Video Game Industry Files a Suit Against the New Video Game Law

WASHINGTON: The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced that the computer and video game industry filed a suit in Oklahoma asking that the state's new video game law should be overturned.

Certain similar laws have been ruled as unconstitutional by six federal courts in five years, all rejecting the unpersuasive claims made by states that violent video games cause aggression.

"Legislators have sold parents a bill of goods for political expediency," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade group representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "They know the bill will be struck down, they know it's based on bad science, and they know it won't help parents do their jobs. What they won't tell voters: we just picked your pocket to the tune of a half million dollars, the amount the state will have to reimburse the ESA after the inevitable decision is made to strike down the law."

The law also criminalizes the sale or distribution of violent video games to minors even by their own parents.

By subjecting a parent to criminal liability for providing a video game to their child, the state of Oklahoma is the first in the country to pass a law that takes this unprecedented step of telling parents that the government knows better than they what games their children should play.

"Parents, not local police offices, should decide what games are suitable for their children," said Lowenstein. "We stand ready to work with parents to provide them with information about the Entertainment Software Ratings system, which has been called the most comprehensive rating system for any entertainment medium in the country, in order to help parents make informed choices about the games their children play."

"The law's definitions are so vague and imprecise that no video game retailer could ever know whether a particular video game is covered by the restrictions," said Bo Andersen, president of the Entertainment Merchants Association.

"No retail clerk should suffer the ignominy of a criminal record where no reasonable person could determine whether a particular video game may legally be sold or rented to a minor."

ESA is disappointed that the legislature has been opted to enact the bill rather than pursue constitutional and effective ways to work cooperatively with industry, retailers, government, parent groups, and health groups to educate parents about the ESRB ratings and content descriptors.

The legislature is even not concerned about giving any hand to the parental controls available in all next generation consoles.
The lawsuit also alleges that the ban violates the First Amendment of the U-S Constitution.

Governor Brad Henry signed House Bill 30-oh-4 into law at the start of this month.

The measure by state Representative Fred Morgan and state Senator Glenn Coffee bars retailers from selling video games that include inappropriate or gratuitous violence for minors.

However, Henry declined comment on the lawsuit, but Morgan says he's not surprised about the legal challenge.