This Wednesday, The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is scheduled to review a lower court holding that declared California’s violent video game law violates the First Amendment. The impending appeal has been on our radar for a long time, first discussed by LoP correspondent Matthew Razak. Legislators and game developers have been very vocal about the case, including the oft-discussed author of the legislation, Democrat Senator Leland Yee. Senator Yee offered to repeat his factually-dubious battle cry for reporters:

This is the same technology the armed forces use to help soldiers kill the enemy… All we’re saying is, “Don’t sell it to kids.”

The law would prevent minors from purchasing games that “appeal to a deviant or morbid interest of children and are patently offensive to prevailing community standards.” Retailers violating this law would be subject to a $1000 fine.

Curiously, the bill also calls for an “18″ label to be placed on excessively violent games, but this seems to be the exact function of the current ESRB ratings.

Laws similar to California’s have been repeatedly struck down by courts around the country. But, with the notoriously wacky Ninth Circuit involved, who knows what will happen? In all honesty, I doubt this case will be any different. The link between violent video games and real-life violence in so scientifically tenuous that we shouldn’t be attempting to abridge speech because of it.

[via Mercury News]

Ben Croshaw, of PC Gamer and Zero Punctuation fame, recently posted an opinion piece discussing Australian video game censorship over at news.com.au. Ben examines the Australian game rating system, which ranges from “E” — for everyone — to “MA15+” — for gamers 15 and older. Because Australia does not feature an 18+ rating, all games that are inappropriate for an “MA15+” rating are effectively banned.

Ben argues that while there are plenty of mature games that he believes lack any “worthwhile” mature speech, there is no reason that adults should be denied access to these titles. Furthermore, Ben points out that as the gaming medium matures as an art form, many developers find themselves experimenting with more mature themes. As Germany and some other European nations effectively ban games on occasion by refusing to rate them, Ben’s arguments prove interesting on an international level.

Read the full article here.