Lawyer: California Law Could Destroy Videogame Industry
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
The law already HAS been passed - it was passed 5 years ago. If the Supreme Court rules in California's favor, the law takes effect - no ifs, ands or buts.Mackheath said:
Don't make me laugh.toriver said:
The rating indicator on DVDs and movie posters is ridiculously easy to miss - it's small, it's buried under several lines of credit text, and it's colored exactly like the rest of the description block (i.e. that big block of text and icons at the bottom that no one ever reads). It's easy to find if you look for it, but it's practically invisible to a casual observer. And as far as downplaying controversial content, I have three words for you: green-band trailer.
ESRB ratings, on the other hand, are much larger, are located on the front of the box (as opposed to the back of the box for MPAA ratings) in a standardized location (the lower-left corner), and are designed in such a way (large black block letter on a white background, surrounded by a slightly larger black box with white text, all surrounded with a thick white border and then a thinner black border) as to be easily visible, and to stand out quite readily against any background image. The "R" on the back of a DVD case is between 3/16 and 5/16 of an inch tall normally - the "M" on the front of a video game box is a relatively huge 3/4 of an inch tall.
The detailed descriptor on the back uses the same double-bordered box design, with all text presented in an easy to read font with contact information (compared to the MPAA rating, which uses the same narrow font for the content descriptor as it uses for the credits listing, making it significantly harder to read, and also has no contact information).
In all, the ESRB rating on the box can be read from well over 10 feet away, and the detailed information on the back from 4 feet away. By comparison, the MPAA rating on a DVD box is only legible from at most 5 feet away (not that it really matters because it's on the BACK of the box), and the detailed content information usually only legible from less than 18 inches away.
If I read this properly this is the California State Supreme Court, not 9th district; so would be a blow to the video game industry or just to CA.
What does it matter if Video Games get made in Seattle, Austin, or some other locale. The big loser will be the Governement entity that will be missing out on those recesion resistant taxes.
What does it matter if Video Games get made in Seattle, Austin, or some other locale. The big loser will be the Governement entity that will be missing out on those recesion resistant taxes.
*collapses weeping* Why must your point be so true?Commander Breetai said:
Being a non-partisan, I can see the rational thought behind this law... but I also see the one big flaw in it: All of the games that could really traumatize a minor /are already restricted from being rented or sold to them./ You have to be 17 to buy or rent M rated games. If the games where you headshot the /evil/ people are already rated M, of course the games where you urinate on the mutilated corpses of innocent people are rated M. If the state of California gets jurisdiction over this, I could easily see a child having to argue with his parents and explain the humongous levels of difference between Ratchet and Clank, and Grand Theft Auto. (Yes, I know, GTA's an overused thing, it's just the first thing that came to mind) Of course, since the parents have never played such a game, they'll assume Ratchet and Clank is a game about a terrorist blowing up the New York City area (Seriously, I could imagine a parent going: "What's that? You blow up the flying cars in metropolis with a remotely guided missile and get REWARDED for it??? =O We will never get this game for our child!!!")
I think one of the most helpful things that ESRB could do would be to find some way to convey the distinction between the different kinds of "disturbing to youth." For example, games Left 4 Dead 2 being bloody and gory, games like God of War 3 involving killing innocents (that one's open to debate, but yeah) and games like Fallout 3 allowing you to be as good or evil as you want to be, and they should definitely have a separate label for games like Uncharted 2 which just have some violence and a speck of blood here and there. It's ridiculous for those 4 games to be labeled with just "violence" and maybe "blood and gore" (which usually are given for all four types of examples rather than just the highly bloody and gory ones) Gamers and parents alike would be much better informed before buying a game if they could differentiate between those sorts of games, and as a result, those that fall under each of those categories would be better targeted specifically at the audiences that they were intended for, with less parents shockingly realizing that this game allows their kids to urinate on peoples corpses, and less gamers buying games that they later find they just can't sympathize with at all due to massive moral problems. This means everyone gets what they want and nobody gets what they don't want, they're all better informed, and the ignorant retards calling EA evil can stop complaining because it tells them on the front of the box, as well as on every single poster that the game is more or less traumatizing than Halo.
TL;DR: ESRB already enforces this law, ESRB should be more detailed in what sorts of violence (Killing evil guys or innocents, really bloody/gory or just some blood) is put below the rating.
Modern Warefare 2, which had "epic controversy" despite telling people SEVERAL TIMES that there was a scene that could be considered traumatizing. There are plenty of others, but I thought I'd just point that one out in particular.Xzi said:
And crud, sorry about the double post X.X
lol Yeah, along with some of the most highly regarded of EA's own studios (FIFA series), Ubisoft's main studios (Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed, etc.) and Blue Castle studios (made Dead Rising 2 for Capcom) just to name a few. Canada is a majorly growing force in the game development industry.Xzi said:
Please start to think of what to say before you start typing about how americas #1 at everything.............LOLXzi said:
Because they've failed at literally everything else they've attempted in the political spectrum, so they're making a desperate attempt to win brownie points with twatmackerels.teh_Canape said:
Way to live up to your "progressive" billing, California.
Hmm...looks like they're waiting for weakspots in videogame's industries, before they start to ravage it.coldasicedrummer said:
The reason I fear for this law is that if they get Video games banned here, then they might be able to fight it on other fields. Not only that, but we could see bans for certain games, higher ratings and bigger restrictions on the games ratings
It sounds small, but if they can get one edge on gaming, they're tear it apart like Eddie in Jurassic Park 2, down the middle and into pieces...
Plus, it gives Thompson and those other anti-gaming dickwads something else to try and shove in our faces as if they're superior to us because they think that gaming is "the devil" or something...
It sounds small, but if they can get one edge on gaming, they're tear it apart like Eddie in Jurassic Park 2, down the middle and into pieces...
Plus, it gives Thompson and those other anti-gaming dickwads something else to try and shove in our faces as if they're superior to us because they think that gaming is "the devil" or something...
Um...no we don't. I live in BC and I've been buying M rated games since I was 12.Thumper17 said:
As far as the impact goes the USA is a key pillar to the games industry. If games can't sell there then the industry is screwed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_video_game_companiesStriderShinryu said:
Awww shit, son!
Personally, I don't want to live in a world where Heavy Rain (despite all its flaws) would 1) never see the light of day, 2) be heavily censored to meet regs or 3) have its commercial prospects torpedoed by not being carried at any major retailer. I never thought a game could bring out my fatherly instincts and immerse me to the point where I was able to suppress my screaming urge to seek out 3/4 of the voice acting cast and give them a collective slap across the face. Well, at least it wasn't PS1-Resident-Evil-game bad...
Long story short, the entire medium having its 1st amendment rights stripped away in one of the largest markets would be an unqualified disaster. Cross everything you got and hope this turd gets pushed back up into the rectum from whence it came (yes, I am comparing the California government to a putrid colon, this should not be paradigm-shattering). Better yet, help raise awareness if you can.