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I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to interview Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association. I regard him then and now as an intelligent individual who has the determination and wherewithal to give the gaming industry the fight it needs against its naysayers.

In an assignment that I was doing for class, I asked him about whether or not the ESA and the ECA have ever joined forces on any particular issue. Hal responded to me by noting that the ESA is the ‘lead dog’ when it comes to issues that extend beyond games.

Of course, one of the worst parts of being behind the lead dog is cleaning up the mess that it makes, it becomes even more of a challenge when the lead dog is the creator of that mess; try telling an angry dog that he is responsible for messing up your yard and see what they will do to you.

I bring up this interesting allegory to consider the ESA’s actions in chastising gamepolitics.com for their ‘unfair’ portrayal of the E3 keynote speech. More of that account can be read here. The source of the ESA’s anger is attributed to this report that they published covering Texas Gov. Rod Perry’s speech.

Personally, considering the contentious relationships that games and politics have (though they are getting better, we hope), having a political figure speak at a huge industry event is already a bad move, an action questioned by Gamepolitics as well here.

This action is just one of many bad moves taken by the ESA, whose decisions of late have caused companies to leave them left and right. I think that the a serious evaluation needs to be done of the management running the company, as Michael Gallagher, the current head, has not shown himself to inspire confidence in the gamer populace, although that has not prevented him from having some people stand by his side.

Thus far, the ECA is doing ‘damage control’ for the ESA. Personally, I think that entire ESA house needs a complete redesign, and fast.