Game Politics

"Clearly the video game industry is not concerned with the welfare of our children..."

...so said California State Assemblyman Leland Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco. Yee was commenting on his bill, AB450, which was approved recently by a unanimous vote of the Assembly's Judiciary Committee. The bill would levy fines of up to $1,000 to those who sell or rent violent games to children under the age of 17.

Yee's comments are contained in a press release on his website, and include the following: "Clearly, the video game industry is not concerned with the welfare of our children and thus it is imperative that we step in to prevent the sale of these harmful games to our children."

Pretty strong stuff, but Yee has been targeting video game content for some time. AB450 now proceeds to the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee, which rejected similar legislation in 2004. In that case, the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a watered-down bill requiring retailers to post signs and offer information about game ratings.

So what's different now?

According to Yee, the video game industry has published even more violent and realistic games since last year. That point, however, is rather dubious, and smells like so much political rhetoric to GamePolitics. Which games are you refering to, Assemblyman Yee? His press release mentions only two by name: Rockstar's Manhunt and Traffic's JFK Reloaded. Both are really poor examples, betraying that the Assmeblyman is likely not well informed about the video game business. Manhunt was released for the PlayStation 2 in November, 2003, i.e. long before, not after the compromise signed in 2004. As for JFK Reloaded, the game is only available online in a downloadable format. No child - nor any adult for that matter - in California or anywhere else will be purchasing it at retail. AB450 therefore, even if passed, could have no possible effect on the purchase of JFK Reloaded.

For its part, the Entertainment Software Association, the trade association for video game publishers, considers video game content as Constitutionally protected speech. The ESA points to the well-known ratings system of the Entertainment Software Rating Board as the proper vehicle for keeping inappropriate content out of the hands of children.

Care to comment to the California Assembly on AB450?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The graphic at left, by the way, is from Atari's forgettable Terminator 3 game. Recognize the dude with the sunglasses? Would the Guv's own game be restricted by Assemblyman Yee's bill? And, yes, GamePolitics realizes that we ran this same screen shot a couple weeks back, but we do so enjoy the irony.