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COMMENTS
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California game restriction law overturned
A California law that limited selling or renting violent games to minors has been overturned by federal judge.
From Reuters, "The preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law comes amid a political and cultural war over the content of video games, which last year accounted for $7.3 billion in U.S. sales and rivaled Hollywood box office receipts."
"But in his ruling issued on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte sided with the video game industry, as other federal and state judges have in prior cases."
"The Video Software Dealers Association and the Entertainment Software Association, acting on behalf of video game merchants and publishers, had challenged the proposed California law, which would have imposed civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each violation."
"'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,' said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, referring to rulings in Illinois, Michigan and elsewhere."
Posted by Al on 12/22 at 03:46 PM
This was a very good idea that should have went through IMO. This would have shown that kids these violent games because a parent buys them. The law would have helped the game industry. Law makers would have to realize the fact that it's the parents and not the industry.
· Posted by
on 12/22 at 04:05 PM
finally they got it thrue there heads.Games r fun only maniacal psycopahts take games literal.So back off you mav(mom aganst videogame)peaple 
· Posted by
on 12/23 at 09:14 PM
Yeah! Lets outlaw video games! And after that let us re-form the Nazi battalions! And then we can go live on Pluto and raise our children to worship Satan! Yaaaaaay!
· Posted by
on 12/26 at 06:55 PM
It was a federal judge that over turned the law not the state liegsture(spell). The people who make the laws prob still think of video games as the great evil threat it's this one judge who thinks otherwise and remember this judge could have his own motives when he made his ruling
· Posted by
on 12/26 at 09:27 PM
For the sake of (hopefully) intelligent debate, I'm going to defend the law.
I don't understand why these laws face such protest from people, gamers in particular. The goverment sees that parents can't handle the responsibility of watching what their kids play, so they place laws that enforce the standards placed upon the games.
Then, people begin screaming "The gov'ment out to make us slaves!" No, the "gov'ment" is out to make you seem less stupid. But we sure showed them, huh? We fought these laws for the sake of giving five-year olds Grand Theft Auto and Halo 2.
Way to go America.
· Posted by
on 12/26 at 10:41 PM
the best thing about outlawing games is hmmmmm..... i cant think of any instead of the people being inside playing those types of games they may be out doing them thier selves. well only one way to find out. Lets Ban video games and Promote chaos. Fun FUn FUN
· Posted by
on 12/26 at 11:14 PM
Regardless of whether the law stands up to judicial review, people who buy or rent this game and other subversive games are put on a goverment watch list and their activities are monitored. Anyone hear of FISA and the NSA?
· Posted by
on 12/27 at 12:37 PM
Ok this is what i think im only 11 and my mom thjinks im very mature 4 my age and grants me permission 2 play these games and she plays em wit me so like speedemon said: Yeah! Lets outlaw video games! And after that let us re-form the Nazi battalions! And then we can go live on Pluto and raise our children to worship Satan! Yaaaaaay! Point is it depending on the maturity of the kid example if the kid is still pissing his pants doing other immature thngs then i agree M+ games 4 them = NO But if the child is mature and using commen sense then yes let them play M+ games cause they know right from wrong and not to go shoot a civilian in the head with a Desert eagle. Im only 11 and im mature enough to own a paintball gun (The next thing to airsoft) i have 14 year old friends that arent aloud 2 own one so yea it depends on the kid P.S i have nothing else 2 do so i wrote this...
· Posted by
on 12/27 at 03:47 PM
...Taylor said what I was gonna say in a more mature yet kinda geeky (no offense) way. I would've put it in all this street talk or slang (I said street talk for the some that doesn't know what slang means) and you guys would'nt have understand a thing I said. Oh well. See Ya!
· Posted by
on 12/27 at 08:06 PM
Taylor, you are obviously not as mature as you believe. For one thing, your grammar is lacking, and also you do not realize what mature truely means. To be mature does not mean that when you blow someones head off in a game it doesn't bother you, no, not in the least. To be mature means that you realize that blowing heads off in any medium is not nice so you refrain from doing it. And if you truely were mature you would realize that to be mature you do not need any sort of gun to be it. 
· Posted by
on 12/28 at 01:23 PM
This is America. There are good laws and stupid laws. Some protect us and some do nothing but restrict our freedom (like this one) if the parent says its ok for a kid to play the violent (but mostly fun) video games then it should be ok
· Posted by
on 12/28 at 01:49 PM
Okay, the law was a great thing.
It was there for kids so their minds wouldn't be filled with violence and other things they don't need to see.
But, once again, they can see worse on TV.
Seriously, have you seen that magic box, it's filled with that stuff, but I digress, I don't think the law should have been overturned.
· Posted by
on 12/28 at 02:16 PM
Ok, if a videogame can push you over the edge to gun down innocent people with an AK47 then you:
A:are crazy
B:would probably have done it anyways
and C:screwing it up for the rest of us
Plus it's the parent's fault for letting the little kidies play them. And, like Taylor said, if you're mature enough to handle it, what's the problem? I've played my share of M games and I'm underage. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to kill everyone in my school. (just kidding.)
· Posted by
on 12/28 at 03:58 PM
As a 23 year old nerd/gamer i think that the law should be a federal law against the renting/sale of M games to little kids. Games like true crime: streets of new york are fun, but hearing the F word every 3.6 seconds is retarded and im my mind an attempt to make kids think its "cool" to use curse words, well its not, it makes you sound like a moron. i think that the parents of the children should have to buy/rent the games. Why? because some kids manage to play such violent games without their parents knowing it, and in that situation the parents probably told the kid earlier not to play it. which makes me also think that the media wants kids to disobey their parents.
anyhoo... i know that you lil ones are gonna be screaming back at me, and i really dont care.
This World is a Ghetto....
· Posted by
on 12/28 at 07:38 PM
I dont think that is not far
· Posted by
on 12/29 at 02:15 AM
Some of you continued to say that the law is to ban video games. The law they want is to make it a crime TO SELL A MINOR A GAME IN WHICH THEY ARE NOT AT THE APPROPIATE AGE LEVEL, not all together. Not to ban there is a difference.
Fatty what you said is why I actually want this to become a law because this plus the new parental controls that will be in all next-gen consoles will cause the law makers and parents to lose any argument they might have. Which means they can focus on crime, schools closing, stupid parents, neighborhoods,etc.
Right now congress prioties are Steriods in sports, an unprovoked war in Iraq, the phrase "under god", and games.
oh and fatty this is the internet you don't have to sound proper. The correct phrase is this world is ghetto 
· Posted by
on 12/29 at 08:59 PM
Not everyone that plays video games are stupid. Afterall...I play them every so often. M rated or not. It doesnt matter to me. I've played grand theft auto. I took it as just a game with no need to go out and imitate it. However. I think that games about rappers...should just be burned or destroyed. Those games are just a rap album with some storyline like "go shoot up the hood". Outlaw them. Not other games.
· Posted by
on 12/30 at 12:07 AM
Alex, games aren't always a storyline about their lifestyle. Anyway, people aren't gonna burn or destroy them. You just hatin'. And Nintendodude, I know street talk. I'm from 5th Ward in Houston Texas, so I know!
· Posted by
on 12/30 at 10:43 PM
Another reason that law wouldn't work is because of games like Ghost Recon. I don't ever recall seeing blood in it, and there is virtually NO language. Yet they slapped a big black "M" on the front. It can't be just because it's a FPS, as I own FPS's that are rated E. So say they rated a Sesamee Street game M, what now? They'd be lucky to sell two copies. In short, all I'm saying is that game ratings can be very misleading.
· Posted by
on 12/31 at 03:34 AM
Ghost Recon involves the killing of other people through the use of firearms. Because that is the sole purpose of the game, it is deemed as excessively violent, and therefore is given an M rating. Just because a different M game does worse, doesn't mean Ghost Recon should be given a lower rating.
At the same time, if a Sesame Street game got an M rating, there would be some form of violence, sex, or drug usage.
The ratings are not misleading, it's the people who rebuke the ratings that are.
· Posted by
on 01/01 at 12:44 AM
M-Rated Sesame Street= Homicide on Sesame Street (as seen in Family Guy)
... Seriously, you can't outlaw video games in any way. Video games are a type of speach, like newspapers, TV programs, movies, pieces of art, and, well, verbal speech. Ban one, ban all. Ban one, it's unconstitutional.
Now, some say that there's already bans on selling of M-rated games. Technically, no. There's just a fine for every incident where a "young person" buys a M-rated game.
People, please, let us have our speech.
· Posted by
on 01/01 at 10:50 PM
Good God! Are they still trying to ban violent games? It'll never pass. Just give up.
· Posted by
on 01/02 at 09:19 AM
Thank you shadow fox, you're one of the few that gets it. They aren't trying to ban video games heck they can't.
But they do ban games in other countries keep that in mind.
· Posted by
on 01/02 at 11:53 AM
I am happy this didn't pass, for it would violate the constitutional first amendment. Videogames wether you like it or not will not be banned in the United States. They will not have a law passed for videogames to be banned from being sold to minors. It is just the way things are. Noone will stop videogames from being sold to minors, since it will happen no matter if such a law was passed. They have older friends and could easily get them to buy a game if a parent doesn't wish too. There are other ways as well such as online purchasing, downloading, getting a friend from an online community to buy and game and ship it to you and you send them the money. Some ways are unreliable, but most of them work out well.
I do believe that the ESRB system sucks, and proves my opinion of them. They just glance at a game and slap a rating on it. It isn't always right and doesn't always make sense. I believe that the ESA would do a better job of making ratings for videogames than ESRB.
· Posted by
on 01/09 at 10:47 AM
Any person should be able to pick up the game they wish and start playing it. I AM of the recomended M age and I still think anyone should play the game of their choice. The parent's job for their child is to mould their child with the values they need to grow. If the parent thinks their child can handle the game then let them, the game WILL influence the child- but children ARE NOT the only person capable of being influenced. Ban video games to them? No, it should stay the way it is. Violent games really are some of the best,and there are some admirable traits you can learn from them. The gamer needs to indentify the line between Fiction and reality and realise which qualities come into life and which stay in the game. Pull it together and let things unfold their way, keep the balance.
· Posted by
on 03/30 at 06:25 PM
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