On behalf of everyone at the Entertainment Consumers Association and GamePolitics I'd like to wish all of our wonderful readers a very Happy Easter and Passover. The ECA offices are closed in observance of the holiday beginning on Good Friday so expect this space to be relatively quiet unless something ultra exciting happens tomorrow.

We'll be back here with bells on on Monday. As always thank you for reading our publication and for the stimulating and spirited conversations in the comments and the shout box. You are the reason we get out of bed every morning!

Are you at work today?  Did you know it's a U.S. federal holiday?

Yep, today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a day we observe the birthday (actually Jan. 15th but we observe it on the third Monday of every January for convenience's sake) of one of our nation's history's greatest orators and civil rights activists.

On behalf of the ECA, our writers and contributors and myself, we wish you a happy, safe and healthy New Year. While 2012 had its fair share of ups and downs, Internet freedom and free speech had a very good year. Draconian laws and treaties that would have limited free speech and taken away our rights to privacy were soundly defeated by a vocal majority in countries all over the world.

Mojang's popular world building game franchise Minecraft had a wonderful Christmas / holiday season, according to tweets from company co-founder and Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson. According to Notch, the company sold 453,000 copies of the game across all platforms during the Christmas season.

"Across all platforms, Minecraft sold 453k copies on dec 24! Wowzers! <3," he tweeted.

He corrected himself in a follow-up tweet shortly thereafter:

On Christmas day iOS and Android device activations were greater than any other day in history, according to a new report from mobile analytics company Flurry. As highlighted by VentureBeat Flurry claims that over 17 million new smartphones and tablets were activated on Christmas day. Compared to the rest of December, new iOS and Android activations rose a whopping 332 percent on Christmas Day.

As Charlie Brown might say, "Well, another Christmas has come and gone."

So, did you get a video game for Christmas?  That's what this week's poll is asking so roll up you sleeves and get to voting.  Tell us all about the game(s) you got or wanted in the comments section below or email SuperPACPodcast@gmail.com.

We should have a new podcast for you next week so we'll discuss the results of the poll and our Christmas hauls on episode 34 of Super Podcast Action Committee.

On behalf of myself (James Fudge), Andrew Eisen, E. Zachary Knight, GamePolitics, and the ECA family, we wish you a happy, safe and wondrous holiday. No matter what you believe in (or don't believe in), whether you are surrounded by friends and family, or are on your own, we hope that you have a full 24 hours filled with joy, hope for the future, and peace.

If you think that the biggest selling game of the year is Call of Duty or some other huge franchise then you are likely not taking into account digital sales across all platforms. As this MCV report points out, the biggest games of the year are likely Angry Birds or Minecraft related. According to research firm Kantar Worldpanel, the two week period that ends on January 1, 2013 will account for almost seven percent of all games downloaded across mobile, tablet, console and PC platforms this year.

Did you know that today is Thanksgiving?

So did I!  I mean, it's not like I went to work this morning and stood outside a locked building for six hours wondering where the hell everyone was.

Ahem...

So anyway, the GP crew is going to take some time to ourselves to eat more than we should and visit with family we're more than happy to ignore the other 364 days of the year.

That cousin Jasper.  Am I right?

In Episode 26 of the Super Podcast Action Committee hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight celebrate Halloween with tales of horror about bugs and glitches in video games, offer their opinions on Activision editing a Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer map because of complaints from the community, and share several true ghost stories. It's spookier and creepier (or hotter depending on your perspective) than Mitt Romney making out with President Barack Obama and Gary Johnson in the balcony of a seedy New York City movie theater!

Happy Halloween Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!

Because we love Halloween - and totally not because GP told us to - the SuperPAC crew is having a special, all Halloween-themed podcast next week.  EZK and I will be wearing costumes (which you won’t see because Super PAC is an audio podcast), munching candy and blabbering about our favorite spooky games and other fun stuff.

On behalf of everyone at the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) and the staff here at GamePolitics, I wish you, our wonderful readers, a happy and safe Labor Day! We'll be back in full force tomorrow, so enjoy your day off - particularly if you are a student already in the midst of fresh trials, tribulations, and triumphs associated with a brand new school year.

Hey folks! Andrew here, wishing you a very happy 4th of July. Have fun but be safe. Be smart. Don’t be like my sister’s stupid kitten who thought a lit firecracker was a sparkly grasshopper, picked it up in her teeth and ran off with it.

Silly kitty. Anyway, may your holiday be mercifully bereft of exploding kitty face.

Okay, okay. I sprinted after her, snatched her up, yanked the firecracker out of her mouth and tossed it away. It exploded in the air.

On behalf of everyone here at GamePolitics we wish our readers a safe and happy holiday. We hope you are enjoying your extended weekend (assuming you had an extended weekend and didn't have to work for the "man" today) and are out having fun on the unofficial start of summer.

I won't rehash it here, but if you want a detailed explanation of what Memorial Day is all about and why it is a very important holiday to a majority of Americans, then you should check out usmemorialday.org.

Well, it took months of fan campaigns and ridiculously awesome YouTube videos but Xenoblade Chronicles has finally made it to North America.

Now let’s see if anyone buys it…

And on that uplifting sentiment, GamePolitics is taking the rest of the day off in observance of the Easter holiday.

“But Andrew,” I hear you say.  “Today’s Friday.  Easter isn’t until Sunday!”

On behalf of the ECA and GamePolitics, I wish our readers a happy and joyous new year! May 2012 turn out to be everything you imagine it to be, and may the forces that continually seek to take away our rights to play what we want and to express ourselves in the name of the almighty dollar be utterly humiliated and defeated.

GamePolitics is going dark today in observance of Thanksgiving and boy howdy do gamers like us have oodles to be thankful for this year.  Fall 2011 is jam-packed with more awesome video games than most will ever have the time (or money) to play.  See the bottom of Leland Yee’s recent “Don’t buy these video games” press release to parents for a few good suggestions.

Happy Independence Day, everyone. We are taking a day off to enjoy the weather, good food, excellent company, and our freedom. We'll be back to our regular schedule tomorrow. This July 4 is made all the more important in light of the recent decision in Brown v. EMA. While a great victory was won on behalf of free speech. The door is still open and the wolf is lying in wait.

Our liberties and our freedoms mean everything. We should never forget the sacrifices made on behalf of those freedoms and we should always be vigilant, never be complacent, and always ready to stand up for what is right and just.

Happy Independence Day.

The staff at GamePolitics would like to wish all of our loyal readers a safe and Happy New Year.

I hope that 2011 will be the year when..

..the highest court in the land rules that video games are protected under the first amendment and that only parents have the right to control what their children play.

..that the FCC protects consumers from usage-based schemes and content services (Netflix, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, etc.) from broadband service providers.

..that DRM becomes less popular with developers and publishers.

..that the governments of the world realize that there must be some sort of balance when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights.

..that rights holders or their lawyers decide that there is no money in suing thousands of file-sharers.

According to Game, Set, Watch, this weekend Giant Robot Los Angeles will host its fourth Game Night get-together and it will offer some special Christmas fun. Giant Robot's Game Nights are free bi-monthly parties that celebrate indie titles and invite people to play games in a casual, friendly environment.

With the help of Attract Mode and Meat Bun, this Saturday's event will feature the following:

- An X-mas edition of Vlambeer's hit indie game Super Crate Box made exclusively for Game Night

- Arthur Lee's Merry Gear Solid games

- A custom "holiday pack" edition of 8-BITar Hero, which mixes the Rock Band experience with old-school Nintendo games

Just in time for the July 4th celebration, Crispy Gamer has posted a terrific compilation of fireworks scenes from video games.

Check out the video here.

So you'd like to put on a July 4th fireworks show for your crew but lack the...

1. money
2. permits
3. pyrotechnic expertise
4. all of the above

No problem. As Oh Gizmo reports:

Sega’s got a new projector coming out... it will project a pre-programmed fireworks show on the ceiling or walls of your home, and that you’ll be able to design your own show from a library of 55 different virtual pyrotechnic displays. It will be powered by 3xAAA batteries so the projector is most definitely portable, and it will retail for about $160.

Unfortunately, the device won't launch until August, so this idea will have to wait for your Independence Day, 2010 bash.

Via: Gizmodo

Via fidgit we've been clued into Sackboy, done up in patriotic style as the Sacktue of Liberty...

...which reminds us that Hillary Clinton's face appeared on the Statue of Happiness in Grand Theft Auto IV.

So, are there other Statue of Liberty appearances in gaming? Gotta be...

Here are a few more lists of allegedly patriotic games for your July 4th weekend perusal. Some choices seem spot-on, others a bit of a stretch.

1up (2008): Top 5 Insanely Patriotic Video Games

• Fugitive Hunter
• The Sims 2: IKEA Expansion
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Operation Secret Storm
• Metal Wolf Chaos

RipTen (2008): Top Five Patriotic Games of All Time

• Independence Day
• America's Army
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Oregon Trail
• Bad Dudes

GamesRadar (2008): 20 Most Rabidly Patriotic Video Games

• America's Army
• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
• Patriotic Pinball
• Frontlines: Fuel of War
• Christian Founders 3D Computer Game
• 18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul
• America: The Game
• Freedom Fighters
• Desert Strike/Jungle Strike/Urban Strike
• Metal Wolf Chaos
• Tycoon games
• Terrorist Takedown
• GRAW 2
• Political Machine 2008
• Oregon Trail
• NARC
• American Gladiators
• Fugitive Hunter
• Halo
• FDNY: American Hero - Fire Fighter

GP: If we spot new lists, we'll update.

With the Independence Day weekend upon us here in the United States, we note that News4U has posted its list of 5 Patriotic Video Game Moments.

The list is interesting and contains some games that will surprise you. The five patriotic scenes named come from:

• Freedom Fighters
• Animal Crossing
• Fallout 3
• Super Off-Road
• Bad Dudes

From the Bad Dudes (NES) description:

After rescuing the prez [GP: Bush #1], he says the most American thing the developers could think of: “Hey dudes, thanks for rescuing me. Let’s go for a burger…Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” You’re then treated to a scene with the president eating a burger in front of the White House. Apparently it was decided to beef up security after the ninja incident, since there is a wall of Secret Service agents behind both of you as well. Oh, and of course Old Glory is showing her colors the whole time the credits roll.

Check out the video clip at left to see the Bad Dudes ending.