Los Angeles - Women now comprise 40% of U.S. video game players, while the average age of an American gamer has risen to 35, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT for game industry trade group the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

Washington - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a U.S. video game publisher trade group, has announced that the state of Minnesota has been ordered by a federal court to pay the group $65,000 in attorneys' fees, expended during a challenge to the state's law banning the sale of violent games to minors.

Los Angeles - It cost the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) more than $5 million to move its mammoth E3 video game trade show from the Los Angeles Convention Center downtown to Santa Monica last year, which, when combined with the decreased profits from the downsized event, also led the ESA to substantially increase its membership dues, according to IRS documents obtained by Kotaku.

Los Angeles - LucasArts, the video game development arm of director George Lucas' Lucasfilm, has followed Activision and Vivendi in leaving the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the video game industry trade group that produces the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Next-Gen reported. However, unlike Activision and Vivendi, LucasArts will still participate in this year's E3.

Los Angeles - Video game publishers Activision (NASD: ATVI) and Vivendi Games have discontinued their memberships in the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) industry trade group, and will also not be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show, GameDaily reports.

Minneapolis - The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's injunction that overturned a law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.

New York - The video game industry, through its Entertainment Software Association (ESA) trade group, intends to create a political action committee (PAC) and begin making donations to politicians and candidates that support their views, The New York Times reports. "We will be writing checks to campaigns by the end of this quarter," ESA CEO Michael D. Gallagher told The Times. "This is an important step in the political maturation process of the industry that we are ready to take now. This is about identifying and supporting champions for the game industry on Capitol Hill so that they support us."

Sacramento, Calif. - The state of California has appealed a federal court ruling that struck down a 2005 law banning the sale of violent video games to minors. In August 2007, the U.S. District Court struck down the law, which was introduced by then Assemblyman and now State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Washington - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a U.S. video game industry trade group, announced on Tuesday that it has scheduled the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit for July 15-17. Next year will figure as the second year of the significantly downsized version of E3, a change that came after game publishers saw costs associated with the previously massive event skyrocket.

Washington - The U.S. video game industry's annual growth rate from 2003 to 2006 exceeded 17%, outpacing the U.S. economy as a whole's growth of 4% during the same period, according to a study released Tuesday by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

Sacramento, Calif. - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday appealed a federal court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional a law that would have restricted the sale of violent video games to minors.

San Francisco - After a federal judge on Monday ruled that a California state law banning the sale of violent video games to minors was unconstitutional, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the ruling, Reuters reported.

Washington - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that it conducted raids on businesses, storefronts and residences on Wednesday in 16 states, related to an investigation into the alleged sale and distribution of illegal video game console mod chips and disc copyright circumvention devices.

Washington - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a U.S. trade group of video game publishers and developers, said on Thursday that so far over 100,000 Americans have joined the Video Game Voters Network, a "coalition of voting-aged Americans who defend their choice of entertainment from unnecessary government regulation," formed to "educate and mobilize gamers on issues affecting computer and video games.

Albany, N.Y. - State legislators in New York have reached agreement on a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors in the state, and are expected to formally pass the bill next month, GamePolitics.com reported.

New York - The New York State Assembly has approved a bill, a similar version of which passed in the State Senate last week, that would ban the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.

New York - The New York State Senate yesterday passed a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors, GamePolitics.com reported.

Washington - The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which represents U.S. software, music, movie and video game firms, has asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to add Canada to the U.S. "priority watch list" of countries considered havens for piracy, which includes China, Russia and Venezuela.

Washington - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade group that represents U.S. video game publishers and developers, announced on Tuesday that founding president Douglas Lowenstein will leave the organization early next year.