CNN's Nancy Grace guns for 25 to Life

There was nothing senatorial to the tone of last night's powerful few minutes that talk-show host Nancy Grace devoted to the upcoming Eidos-published 25 to Life.

Grace, who helms the eponymous Nancy Grace, weekdays on CNN, tucked a conversation surrounding the game into the very end of her 60-minute show Tuesday night.

In her inimitable style, she joined a chorus of voices mostly backing up New York Senator Charles Schumer's recent plea that game retailers not carry the game. Additionally, Schumer is using his powerful position in the federal government to apply pressure on Sony and Microsoft to end their licensing agreements with Eidos.

In a more plebeian pitch, Grace invited prosecutor Jack Thompson (who has often taken high-profile criminal cases that have as their core argument the ill games cause), former New York City prosecutor Dino Lombardi, attorney Debra Opri (who represented Michael Jackson's parents during Jackson's yearlong criminal trial and who signed today with Hollywood agency ICM for artistic representation), and Bethany Marshall, a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist to comment on the game.

Grace began the conversation by asking viewers if they remembered "that video game called Grand Theft Auto." Explaining that some retailers had refused to carry the product, Grace then led toward the night's main topic.

"Hold on to your hats," Grace said, girding the audience. "Now there's 25 to Life, and the object is to kill cops."

The segment was signature Grace, who arguably feigned shock rather than heartfelt concern or curiosity--at one point introducing Thompson with the vaudevillian-tinged chant, "Jack, hit it."

The full transcript of the rapid-fire conversation is available on the show's Web site. While not the purest nor most deliberate debate on the topic of violence and mature themes in games, it was certainly a well-viewed debate: Grace's new show is on a steady climb in terms of ratings. The most recent stats available show Nancy Grace regularly pulling in close to a million viewers per night.