As news of the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in Newtown, Connecticut were coming to light on December 14, the finishing touches were being put on a deal with the Nevada Economic Development Board and Take-Two Interactive (see Vegas Inc. for the details). This week that deal is being questioned by the media in the state.

Politico is reporting that regular Fox News contributor, syndicated talk show host, and psychiatrist Keith Ablow is considering a run for political office in Massachusetts. If he would attempt such a run it would be in the special election for Senator John Kerry's seat - assuming he is named the new Secretary of State replacing Hillary Clinton.

The Escapist reports that community members in the town of Southington, Connecticut have put a bulls eye on violent video games in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that saw 20 children and six adults murdered by a lone gunmen in mid-December.

Writing over at the official web site for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), Advisory Chair For Education & Outreach Betsy Gomez points out that Senator Jay Rockefeller’s (D – WV) recent announcement of a bill mandating that the National Academy of Sciences research the effect of video games on children is misguided and a very familiar topic for anyone who understands the history of the comic book industry.

University of Missouri Media Researcher Greg Perreault pens an enlightening article on violence and video games over at the Huffington Post, and while the entire article is definitely worth reading an excerpt from it really caught our attention. The excerpt is an exchange between Perreault and an unnamed journalist who contacted him looking to use him as an expert.

While there's a lot of people upset over a variety of things the National Rifle Association said today in its press conference, gamers are a bit annoyed with the gun lobby comparing violent video games to pornography. But as this The Escapist report points out, the NRA doesn't think that the medium is so horrible that it won't swim in the interactive entertainment pond.

On Friday morning's edition of Morning Joe on cable news network MSNBC Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) said that he doesn't think changes in guns laws would have stopped the Sandy Elementary School shooting last week that resulted in the death of 20 children and six adults. He also talked about violent video games, but to the congressman's credit he mentioned his own parental responsibility in keeping his son from playing "M" rated games.

The National Rifle Association held a press conference this morning defending guns rights and pointing the finger at big media. They also called for a national program for schools that would train school officials on how to best protect educational institutions. The program would use local volunteers and participation would be up to local communities and school boards.

In a segment that aired during Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto's show this week, Daniel Greenberg joined in to discuss Senator Jay Rockefeller's (D-WV) bill to study the effects of violent video games on children. Greenberg is the IGDA Anti-Censorship Committee Chairman and game developer at Washington D.C.-based Media Rez.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D - West Virginia) has introduced a bill that would have the U.S. National Academy of Sciences study how video games and other media like films and television affect children. The bill would also expand studies already conducted by the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission.

Speaking to the LA Times to promote the new Quentin Tarantino movie "Django Unchained," actor Samuel L. Jackson said that fewer guns are not necessarily the answer in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings that resulted in the death of 20 children and 6 adults. Jackson also said that statements against violent media like video games and movies have little to do with the shootings that have happened recently.

According to this Foxnews.com report, the National Rifle Association (NRA) plans to hold a press conference on Friday where it will push back against the call for tighter gun control laws in the United States. An anonymous "industry source" tells Fox News that the NRA is prepared to point its finger at the culture of violent media found in various forms of entertainment including television, movies, and video games.

Disbarred Florida Attorney and anti-game crusader Jack Thompson seems to have come out of hiding to talk about the as-of-yet unestablished link between video media and the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday. In an attempt to connect with the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), Thompson decided to leave a voice mail message for ECA President Hal Halpin. The roughly 35 second-long message from Thompson is equivalent to an "I-told-you-so" to Halpin, gamers, and the non-profit.

A recent study (dated Dec. 12) from researchers at the Ohio State University (link), equates prolonged exposure to violent games with an addiction to smoking tobacco. Research conducted at the Université Pierre-Mendès-France, and carried out by analysts at Ohio State University and the University of Hohenheim, comes to the conclusion that prolonged exposure to videogames increases aggression or aggressive behavior in players and causes them to view the world in a more violent light.

The news media, quick to find a cause for why a lone gunman would kill his mother, drive to a local elementary school, and kill 26 people (20 children) before killing himself, has turned to the usual scapegoat: video games. While it is understandable that people want answers, Fox News wastes no time in trying to connect TV, Facebook, and computer games to the horrific actions of Lanza. As transcribed by Kotaku, a Fox News segment hosted by Megyn Kelly with guest analyst Dr.

Seizing on a new national survey in Australia, two "experts" have used it as an opportunity to warn parents of the dangers of video gaming. A survey conducted by the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association with the help of Bond University, found that right around 95 percent of boys between the ages of 6 and 15 described themselves as gamers. The survey of more than 1200 Australian households also found that the most popular genres among this age group were first-person shooters, action and fighting games and role-playing games.

Researchers in Canada say that children and teens who have electronic devices in their bedrooms are far more likely to be overweight because they are not getting enough sleep every night. The research is based on a survey of almost 3,400 fifth grade students in the province of Alberta, Canada. Researchers were trying to find out if there was a relationship between a child’s sleeping habits, the number of electronic devices in their bedroom, and their weight.

An editorial in the UK edition of Huffington Post penned by Andrew Cole-Bulgin, Joint-CEO of Komixx claims that video games are "stunting children's imagination and inhibiting their ability to play together." The head of the children's television company says that he comes to this conclusion based on research the company conducted related to Toby's Travelling Circus, a new television program for children under the age of five.

UK papers The Telegraph and the Daily Mail seem to be delighted with a new study from researchers at Brock University in Canada published in the journal Developmental Psychology. The study, which bases its findings on 1,492 adolescents surveyed from eight high schools in Ontario over a four year period. Researchers say that 51 percent of those surveyed were female, while 49 percent were male. Participants were ages 14- to 15-years-old at the start of the study and 17- or 18-years-old at its conclusion.

As is usually the case with UK paper The Daily Mail, they have taken a new study from the University of Pittsburgh about the relationship between sleep and insulin production and turned it into a commentary on how games are bad. In their headline they proclaim "Staying up all night playing video games 'puts teenagers at greater risk of diabetes.'" The horror.

The New York Times reports that mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after an Oslo, Norway court ruled that he was sane when he killed 77 people. While the sentence for his shooting spree may seem short, the court has the ability to extend the sentence if he is considered a danger to society. Brevik's conviction is the harshest sentence permitted under Norwegian law.

A new survey by UK-based toy maker Galt Toys finds that the average child in the UK will spend 143 hours and 36 minutes, or 12 full days, in front of a screen during summer vacation. This time will be spent playing computer games, watching television, and playing games on phones, consoles and hand-held devices. The survey also found that one in eight children now owns an iPad, with the average British child having £581 in gadgets.

Update: We have added a brief statement from Professor Douglas Gentile below.

Next week Iowa State University psychology professor Douglas Gentile will be at the White House to discuss how video games can be used to enhance and improve education. He will lead the discussion on a special policy conference to be held at the White House on Wednesday, August 22. The policy conference will examine how games can be used effectively in the broadest sense to improve health, education, civic engagement and the environment.

Australia New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione is taking a lot heat for comments he made recently blaming the rise of teen knife-related crimes on playing violent video games. Scipione recently told The Daily Telegraph that teens were being desensitized to violence by playing violent video games that reward them for "killing and raping people." Obviously a tired trope related to Grand Theft Auto spewed by politicians.

An editorial in the Baltimore Sun written by former White House and Pentagon official Douglas MacKinnon laments the "lessons lost" that could have come out of the Aurora, Colorado shooting about what the author calls "a culture that desensitizes us to violence." While his general sentiment that there are lessons to be learned about the shooting, what those lessons are or might be are up for debate.

A Health Canal report details the concern of a critic of the UK's new video game ratings system saying that it will fail because it doesn't deal with "irresponsible parenting." Yesterday the new PEGI ratings system went into effect in the UK. The new system includes penalties for retailers that sell age inappropriate games to children that do not meet the ratings guidelines.

Last night 24-year-old James Holmes used four guns (a rifle, a shotgun and two handguns, according police), and tear gas to shoot, disorientate, and trap theater goers attending the opening of The Dark Knight Rising movie at a theater in Aurora, Colorado. The attack left 12 people dead and 38 59 injured. He was arrested outside the theater by police shortly thereafter.

Libertarian-leaning publication ReasonTV has produced an entertaining five minute video about how video games have gone from being murder simulators and the scourge of parents everywhere (accused of causing everything from obesity to the loss of empathy in children, for example) to useful tools in the medical and mental health fields and fine art at museums.

Some comments on Friday from Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios' chief operating officer, concerning the exclusion of some deities and the inclusions of others may tick off some religious groups even more than they already were about SMITE, the company's upcoming DOTA-like online RPG action strategy title.

We all know that lightning is Mother Nature's kryptonite for high priced electronics, and according to Insurance Information Institute, the cost of insurance claims related to damage from lightening has doubled between 2004 and 2011, even as the number of actual claims has gone down. The trade group representing the insurance industry says that expensive televisions and video games are the root cause of these claims.