The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has drafted a pair of Delaware politicians for use in its holiday PSA drive.

State Representative Helene Keeley (D) and State Senator Bethany Hall-Long (D) appear in print, radio and retail ads designed to urge parents to check ESRB ratings when purchasing or renting a videogame.

Representative Keeley, (whose ad is pictured left) said:

Virtually all video game retailers have voluntary store policies restricting the sale of Mature-rated games to anyone under the age of seventeen. Parents can show their support for companies that have and enforce these policies by shopping for games at those stores.

Ads will run in Delaware shopping malls and radio stations beginning this month and running through December. The ESRB will also distribute a ratings education brochure to participating retailers for additional consumer education.

Clearly, Vice-President Joe Biden does not read GamePolitics.

If he did, he would have already known that President & Mrs. Obama got their daughters Malia and Sasha a Holy Grail Wii for Christmas.

From the Los Angeles Times:

One White House official recalls the vice president fretting over what to get Obama for his 48th birthday earlier this month. Biden wanted to go with a Nintendo Wii. Told that Obama's daughters already have one, a disappointed Biden said, "You're kidding." Instead, he went with a golf range-finder to help the president judge distances to the hole.

Via: Kotaku

Best wishes for a fab 2009 to everyone in the GamePolitics community!

I'm taking Mrs. GP to a movie today (Milk), then dinner with the folks and maybe catch some of the Rose Bowl (rooting for Penn State).

How are you spending your day?

Nintendo's 2008 holiday card arrived on December 27th, but it's still cool.

The theme, of course, is Animal Crossing....

They say that Christmas is all about the giving.

But a man in Portsmouth, New Hampshire apparently missed the memo.

The Associated Press reports that Heath Blom, 26, and his girlfriend Randi Young, 24, were arrested after an argument over Christmas gifts turned into a brawl.

From the AP:

According to Portsmouth police, Blom was disappointed when he did not receive the $1,000 airplane he had asked for from his grandparents, and was underwhelmed by the gift he received from Young: a Nintendo Wii video game console...

An argument ensued, and Young allegedly hid the gift and began packing her bags. Insults flew, and a fist fight between the two allegedly ended in a two-story tumble down the stairs.

“He dragged me down two flights of stairs, by the hair,” Young claimed on Friday... "This was the worst Christmas ever."

 The Boston Herald has more.

I want to take a moment to wish everyone a great holiday, however you choose to celebrate.

2008 has been an amazing year for the GamePolitics community. We couldn't do it without you!

Have a great day.

Video games with Christmas themes are in short supply, writes Kombo.com.

In fact the site can only come up with one, Christmas Nights Into Dreams for the Sega Saturn (see video).

The Kombo article discounts games in the Nightmare Before Christmas series as "not produced with gamers in mind."

Via: What They Play

GamePolitics readers will likely recall the controversy surrounding Beer Pong, a downloadable game for the Wii. Following objections by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenhal (D) and others, publisher JV Games renamed the game Pong Toss.

Adding to our holiday card collection, JV has issued a slightly tongue-in-cheek reminder of the Beer Pong flap with a non-alcoholic card that features sparkling cider.

Pwn Or Die has posted a video which shows a bunch of kids wigging out as they tear the Christmas wrapping from a Wii.

John Herrman from Gizmodo watched the video and seems on target with this comment:

Remember Nintendo 64 kid? Apparently that was just the tip of the iceberg. Much kudos if you can sit through this whole video without weeping, returning everyone's gifts or scheduling a vasectomy.

By way of Gizmodo comes this excellent killer Santa crab, rendered in LEGO.

Andrew Colunga is the builer and he has more cool LEGO designs on his Flickr page.

Hal Halpin and the rest of the crew at the Entertainment Consumers Association want to wish GamePolitics readers a happy holiday season.

It has been a great 2008 for the ECA and its gamer-members. 2009 will be even better!

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.

Ubisoft's 2008 holiday card is complicated, but cool.

Upon arrival it looks like what you see at left. The card has pieces that you can punch out and assemble to make figures from the Rayman: Raving Rabbids series.

It seems that there are four different possibilities. GP's card included the black rabbid pictured here, which was assembled by a team of experts at GP HQ.

The nice thing is that you're left with a toy that will last the whole year through.

Like the Jelly-of-the-Month Club, it's the gift that keeps on giving...

UPDATE: Ubi, full of good cheer, also has an animated holiday card.

In our continuing quest to share game biz holiday spirit, here's a nice card from the folks at 2K...

Here's a cool interactive holiday card from Net Recon and Sneaky Games...

Give it a click.

Here's some holiday gaming awesomeness, just in time for December 25th.

GameCyte reports that Doctor Octoroc is offering 18 classic Christmas carols, arranged in 8-bit game style.

The mp3 files are free to download and a physical CD, complete with appropriately retro cover, is available for a mere $15.

Here's the track list. Note the fun that the good doctor had with the titles:

• We Three Konami
• 8 Days of Master Robots
• Ryu, The Red Nosed Ninja
• We Wish You A Merry Faxanadu
• Silent Knight Man
• Carol Of The Belmonts
• Contraland
• Little Drummer Nemo
• Joy To Commando
• Super Jingle Bros.
• Bubbles We Have Heard On Bobble
• What Guardian Is Legend?
• Deck The Kremlin
• Icarus! The Angels Sing
• The Legend Of Noel
• O Come, All Ye Vampires
• Kraid, Rest Ye Merry Mother Brain
• Have Yourself A Final Little Fantasy

Bethesda mailed out 2008 holiday cards featuring a Fallout 3 theme.

Very nice.

UPDATE: Joystiq is running their own gallery of game-themed holiday cards.

Sony's 2008 holiday card is the best one we've received this year.

The card features Sackboy from Little Big Planet on the front The inside folds out in three panels to depict a snowy, LBP-themed scene.

There's a greeting on the back side along with an enclosed signature sheet from the SCEA P.R. gang.

Nicely done!

Not much happening today in the way of news so I thought I'd share some holiday cards with you...

This one arrived via e-mail from GameTap.

A nice card from the ESRB arrived in yesterday's e-mail...

This very cool holiday card arrived via e-mail yesterday from the nice folks at video game comedy site The -Minus World...