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Gadgetell is live at what may be Bill Gates’ final CES keynote address.

Will he talk about the Xbox game systems or the future of videogames? Check out the live coverage going on right now!

Oh, and keep smacking that REFRESH button at the Gadgetell Live Blogto get up-to-the-minute updates during the keynote address. Oh yeah, it’s that live.

Read [Gadgetell Live Blog] Read [Gadgetell]

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Check out the gallery: Gadgetell's Live Blog of Bill Gates' final CES keynote

GameDaily recently gleaned a piece of Brier Dudley’s larger Seattle Times column where he speculates things Bill Gates will talk about in his upcoming, and likely final, CES (Consumer Electonrics Expo) pre-CES keynote address (until he retires and needs speaker fee pocket change to buy an island).

The only gaming element of Dudley’s predictions is that Gates may announce that the Xbox 360 will get revamped to include DVR capabilities as well as an internal HD DVD drive.

His other, far less exciting and non-gaming CES predictions concerning Gate’s keynote include:

• Reminding everyone that Microsoft has been working on touchscreen tech. Basically, to remind everyone that Apple ain’t the only cool touchscreen kids in town.
• Mention Microsoft’s mobile software.
• Note media enter will be updated.
• Some nondescript mention of streaming.
• No mention of Zune. (!?!)
• Bragging about deals with automakers.

Dudley has drafted a fairly safe prediction list that draws on stuff that Microsoft has already done. The Xbox element may be the biggest leap, but even that has been floating around the web for at least a year (as Dudley mentions).

To be fair, the column is for a publication that caters to a readership that goes well beyond the hardcore gamer demographic, albeit in a pretty dense area of the country for game development. Besides, no one likes to be wrong and one medium leap prediction is enough for most to accept.

For more on Bill Gates’ CES 2008 keynote, and live coverage of CES 2008, check out Gadgetell’s dedicated CES 2008 page. Gates’ pre-CES keynote will take place 6:30 p.m., Sunday, January 6, 2008, a the The Venetian’s Palazzo Ballroom in Las Vegas, NV.

Read [Seattle Times] Via [GameDaily] Site [Gadgetell at CES 2008]

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The Presidential candidates are debating nearly every relevant issue these days. Videogaming has found prominence as a political issue in recent times - sadly enough – so, it would be nice to know the candidates’ positions on the issue. Common Sense Media tried to sample the opinions of the candidates about videogames but only three of them showed enough interest to take the survey. One of the frontrunners in the Presidential race, Sen. Hillary Clinton (Democrat), was interested in participating in the survey but could not furnish a response in time. According to gamepolitics, CSM has finally received her reply.

She doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of violent videogames, or games with “corrupting content”, and has vowed to shield children from such content if she becomes president. One can expect more stringent game regulations if she occupies the Oval office. Historically, Clinton has stood up for tougher video game regulation and she introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act a couple of years ago. This bill had provisions for fines being imposed on on-site store mangers, if they sold inappropriate games to children.

In her response, Clinton also talked about the ills of violent and sexually explicit game content and, specially, the fears parents have about losing control over their children as a result of such content.

Read [Game Politics]

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Paul Levinson, a published author and professor of communications and media at Fordam University in New York, NY, called out Senator Hillary Clinton for her views on the regulation of videogames.

After reading an article by Bobbie Johnson of The Guardian, a British online e-zine, Levinson said he was reminded of how Sen. Clinton had targeted videogames in previous years along with other politicians and celebrities.

Levinson said 2008 Presidential contender Hillary attacked…

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Just as there is no “I” in team or ice in hot tea, government legislation has little business trying to substitute the responsibility of parents with laws.

In an article by GameDaily, the New York state senate passed a video game bill, SO5888, sponsored by Senator Andrew Lanza (R-I, Staten Island), which seeks to:

“[E]stablish an Advisory Council on Interactive Media and Youth Violence to review the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) rating system and its effectiveness, as well as recommend further steps that can be taken “to curb children’s access and exposure to ‘adult-only’ material.“

This leads me to think that this is not as much an issue of free speech here as it is an insult to the efforts of the ESRB.

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