This past Monday, August 6th, US District Judge Whyte ruled against bill AB 1179, which had been passed in California, October 2005, calling it unconstitutional. This bill would have placed severe restrictions on the sale and rental of certain violent video games to minors, and offenders would have faced fines of up to $1000.
So the ESA, and in turn gamers everywhere, can count this as a victory, right? Well, in a sense. The distribution of video games is going to continue unchanged, with no federal or state regulation - but is this actually going to hurt the quality of games in the long run?
There are problems with the way games are currently handled and viewed by the public. It's understandable, as the industry is still in the "Wild West". Video games are relatively new, and are finally being noticed and accepted as a legitimate form of entertainment and revenue.
Sure, making a NC-17 or X rating for some games might theoretically work but how long will it be before some politician who needs reelected abuses the system to get their way? It don't even want to give them that option because it sets a dangerous precedent for censorship.
Plus, I don't need some group of bureaucrats telling me what i can and can not see and do just because some people are too lazy to watch their kids and teach them right from wrong.
What they need to do(instead of making videogames the scape goat that they are)is to concentrate on educating the parents. Maybe even oh i don't know, laugh them out of the court rooms the next time some idiot who couldn't comprehend that the big M for mature label on the front of the box might not be appropriate for little Timmy. Even better hold them responsible for any negative actions they commit and try to blame on videogames like every other thing is. If i stole a car when i was little and destroyed it my parent were liable, make it the same for when they do something dumb and then try to blame it on videogames.
When it hurts their wallet and they don't have the option to sue a publisher over their game supposedly making their kid a killing machine maybe then they might actually pay attention and take some responsibility.
/rant
Are they all dead or just mindless zombies?
It seems to me that this article is for the regulation of video games and compares them to movies, but movies are only slightly more regulated. Little John could just as easily go out with his friends to see a movie that's rated R as buy a game rated AO.
Most movies that are rated NC-17 (in the USA, the X rating isn't an official rating) are normally trimmed to get an R rating, and those that aren't...well, I can only recall seeing a commercial for one that wasn't, and it was only one time, so it must not have had much success.
Porn, yes, sells, but it's not in the same room with other movies if you go to rent a DVD. At least in places around here, they tend to be behind a locked door labled "adults only" and I could see the same thing happening to video games. In fact, Nintendo needs to figure out how to do this, because the Wii has serious possibilities for porn-made-video-game, and I would assume these are all rated NC-17, unless they're THAT different that they're just labled as porn and don't have rating that you see on movies in the theater.
Then he mentions unrated DVDs, which just means something wasn't submitted for rating. The unrated version of American Pie 2 has less nudity per minute due to the unrated parts not being naked parts. If you see an unrated WB movie, the unrated part could be a kid looking at a TV, then an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, so unrated DVDs can't even be compared in any way to NC-17 and porn.
So basicly, the guy was talking about things that it seems he didn't totally understand and comparing it to an industry that is suprisingly like video games in the way restrictions are handled anyway. The only thing missing is the single more strict rating that dooms your game to the back room, which would really only lead to lower quality games as people try to cut little bits and ends that make it that higher rating, with no loss of real gore or sex.
Look at Scarface. The first 3 cuts were too violent, then the third cut was finally approved, and the origonal was released anyway because no one noticed the difference.
these morons take video games too seriously,they should make more effort in fighting crime and lowering drug shippments to the us