A California judge has slapped the state's video game law with a preliminary injunction, halting its implementation.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte wrote that "games are protected by the First Amendment and that plaintiffs are likely to prevail in their argument that the Act violates the First Amendment." His ruling follows a trend of finding video game laws unconstitutional and forms of prior restraint.

Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, is said to have danced a little jig. His statement after the jump.

We are extremely pleased by today'’s announcement. We deeply respect the concerns of the Governor and the Legislature that gave rise to the law. For the sixth time in five years, Federal Courts have now blocked or struck down these state and local laws seeking to regulate the sale of games to minors based on their content, and none have upheld such statutes. It is therefore time to look past legislation and litigation in favor of cooperative efforts to accomplish the common goal of ensuring that parents use the tools available to control the games their kids play.

We believe that between the ESRB ratings, parental education, and now with the announcement that all next generation consoles will have parental controls, there is a wealth of ways that those concerned can ensure that children do not have access to inappropriate games. In sum, we believe a combination of parental choice and parental control is the legal, sensible, and most importantly, effective way to help parents keep inappropriate video games from children, and we dedicate ourselves to working with all parties to accomplish this goal.

Now that's a Christmas present.

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