ESA Tells Arnie They'll See Him in Court

Remember the bit in Predator where the guy’s arm gets cut off and lies on the floor with the gun still firing? Or the bit in Total Recall when he goes crazy with the huge drill? What about in Commando when he says ‘Let off some steam, Bennett’ and pins the moustachioed, chain mail-clad villain to a tank with a length of pipe?

Plenty of film scenes featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger have made their way into playground lore despite their age ratings. And many eyebrows were raised when the now Governator of California added his name to the support of a fledgling law banning the sale of violent video games to minors. ‘Violent’ in this case is defined as:


The basic principle is reasonable enough: lord knows the industry has enough on its plate without yet more outrage regarding youngsters getting their hands on games not meant for their tender years. Indeed, the proposal could be interpreted as applying to all first-person shooters, hack ‘n’ slashers and beat ‘em ups. The main reason that people were surprised by Arnie's endorsement of the legislation is that similar laws in other states have been attacked by people both inside and outside the games industry as infringing on free speech rules enshrined in the national constitution.

And just as with Illinois and Michigan before them, California has attracted the attention of the games industry, with the Entertainment Software Association announcing plans to file a lawsuit against the state. President of the ESA, Doug Lowenstein said yesterday that the body, "intends to file a lawsuit to strike this law down and we are confident that we will prevail."

In America, companies like Walmart keep higher age rated games off the shelves and games have been the focus of debate following Senator Hillary Clinton’s intervention in the Hot Coffee debacle. We’d love your perspective on this newest development, especially if you’re one of our valued American readers.