I think the real story here is that a handful of people had $33 Million to blow on a card game while others are dying on the street, and there wasn't a pitch fork and torch wielding rebellion.

All this says to me is that Obama didn't tell someone to put their job on hold to go gift shopping. Symbolic or not, any gift between leaders is just useless objects that someone will get paid to dust off every now and then. Like him or not, Obama is a practical man. He probably gives his family gift cards at christmas time so that they can get what they really want instead of waiting in line to return something they didn't really want.

there is perhaps a more important reason to not lock down the computers. The easiest way to keep students from destroying their laptops is to let them do whatever they want on them. If students are allowed to use them for their personal lives they will then have a stake in the computer and will actually care if they break it. Not being able to listen to their music and get on myspace is damn good motivation to take care of their computer. Students won't care at all if they can't [insert boring educational use here].

This of course is only about video games in general, and only the social aspect. I think many people will extend this to the argument over violent video games, which is a whole different topic entirely. It also has nothing to do with fat kids who don't get any exercise because they're sitting on their ass all day. Just something to keep in mind before people start making conclusions about everything video game related.