Round Up: Latest on Louisiana, WAAT Expands, GNGWC 2006

Today's round-up includes news of Louisiana Senator Mike Michot's defense of the recently blocked HB 1381 video game violence bill, WAAT Media's expansion into Europe, and the beginning of Korea's Game&Game World Championship 2006, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - Following the continued blocking of the Louisiana-specific HB 1381 by U.S. District Judge James Brady, state Senator Mike Michot, in an interview with Arcadia, Louisiana's news station KATC 3, spoke out defending the new legislation. "The last thing we need is some video game promoting violent and illegal behavior. I understand where they are coming from,” commented Senator Michot. “They feel like we are trying to stop the sale of these videos and in fact we are." The government official also noted in the interview that, in the event that the law is overturned, he believes that new legislation will be drawn up in its place. "We can't legislate morality but certainly we can stop these games from being sold in Louisiana, getting into the hands of our children. It's the least we could do." - Mobile entertainment company WAAT Media announced that it has appointed David Mandell to the post of Executive Vice President and General Counsel and James Fryer to Head of European Technical Operations and Architecture. The two executives will drive the company's international expansion efforts. Mandell’s responsibilities include managing business and legal affairs, overseeing corporate governance and international expansion, establishing and implementing company policies and procedures and managing regulatory and contract compliance. Fryer will serve as WAAT Media’s Director of International Platform Architecture and Integration overseeing platform development and the technical integration of WAAT Media’s services into major mobile operators worldwide. - Organizers of the Game&Game World Championship 2006 (GNGWC 2006), a global effort led by the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication, KIPA Management, announced today the start of the festival. Unlike other gaming tournaments, GNGWC 2006 offers a simplified tournament structure that calls for gamers of any nation to visit the site, register for the event, download one of the supported games and begin playing. Gamers will play online matches in an effort to qualify for the Regional Finals in North America, Southeast Asia, Japan and Europe. Through this process, the 'best of the best' will be selected and flown to the Grand Finals in Suwon, Korea. This final tournament will crown the world champions and award large cash purses and prizes to competitors in each of the three supported game categories (Golf, Role Playing and Shooting). Registrations and applications will be accepted starting on July 3, 2006. The online preliminary will begin on July 21. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a look at someone's tattoo based on the PC MMO Eve Online, a collection of disturbing magazine video game advertisements, and Ron Gilbert's Carnival Of Gamers. - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on Nintendo giving a DS Lite handheld and Brain Age to American president George Bush for his 60th birthday, plus Gamasutra product news on the release of new character DVDs from The Gnomon Workshop and the release of AdCell Media's Mobile Ad-Insertion Technology version 3, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Activision / Z-Axis, Blizzard Entertainment, High Moon Studios, and ITT Technical Institute.