canada. The association was founded to give gamers a collective voice with which to communicate their concerns, address their issues and focus their advocacy efforts. As such, the ECA is committed to a host of public policy efforts, empowering and enabling the membership to effect change. Additionally, the organization provides members substantial affinity benefits including discounts on games-related purchases and rentals, as well as community and educational initiatives. For additional information on the ECA, including affinity benefits, member discounts and joining the association, please visit: www.theECA.com

Your job: survive as long as you can. In your way are spike balls and lasers, as well as an ever-increasing speed and difficulty. Prepare to burn some calories!

PLAYSEAT ANNOUNCES PAX BOOTH IN SEATTLE, WA SEPTEMBER 3-5

REDMOND, WA  (September 1, 2010) – The premier manufacturer of gaming furniture worldwide will be in attendance at booth #651 at the upcoming PAX Show in Seattle at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, September 3-5^th featuring several new models of our signature gaming seats for hands-on demos, insightful gaming expertise, contests, prizes and more!

All PAX attendees are invited to take a shot at the ultimate XBox360 Forza 3 bundle. Competitors will have three laps with the Forza 3 signature Audi R8 around the Sebring International Raceway Club Circuit. The competitor with the best lap time at the close of the show will win the bundle for their Xbox360, which will include a limited edition copy of Forza 3, a limited edition Forza 3 Playseat Evolution Race Seat and an XBox360 Wireless Wheel !!

Also on site for gamers to test out will be our highly anticipated Playseat SV and Playseat Elite seats  [featuring StarCraft II !]. In addition, we will also have our dynamic FlightSeat for demo along with the official package and chassis setup of Revolution Racing’s Race Training Tech Lab, our signature Evolution seat complete with iRacing to showcase both iRacing’s and Revolution Racing’s thrilling experience featured on a custom DogHouse system and a Logitech G27 [www.revolutionracing.com].

Be sure to check us out !! For more information regarding Playseat’s booth at PAX Show in Seattle, please contact jking@playseatamerica.com.

About Playseat Playseat is the premier manufacturer of gaming furniture worldwide, a well-known brand in gaming, and an international registered trademark®. What started out as a simple garage concept created out of a leftover car seat and rusty scrap metal single handedly re-defined in-home gaming and revolutionized an industry. Corporately based in Holland/Netherlands, Playseat was officially founded  in 2000 by current president and ’97 Dutch Enduro 125cc Champion Dr. Fernando Smit. Inspired by his racing career, Dr. Smit wanted to find a way to bring the experience home, and felt the quickly advancing technology of the video game industry bridged that gap of realism, all that was missing was a realistic interface to round out the experience. Thus, the first Playseat was born, which has since evolved into a multitude of products that encompass all facets of gaming, truly making Playseat the Ultimate Gaming Experience. Founded in 2002, Playseat America handles all North and South America sales, marketing and distribution of Playseat products.

COMIC JUMPER FEATURED IN XBLA’S GAME FEAST

Twisted Pixel Games and Microsoft Game Studios announce Comic Jumper’s Release Date, Price, PAX Plans, And More.

AUSTIN, TX – August 31, 2010 – At Twisted Pixel there are few things we love more than food, so when Microsoft announced we’d be headlining the inaugural Game Feast, we were busy downing tacos.  But a couple hours later our food comas largely wore off, and we realized that on October 6^th, Comic Jumper would be released to the world, and that’s pretty awesome.  We should probably celebrate it with a bunch of free stuff and maybe write a food-themed press release.  Let’s get to it.

Looking Over The Menu

The Captain is a superhero extraordinaire and prima donna star of his own comic book series that spans literally tens of readers.  After he gets canceled, Twisted Pixel swoops in, ready to pay him minimum wage to be our lab rat with our new Comic Jumper technology – hiring him out to other comic books to come in and save their storylines when things go wrong.  Art Director David Leung says of the game, “four completely unique art styles in one game, each with their own gameplay modes and animations?  It’s cool, I don’t need to see my family.”  Dave?  Dave’s just giving me the finger now.  Moving on…

Main Course Served, Let’s Gorge

As part of The Game Feast promotion for Xbox LIVE® Arcade, Comic Jumper releases on October 6^th at 1200 points.  Continuing our tradition of cramming as much free stuff as we can into each game, Comic Jumper comes with a Premium Theme, Gamerpics, and free Avatar accessories!  As a special thank you to our Splosion Man fans, the game also includes a pair of free extra-long levels for Splosion Man, one Single-Player and one Multiplayer.  I don’t know how our mad programming geniuses pulled off that last one, but it’s pretty cool.

I’ll Take More Of That, That…. and That

Today we are releasing our latest in-depth reveal, this time on our 4^th genre, Manga.  If there was any doubt to how much we love our fans, let me just say that watching hours of obscure terrible Japanese manga is considered a war crime in most countries.  Designer Sean Conway comments on the complexities of incorporating the nuances of Japanese style, “Kunichiwa!  Tsunami ramen sushi hurricane Punch!”  Attaboy, Sean!   Way to sacrifice your sanity for the good of the game!  Check out www.twistedpixelgames.com for the fruits of his despair.

Ate Too Much, Think I’m Going To Puke

We’ll be showing up to PAX this year with a vast array of giveaways and prizes.  Our pièces de résistance are four custom painted “slim” Xboxes featuring The Captain that we’ll be giving away to lucky fans.  Our booth at PAX, aside from being staffed by our awesome team members, will have live ukulele performances of Donuts, Go Nuts! by our resident musical prodigy, Matt “Chainsaw” Chaney.  We’ll also have game competitions of Splosion Man and Comic Jumper, and free posters and other giveaways.  Plus we have some sweet T-shirts and Statuettes for the true superfan.  If you can’t make it to PAX, fear not: soon afterwards we’ll be giving more custom Xboxes away through your favorite websites.  These Xboxes feature takes on the Captain by renowned comic book artists.

RADICAL PREMIERE: MATA HARI

Cover Artist: Tamas Gaspar

Price: $1.00

Release Date: September 1st, 2010

The name Mata Hari is a familiar one that, and though her face may not jump to your mind right away, most people know that she was a woman of beauty and seduction.  But what was her real story?  Not a lot is actually known of the world’s most famous exotic dancer, but Radical Comics is taking its own spin on her story this Fall with Radical Premier: Mata Hari.  This is only a premier, mind you.  The actual graphic novel won’t be released until next year, but this $1.00 issue gives you a lip-smacking taste of the greatness that is to come.

For those of you who aren’t up on your World War I history, Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer/prostitute who was executed by firing squad for espionage during the War.  It’s not really clear if she actually was a spy or was just used as a scape goat and this book goes into the meaty history of it all.   If you’re really interested in the character you can brush up with the 1931 movie starring Greta Garbo (which I highly recommend), but this little book will do just fine too.

It starts out with a real mystery: a teenage girl is found in a Russian cemetery with a shovel and a jar with someone’s severed head inside.  For whatever reason the police decide to send one of their teenage clerks in to talk to her, rather than interview the girl themselves.  The girl proceeds to tell the clerk a forgotten story of her uncle, a former photographer in the Great War, who saw Mata Hari back in her performing years.  All you get in this issue is his history during the war and how he got to see her, along with the story of what Mata Hari was accused of and how she died, but it’s certainly enough to have me wanting to pick up the trade already.  I don’t want to wait until Spring, dammit!  Do want now!

The book also brings up a good point about World War I in that most people have completely forgotten about it.  It’s a major piece of the world’s history, but it’s constantly overshadowed by World War II, even though it was commonly known as “the war to end all wars.”  It’s also different in that fact because it’s concentrating on a time that isn’t used a lot in comics, unlike WWII which is tapped a lot for all sorts of different stories.  Maybe it’s because I’m a total history buff and love reading about forgotten history, but this Premier really makes me interested in the character and now I kind of want to go find a biography on Mata Hari. Author Rich Wilkes seemed to anticipate such a reaction and so included a nice little bonus at the end of the issue: a short biography and history of Mata Hari’s  importance during the war, cleverly titled “Mata Hari: a Proposition.”

The point of the matter is that so far this is shaping up to be a really good book.  Though the full graphic novel won’t be out until next year, this little nibblet will wet your whistle until you get a chance to taste the full meal.  Though it’s only 24 pages you still get a lot of meat with this issue for the low $1.00 price tag, so go pick it up this Wednesday.