Industry Sues to Kill Violent Game Law

The ESA leads a fight against an Illinois bill limiting sale of mature-themed games.

 

July 25, 2005 - Several forces in the videogame industry have filed suit to stop an Illinois bill which imposes strong fines on retailers who sell violent or sexually explicit games to minors. The bill was signed into law today by Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich.

 

 

 

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is joined by the Video Software Dealers Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association in fighting Illinois HB 4023, which provides a $1,000 fine to individuals or retailers who sell mature-themed games to minors. The bill provides definitions of "violent" and "sexually explicit" separate from the ESRB ratings standards already adopted by the industry.

 

In a statement today, the ESA describes the Illinois law as a threat to First Amendment rights, and points out that similar laws were shot down in St. Louis, Indianapolis,

and Washington State.

 

"This law will have a chilling effect on free speech. It will limit First Amendment rights not only for Illinois residents, but for game developers and publishers, and for retailers who won't know what games can and cannot be sold or rented under this vague new statute," said ESA president Douglas Lowenstein.

 

The statement goes on to emphasize that the games industry, via groups such as the ESA and the ESRB rating system, is effectively identifying mature-themed games and preventing their sale to minors.

 

Of course, the issue of violence and sexuality in videogames is steaming hot right now in the wake of the Grand Theft Auto "hot coffee" scandal and its ensuing controversy. After investigating sexual content meant to be locked in the retail version of the game, the ESRB changed the rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from Mature to Adults Only. The move had many industry critics questioning the effectiveness of the ESRB system.

 

The ESA points out that both the average game buyer and the average game player are adults, and that only 16% of games sold in 2004 were rated Mature. Given gaming's diverse audience, the ESA feels games should not be treated more harshly than other media, such as movies or music.

Pandora at S-C.com pointed this out. The Source is possibly a gaming site!

3.71a (25-Jul-2005)

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»» Official Site

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Credits: Official Site

To someone or a team who can sucessfully create an open source TCP/IP implamentation for Nintendo's DS handheld.

GameInsider has found a page posting a bounty of currently $1127.57 for the person(s) that can successfully create a TCP/IP implementation for the Nintendo DS.

Joystiq // Gameinsider.com

Fixed some stuff. It isn't really Nintendo. B

Now that non-emulation news is being posted here (which I find odd), I thought I'd partake in this activity. Even though this bit is about Nintendo, expect more PC centric news in the future.

Miyamoto talks Revolution

Here are the highlights:

- "Nothing's set in stone yet, but the interface we're creating for the Revolution is well suited to Pikmin"

- "We're considering connecting the DS with the Revolution via Wi-Fi"

- "We designed the controller so it can play any of the different conventional [gameplay] styles" (ie the controller design shouldn't prevent porting of games from other platforms)

- 480p guaranteed

- "Even if you look at Zelda on GameCube, I don't think that looks inferior to what the competition is touting as 'next-generation' visuals." (Nintendo don't think they'll fall behind on visual quality.)

- 'Miyamoto refused to reveal any details of the top secret and much-hyped Revolution controller, but he did say he believed it would prove very popular with gamers and eventually become the industry standard.'

I bolded the one I find to be the most important because it seems to throw a wrench into the entire "It'll be impossible to port games over to the Revolution because of it's weird controller."

Source:

From EGM magazine, via Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60185