NY Assemblyman Proposes Bill to Restrict the Sale of Games with Profanity or Racial Stereotypes, Bangs Head Against Wall

NY State Assemblyman, Keith L.T. Wright, submitted a proposal to prevent people under the age of 18 from purchasing games with a rating that "reflects content of various degrees of profanity, racist stereotypes, or derogatory language, and/or actions toward a specific group of persons." It would also require retailers to ID when selling or renting M or AO games. This is Wright's second attempt, the first attempt failing in 2007.

Does This Guy Look At History?

Retailers voluntarily checked IDs for video games, same as they do at the movies. This area does not need to be legislated. Also, the language of the quoted portion above is so broad, that anything could fall under that umbrella. It would lead to inconsistency and undue complexity. No offense to Mr. Wright, but not only has legislation like this failed in his own state, it has failed in multiple others for the same reason - it is unconstitutional!

United Arab Emirates Cracks Down on God of War, Again

UAE has decided to crackdown on God of War again. Banning it apparently was not enough, since now pirated copies are not hard to come by, so they are taking to the streets to remove this game which is harmful to their religious and moral beliefs. In fact, one went as far as to say he was shocked by how much the game contradicted Islamic views. Oh, and it has sex.

Don't Worship This God of War!

It just goes to show how much we, the Western gamer, take for granted. People here flip out over the smallest amount of censorship - we don't even know the half of it.

Afghanistan May Ban Video Games

The Afghan Parliament, supposedly better than the Taliban, has introduced legislation that directly mirrors the types of legislation passed under the Taliban, namely advocating bans for many of the racier sides of life: no more wearing of jewelry by men, no make-up for women in public, women must wear veils in school and at work, no more pigeon-flying, and most importantly, no more video games. How could W let this happen?

Afghaniban

Don't they believe in freedom? Well, this sure is hell ain't America.

Minnesota Pushes Forward With Futile Legislation

Minnesota, that bastion for common sense, continues to resist the legal system's mandate that legislation creating penalties for the sale of violent video games is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! The state has filed an appeal to hear the case en banc, meaning all of the Eighth Circuit of Appeals judges will hear the case, instead of just three.

Presenting the Minnesota Golden Dotards!

I was tempted to not even report this story because it is hardly news. As a gamer, I am happy this legislation has not been passed because I am against censorship in general and it could set a precedent for further encroachment. As a lawyer, if this type of legislation does pass, there are going to be a lot of sheepish judges out there who will either have to go back and say they were wrong, or stop the spread of this legislation to cover their proverbial ass. My guess is that they would stop the spread.

Manhunt 2 Cleared for Launch!

After a grueling battle with BBFC, Rockstar, developer of the Manhunt series, has defeated an appeal to not give Manhunt 2 a rating, which would have effectively banned the game from sale in the UK. Now, the game will be released with an 18 rating- rejoice! Score one for free speech in video games!

Let the Manhunting 2 Begin!

Another victory for gruesome games! It seems like there should be a point where the games get too gory to release, but that point has not been achieved yet. Phew!

Australia Bans Another: Dark Sector

By denying Dark Sector a rating, the Office of Film and Literature Classification in Australia has effectively banned the game down under, it being a crime to own or sell unrated entertainment. The OFLC cited the extreme violence of the game and focused heavily on the blood-spurting animation that accompanies the gameplay.

Down Under Not Down With Dark Sector

Hit the link to see other games that Australia has banned: the list is longer than one might think.

UK to Legally Enforce Ratings

Retreating from the current pan-European ratings PEGI, the UK government is set to introduce legally enforceable game ratings similar to those used for movies and other video content. Right now, only games with sex or "gross" violence are reviewed by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and given a rating. The government is also encouraging parents to monitor their children's video game time and discouraging them from placing systems in bedrooms.

UK Ratings Get Bite

Legislation like this has been introduced in America repeatedly, but is consistently shut down for violating the 1st amendment. Luckily for the UK, they have no such codified constitution to hold them back.

Lawyers Win Again in GTA Hot Coffee Suit

Take Two Interactive has set up a site for folks who were offended by the Hot Coffee mod available in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas after losing a court battle over the improper game content. The amount of settlement received depends on how much proof of purchase you can supply, but do not get to excited with receipt in hand because the max payout is a whopping $35! At worst, you could only receive $5. Check the link for full information on receiving the settlement you deserve. Speaking of deserving, because of their great public service, the lawyers are taking home a cool million; they should have had the settlement site just give away the "And all I got was this lousy T-Shirt" shirts.

T2 Pays Out

Having read about five different coverages of the story, it is clear that the writers out there at video game sites, really are taking issue with the fact that the lawyers are getting paid so much. I don't blame them, but it is the nature of the class-action lawsuit beast: usually, the individual payouts are not large, but the cost of litigating is very high, and the lawyers get to take about a 1/3. One site mentioned an estimate of about $2.5 million in settlement, which would put these lawyers fees in that general range. To me, more silly than the lawyers' fees, is the idea that somebody was actually offended $35 worth by having the option to hack a game and see something they do not want to see (I know the hoopla was over the rating and "misleading" consumers). It is also very strange to me the way they set up the settlements. I realize that paying based on the harm suffered is not an option, but proof of purchase has nothing to do with whether or not you were harmed by the actions of the suit. On top of all of that, you have to read and send back a huge contract, not is probably not worth $5 of your time.

Manhunt 2 Release Blocked in UK

Unfortunately for Rockstar, their appeal to the Video Appeals Committee after the British Board of Film Classification denied the game a rating for its "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone," has been overturned by the High Court, holding that the VAC's decision was a clear error of law with regard to assessing harm (cool how I fit three different judicial/regulatory bodies into one sentence: thanks law school!). The VAC believed the game was suitable for players 18 and over and should be given and 18 certificate, the most stringent rating. As a Gamasutra reports, this process is pretty new for the British games industry, which rarely bans games.

Banhunt

Is anyone else tired of hearing about all of these troubles? The game is depraved we all know it: no grandma going into a video game store, or unsuspecting parent will buy this game for little Timmy, only to discover that he is hacking another homicidal maniac (not the one he is playing as of course!) with his Wiimote. I say let the people play!

Counter-Strike, EverQuest Banned in Brazil

A Brazilian judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, confirmed a ban imposed last October on the popular online games Counter-Strike and EverQuest on the grounds that the games encouraged "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security." Observers have pointed to a Counter-Strike mod that allows the players to be either the police or narcotics smugglers in a Rio slum as a possible impetus. Perhaps this mod was just too much for democracy to bear. Why EverQuest was banned is still under debate...

No More CS or EQ in the BZL

Could this happen here? I think for any judge to be able to act so unilaterally, there would have to be much more concrete proof that the games actually have the results the judge claimed they do. But, what if a study came out confirming game addiction - would WoW be banned (especially now that the game has over 10 million subscribers)?

Stranglehold Commercial Banned in UK

Reacting to only two complaints, the UK Advertising Standards Authority has pulled the Stranglehold ad for being likely to encourage and condone violence. The best part: the message at the bottom of the screen saying that the video used is not actually from the game.

Woo Gets Shooed

UK PM's Knife Ban Extends to Video Games (!?!)

Gordon Brown, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, told reporters at the popular British tabloid, The Sun, that he is cracking down on knives throughout the UK, including in video games. Brown called for "computer game designers to stop their characters using blades."

How Will Mama Cook Without Her Knives?

Interesting to see where this goes...but doesn't it seem odd that video games are targeted, yet movies with gory slasher scenes did not get a mention. Frankly, the knife epidemic may be so out-of-hand in Britain, they should ban Hamlet, because SO many people get stabbed - poor Polonius...

Update 1/16/08: Looks like I may have jumped the gun here. For now, there will be no significant changes in policy

Yee Appeals CA Video Game Law Ruling

State Senator Leland Yee (D) of California filed an appeal of USDC ruling by Judge Ronald Whyte that found a $1000 penalty for the sale of ultra-violent video games to minors to be unconstitutional. He has the support of the Governator, but given the fact that every time legislation like this is proposed, it is found to be unconstitutional, my guess is that this will also lose on appeal.

Futuli-Yee

He argues that surely our forefathers would never have dreamed that the 1st amendment would be used to allow our children to be exposed to violence...then again, our founding fathers had slaves. The comments that follow the article, while vitriolic, make good points about Yee's "historical" arguments. Rhetoric aside, without any clear evidence of video game's effect on the youth, it will be near impossible for Yee to prove the law is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest

ESRB Upholds Manhunt 2 Rating Despite Dubious Mods; Target Still Won't Sell in Stores

The ESRB, showing a good amount of common sense, ruled that its M rating for Manhunt 2 will stand, even though some modded Playstation Portables are capable of accessing certain content deemed Adult-Only. Patricia Vance delineated this ruling from the ESRB's opinion of the Hot Coffee mod from GTA: San Andreas, pointing to the increased inaccessibility from needing a modded PSP versus PC software and the fact that the content was disclosed to the ESRB when the M rating was given.

ESRB Allows Manhunt 2 Rating to Stand

I think the ESRB is doing the right thing here. It takes a lot of effort to unlock this content, and if Take Two was upfront about it being there, no point in punishing them with further delays and increased headache.

Despite this "endorsement" (?), Target has still decided not to sell the game on its shelves, though they will sell it online.

M for Missing Target

Fox Calls in a Hit on Hitman

Twitch, a movie news site, has reported that Fox has hired a "consultant" to assist in the final edit of the Hitman movie, slated to be released in November. Apparently, the first cut was extremely violent with head shots and other sequences of gore. Fox brought in Nicholas De Toth, the mastermind behind the PG-13 version of Live Free or Die Hard, to sanitize the movie, but claims that the released version will still be rated R.

Hitman Gets Hit

While this story is not directly related to video game law, it seems strange to me that other media outlets are effectively trying to censor the game's IP. How can you have a movie called Hitman, about a guy named Agent 47 who kills people, but have it sanitized. It seems to me that the gamers that loved the game would love to see Hitman in action, not Hitman where we hear the gun shots and it fades to black. Since Hitman is a video game movie, perhaps Fox thinks they can appeal to wider demographic, but this seems like selling cigarettes to kids --> would we want the kids to see a sanitized playboy movie, only to have them discover that when they opened the magazine they saw much more than they should?

"Spastic" Too Offensive for UK Players

Following the recall of Mind Quiz for use of the word "spastic," Nintendo has likewise pulled the newest installment of its Mario Party franchise. Cleverly titled Mario Party 8, some discs contained a manufacturing defect by using the word spastic. Hoping to avoid too much hoopla, they plan on relaunching the game immediately.

Spastic...really

Being educated from Berkeley, I am PC almost to a fault. But I just wonder how anybody could really be offended by Mario Party? Mind Quiz maybe since it is trying to rate intelligence, but frankly, every time I have ever played Mario Party my frenetic button mashing during mini-games is completely mindless. I feel like even if the parent is offended, the kid playing doesn't care.

Manhunt 2 Release Suspended

Following an unprecedented amount of resistance from ratings boards across the globe, Take-Two has decided to suspend the release of its Manhunt 2, mostly because it could not release it on any of the platforms it was programmed for. Developed for the Wii and PS3, the game received an Adults Only rating in the US. Sony and Nintendo will not authorize the sale of AO games for their PS3 and Wii consoles respectively. M2 was also condemned by the UK ratings board, stating, "Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing." The AO rating also means that most commercial supplier will not carry the game, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Gamestop.

Manhunt 2 gets Axed

These developments do not shock me. This game really seemed to push the limits of what might be acceptable in a video game violence-wise. We all love the interactivity of the Wiimote, but if you saw your kid playing this game it would actually be more disturbing than watching him blow up the National Guard with a Rocket launcher in GTA III. You simulate murdering people with all sorts of instruments with a simple flick of the wrist. It almost seems like it would be weird to invite someone over to show them your new game that kicks ass, only to have them watch you saw some dude's head off. I'm 25 and would be a bit repulsed by the game (though I have to say that I can imagine at least one of my friends getting really into this game). Then I imagine coming home to see my ten year old brother playing, and I think enough is enough. The rating is warranted, but frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the rating would ultimately appeal to some players: after all, Rockstar and Take-Two say that they are catering to the older crowd. Are they actually, or are they just cigarette companies in disguise?

NY Legislators Carry Video Game Bill Past Round 1

New York, in a continuing effort to succeed where so many other states have failed, has successfully passed a piece of video game legislation through its Senate and Assembly. The bill would make selling mature games to minors a felony and force consoles to have parental control measures (which all next-gen systems already have). I have reported on this bill earlier, and it, like its predecessors, seems to be making good progress...until some activist judge comes along and declares it unconstitutional.

Prediction: NY VG Legislation violates 1st Amendment...just a prediction

Second Life Campaign Headquarters May Violate Japanese Election Law

While the latest political election rage has been to set up a virtual headquarters in a virtual world, usually Second Life, one Japanese politico-to-be may have overstepped his bounds. It is illegal for Japanese political candidated to set-up or update any website regarding their campaign during their campaign. Right now, the Japanese authorities are looking into Kan Suzuki's actions in establishing a SL presence to see if it violates election law.

KAN!!!!

As of now, there is no official word about whether a violation has occurred.

Manchester Cathedral Not Too Happy about Being a Level in Resistance: Fall of Man

The Church of England has threatened to sue Sony, the makers of Resistance: Fall of Man, over their use of the interior of Manchester Cathedral as a game level (apparently, the outside has been blown to bits). Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Resistance is a first-person shooter with tons of guns and video game violence that moral, upstanding folks usually object to. Church of England claims this is a violation of their copyrights (in the building, though these must have expired by now...it is pretty old) and trademarks (would any one really believe that the Church endorsed this game?), but seems to be mostly based on an equity argument (this is just morally wrong...give us an injunction). The Very Reverend Rogers Govender claimed that the game was undermining the work of the church by promoting violence and using holy places as battlegrounds.

I killed 14 of my friends in Manchester Cathedral online; it was my best game ever!

Normally the whining of the older generation about violent video games doesn't phase me much, but this particular instance does seem a bit different. Is nothing sacred any more? Once again, I suppose that is for the courts to decide. Although I do agree with Aleks Krotoski: if the church wins, do video games always have to get permission from building owners to use their buildings in games? How close the building have to actually be? What if Dan Brown had to get the permission of the church to set a Da Vinci Code scene at the Vatican - after all, he was sending a message that undermined the church.

Fall of Man, Fall of Man...clearly sinful