Video game industry leaders head to Washington

Representatives from the American the video game industry are meeting with Vice President Joe Biden in Washington today to discuss whether there is a connection between simulated and actual gun violence. It's the latest in a series of meetings Biden is hosting before he proposes gun policy changes to President Obama on Tuesday. He has also met with representatives from the film and television industries, pro-gun rights groups including the NRA, and others. Gamasutra can independently confirm that representatives from the ESA are in attendance. Others reportedly include representatives from the ESRB, Activision, EA, E-Line Media, Epic Games, GameStop, Take-Two Interactive and Bethesda and id owner ZeniMax Media, as well as individual researchers, according to consumer video game blog Polygon. Don't miss: Should we be at this meeting at all? Biden is leading a task force that will present recommendations to the president on new gun control policies in response to last month's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. The NRA offered a brief glimpse into yesterday's meetings when it spoke to Reuters, giving the impression that the task force had already made up its mind to recommend stricter gun control laws in the country. Don't miss: IGDA's letter to Biden It is unclear what connection, if any, the task force sees between these events and video games, but hopefully we'll gain more insight at the meeting's conclusion. Gamasutra will stay on top of this story as it develops.