<![CDATA[Kotaku: Legislation]]> http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/kotaku.com.png <![CDATA[Kotaku: Legislation]]> http://kotaku.com/tag/legislation http://kotaku.com/tag/legislation <![CDATA[Broken Record Congressman Pushing Health Warnings On Video Games Again]]> In 2009 California congressman Joe Baca introduced legislation that would require games to display a label warning of links between violent video games and aggressive behavior. Now Baca's back, singing the same old song with a few new lines. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5743935&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Look Who Says the Rhode Island Games Legislation is Unconstitutional]]> An effort to impose fines and even jail time for selling mature games to underage kids has reached Rhode Island's legislature. "The bill won't survive a court challenge, nor should it," says a certain disbarred Florida lawyer. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5492331&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Rhode Island Bill Proposes Jail Time for Selling M-Rated Games to Kids]]> Well, here we go again. Rhode Island has a bill in its legislature that provides for up to $1,000 in fines and a year in jail for selling M- or AO-rated games to underage buyers. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5490458&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Conn. Pol Caught Playing Video Game in Session]]> A Connecticut Democrat apologized profusely to his district's constituents after he was photographed playing computer solitaire inside stately Wayne Manor the statehouse (pictured) while the state House Republican leader addressed the chamber on the budget. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5357991&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ESA Annual Report Highlights Success in State Legislatures]]> The Entertainment Software Association released its annual report last week, and it shows a very impressive winning streak against anti-games legislation at the state level in the U.S. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5348868&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[NY Bill Seeks To Shield Children From Racist Sterotyping In Games]]> New legislation under consideration by the New York Assembly seeks to keep games that promote "racist stereotypes" out of the hands of the state's children. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5130168&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[New York Gov Signs Video Game Law]]> New York Governor David Paterson signed a video game bill into law yesterday that requires parental controls on all consoles, pushes game rating enforcement and launches a state-backed study of video games and violence. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5027774&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[New York Assembly, Senate Pass Video Game Bill]]> Though efforts to put the force of law behind voluntary content regulation in video games have been ruled unconstitutional over and over again, state-level lawmakers continue to endeavor to pass such laws. The state of New York is the latest to level its administrative eye on video games, passing almost unanimously a bill in the State Assembly at the beginning of this week that proposes an "advisory council" for video games. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5019560&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Cali Senator Discusses Interactive Violence, ESRB "Conflict of Interest"]]> You may know California Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) as one of the most ardent critics in politics of violence in video games. A bill he authored intended to legislate the sale of violent video games in his state was recently ruled unconstitutional in federal court, and Yee, along with Gov. Schwarzenegger, are currently appealing the decision. He also urged the FTC to investigate the ESRB in the wake of the Manhunt 2 ratings controversy, and regularly speaks out against video games he believes are "ultra-violent." More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=392063&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Advocacy Groups Want Games Locked Up]]> As the GTA IV launch is once again trotted out as a controversy flashpoint, there's one thing the gaming audience tends to agree on: This game is not for children. Of course, just how zealous they are about enforcing such a mandate varies wildly. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=385663&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Stephen King Weighs in on Video Game Violence]]> Best-selling author Stephen King points up and rips down the double-standard of what's tolerable in violent films, compared with video games, in a brilliant op-ed for Entertainment Weekly. You should take a look at this, because as a creator of worthy stories filled with violence and suspense, he speaks with real authority. Plus, it's great to see this kind of defense in a mainstream medium. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=376518&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Jim Ward Talks Game Legislation]]> Every time a teen commits an act of violence these days I find myself holding my breath, waiting for information to surface about his video gaming habits, and apparently I am not alone. The San Jose Mercury News caught up with ESA Board chairman and LucasArts president Jim Ward to talk about the state of gaming legislation today, and his concerns echo my own pretty succinctly.
And, by the way, at any moment, if some kid in West Virginia goes and blows away 32 people, and they find out that he played a video game, guess what, we've got a problem again. Just as if he had watched a movie and then done that. Or just as if he had read "Catcher in the Rye" and blamed it on J.D. Salinger. . .
That was in response to ESA president Mike Gallagher's belief that the tide of anti-gaming legislation is turning, and Ward is right. The industry isn't so much marching firmly towards the level of acceptance that music, movies and literature have achieved as it is walking a tightrope towards it. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=287223&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Congress Looking At the 'Skill Game Protection Act']]> Via PlayNoEvil, "Congressman Robert Wexler introduced HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act, to exempt games 'where success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players involved' from being considered gambling ...." The law won't apply to most American MMOs, but could affect "Asian MMOs and the tournaments/arena modes of Western-style MMOs." More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=269511&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Vicarious Visions Speak Out on NY Legislation]]> Back in May, the New York State Senate passed a bill that would regulate video game ratings and that bill is on its way to becoming a law. Now, two video game developers based in New York have spoken out in an op-ed column for the Albany Times-Union in an attempt to explain the economic benefits of the game industry and the redundancy of having another system of monitoring video game violence (on top of the ESRB and parental controls) added into the mix. Kathrik Bala, CEO (pictured above), and Guha Bala, president of Vicarious Visions write: More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=266000&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Illinois Governor Blew $1 Million On Failed Appeal]]> From GamePolitics comes a news article stating that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich blew through a million dollars of taxpayers' money trying to fight "a 2005 federal court ruling that a state law banning the sale of violent or sexual-explicit video games to minors was unconstitutional." More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=263798&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Proposed Law Permits Confiscation of Unrated Games]]> GamePolitics reports that a new legislation in the works by New York State Republican Rep. Brian Kolb adds a twist to the standard proposal prohibiting the sale of violent or sexually explicit games to minors: More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=243717&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[France Approves Game Tax Credit]]>
In a move that could have oppressed German game developers looking jealously towards the southwest, the French Parliament has approved a plan to allow game developers creating games with a "with a cultural dimension" a tax credit equaling 20% of development costs up to 3 million euros a year. That's a pretty sizeable chunk of change aimed at keeping developers in the country, providing a sharp contrast to Germany, where some game developers are looked on and treated like borderline criminals. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=234580&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[VGVN: We Don't Need No Legislation]]>
This morning the Video Game Voters Network sent out an email to its members urging them to make their voices heard this Tuesday by voting in the mid-term elections. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=212592&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Oklahoma Paper Talks Blessed Sense About New Law]]>
Watchblog GamePolitics reports that the Muskogee Phoenix is full of piss and vinegar about the shamefully-constructed anti-games law in Oklahoma: More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=183271&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Washington Times Snaps at 'Crats Over Games Legislation]]>
The Washington Times is a traditionally right-leaning newspaper, and they've recently published an article damning games legislation. I would normally endorse such a tirade, but the article makes some tiresome omissions, keeping it from being just a decent opinion piece and turning it into an agenda-whore. GameDaily has a nice little piece calling the Washington Times on their crap: More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=178569&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Leland Yee's Half-Truths & Down-Right Lies]]> Luke over at 1Up chatted with California politician Leland Y. Yee about freedom of speech and video games. Yee spearheaded a bill through the State Assembly that prohibits selling ultra-violent video games throughout the Golden State. Banning the sale of these games does not contradict First Amendment rights contests Yee. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=169360&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Center for Disease Control and Prevention to Investigate Video Games?]]> Apparently so. GameSpot reports that senators Joseph Liberman, Hilary Clinton and Dick Durbin have teamed up to ask the Center for Diseas Control and Prevention to study the "impact of electronic media use." So what? More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=159497&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Video Game Legislation Tracking Map]]> Game Politics whipped up a cool little map that shows the current status of video game legislation around the country. While it's a neat reference, it would be cool if they eventually added more details on the status of contested laws, like the ones in Michigan and California. I'd love to be able to see which are being fought and where exactly they are in the process. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=156006&view=rss&microfeed=true