Gaming Industry Had a 'Productive and Candid' Chat With Joe Biden

What did the Vice President of the United States and the leaders of the video game industry talk about today at the White House during today’s meeting by the VP’s Sandy Hook task force? Other than Blastman III?

Considering that representatives from any of the game publishers who attended either don’t respond to requests for comment about this or ask that the Entertainment Software Association—the gaming industry’s lobbying group—speak for them, let’s hear it from the ESA. Their chief, Michael Gallagher, was one of the gaming bigwigs at the meeting, which is one of many this week helmed by Biden and purportedly set up to figure out how to not have wretched events like the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre happen again. Violent video games have been, however, loosely blamed as a contributor to real violence.

So, how’d it go meeting with Biden, ESA?

Washington, DC – January 11, 2013 – “The video game industry had a productive and candid conversation with Vice President Biden and his Gun Violence Commission today. We thank the President and Vice President for their leadership, and including in their discussions a diverse array of stakeholders and perspectives. We look forward to working with the Vice President on meaningful solutions to the issue of gun violence.

“We expressed in the meeting that the United States Supreme Court recently affirmed that the independent, scientific research conducted to date has found no causal connection between video games and real-life violence. We also recognized that gun violence is a serious problem in our country. We are saddened by the recent tragic events, and as an industry integral to the social and cultural fabric of America, we look forward to continuing our engagement with government officials and policymakers focused on meaningful solutions.”

We’d asked what the ESA thinks will come out of this. Who knows. Biden, who also met with the National Rifle Association, law enforcement personnel, and other experts this week, will present his findings and recommendations to President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Originally written and published by Stephen Totilo at Kotaku. Click here to read the original story.