The Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a California state law that would have fined retailers $1,000 for selling minors video games with mature themes. It was overturned on the basis of free speech 1st Amendment protections. These are my thoughts:

1. Unlike movies, every video game sold in stores is rated for content. Further, every video game released on a major console must be rated to be released on that console. Unlike many other forms of media, the rating (on every game) also details what content is found in the game that justifies its rating (eg. blood, violence, gore, sexual themes, etc).

2. It's not similarly illegal to allow minors to see R rated films (most theaters have such a policy, but nothing requires them to), nor to prevent kids from obtaining other forms of media with similar adult themes.

3. Nearly all retailers already voluntarily have no-mature-rated-titles-to-under-17 policies anyway.

4. Studies have shown that a minor will have less success buying a mature video game than buying an R rated film, getting into an R movie, etc, due to the aforementioned voluntary policies of gaming retailers.

5. There's no conclusive evidence that exposure to mature-rated video games is actually harmful (harmful in the legal sense - they might provide nightmare fodder or something, but not long term injury).

6. The biggest issue with regard to minors playing mature-rated titles is parents who care so deeply about the issue to demand a law, yet do not care enough to make themselves aware of what their kids are playing. Further, because most stores will not sell the games to kids, they often get their parents to buy them for them instead - I see this all the time. You have little cause for outrage if you purchase the title for your kid yourself.

Also, there's nothing the retailer can do to prevent them from getting older friends or siblings to purchase for them, and the law wouldn't prevent that either. Only parental involvement in what their kids experience can prevent them from playing games that don't meet parental approval.

Thoughts?

I say this is good stuff.

Not only is it a win for constitutionality (something that's pretty rare these days--won't go into detail on that tho lol), but it's also a win for (un)common sense.

done. plus there is already sexually themed BILLBOARDS every where. and coke adds and there is the internet, which go type BARBE in google, hides nothing from kids. the same Ball less family first the rest of the copulate planet second groups are probably why I see kids as young as six with I-pods and I-Pads and the copulate little "smart ass" phones... I need to smoke more weed before I read crap like this.

my view is... copulate IT. If some one at a games store (I've listened to clerks at EB tel kids there is no New Mario Bros games being made, wile I was looking at a banner for the New Mario Bros game) If some one who thinks real hard about what to do with there lives, made it there choice to work as an electronics sales person. this person is no longer human, like the crack heads and heroine addicted hookers I see every day, these sales people are dead inside already. nothing will save them. I'm cool for any real reason they should lose there jobs. because I'm not sure who I dislike more Family First organizations, Crack heads, or sales people. I'm all for this on the grounds that EB or Games stop, employ copulate dumb people. Parents who have to hid tits from there kids are going to be socked when there kids grow there own and don't know whats best for these said tits, till they get picked up by guys like me in my full sized unmarked moving van. I think it's best to explain the world about them, or make it harder for (ACTUAL) morons to sell video games all day.

Oregon > California

Pretty much everywhere > California

For every kid that somehow manages to buy an M-rated game, there are 20 whose parents just buy it for them. You can't tell me your average Black Ops loving 8 year old a) had $60 b) got to the store by themselves and then c) tricked the cashier into selling it to them.

BUT politicians can't blame voters, only "evil corporations". Hence crap like this law.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!