Itsme

Judge blocks California video game law
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Published: December 22, 2005, 10:11 AM PST

A federal judge has blocked enforcement of a California law restricting violent video games, saying it violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled late Wednesday that the state law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October, unconstitutionally restricts minors' rights to information and granted the video game industry's request for a preliminary injunction.

"Serious questions are raised concerning (California's) ability to restrict minors' First Amendment rights in connection with exposure to violent video games, including the question of whether there is a causal connection between access to such games and psychological or other harm to children," Whyte said in a 17-page opinion.

California is one of a string of states that recently have enacted similar laws restricting violent and sexually explicit video games--laws that have been uniformly rejected by the courts. Laws in Illinois and Michigan were blocked by federal judges on First Amendment grounds in the last few weeks, and earlier laws in Indianapolis and Missouri's St. Louis County have also been shot down. The U.S. Supreme Court has not squarely addressed this topic, but has said in other contexts that even minors have free expression rights.

The California law said that minors must be restricted from buying a "violent video game." That was defined as a game in which the player has the option of "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being" in offensive ways.

The Entertainment Software Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group that filed many of the lawsuits, applauded the California decision.

"For the sixth time in five years, federal courts have now blocked or struck down these state and local laws seeking to regulate the sale of games to minors based on their content, and none have upheld such statutes," ESA president Douglas Lowenstein said in a statement.

Because Judge Whyte's decision is only a preliminary one, the final outcome could change after a full trial takes place. Attorneys for California are expected to cite research that claims to demonstrate a casual link between violent video games and harm to children

zero2dash

Video games don't need legislation/government getting in the mix.
There's a really simple solution to this problem -

Parents need to be PARENTS.
Watch what your kids play, period. No excuses.

I'm sick of hearing about all this stuff...they need to either a) pass laws and get it over with so they'll shut up about it or b) admit that its unconstitutional and parents are to blame (which is the TRUTH) and drop the subject altogether and move on to bigger and better things.

Ridiculous.

Paymaster

Hmmm... would Mario and Luigi be considered "images of human beings"? If so, a lot of the player vs player nintendo games (which are largely for kids) would fall into the category of "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being". (e.g. Mario chasing Luigi with a sledgehammer, trying to knock him off a platform into the abyss...)

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shocky123

heh
....or Mario spitting fire at the baddies.. There's obviously something sexual going on there.
HOT


silly people will complain about anything... myself included

~Kyle

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BigJon

A-fricken-men brotha. Amen.

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