The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is urging gamers to attend a debate at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Thursday on whether violent video games promote real-world violence. Tickets are for sale on this page, which are $12.00 for C.W. members, $20.00 for non-members, and $7.00 for students (with valid IDs). Here's word:

Do violent video games present a danger to national safety? Should selling them be restricted, as with pornography? Critics argue that there is a link between children's exposure to violent video games and their increased likelihood to commit violent acts. In a time when it is very easy for individuals to carry out senseless acts of violence, the state government has passed a law that bans the sale of video games deemed “ultra-violent” to children under 18. AB 1179 was signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2005 but is not in effect because of an injunction. The Supreme Court has heard arguments and will soon decide how far the government should go to protect the well-being of our children in a case that touches on free speech, national safety and the rights of video game manufacturers and retailers.

Panelists at this debate include California State Senator Leland Yee, who was the original sponsor of the so-called violent video game bill that is now before the Supreme Court; George Rose, the Executive VP and Chief Public Policy Officer for Activision Blizzard Inc.; and Michael McConnell, the Director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.