Michigan Legislature Weighs Game/Age Restrictions
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from Gamasutra
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Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has lent her support to a bill aimed at criminalizing the act of selling or renting certain videogames to minors. The bill, introduced by Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit), is one of many such pieces of legislature currently circulating in states around the country.
At a press conference discussing the bill, Granholm said that the law was needed to warn "those who would poison the minds of our young people that were not going to take it anymore." Clarke, who was also present at the press conference, used the widely panned 2004 release The Guy Game to illustrate the problem, saying that it was too easy for minors to obtain access to the game.
The specifics of the bill were not mentioned, but it does differ from Leland Yee's effort in California in a couple of respects: it's aimed at all games featuring mature content, not just violent games, and it appears to take the currently existing ESRB ratings as its guide to what those under 17 will be allowed to rent, rather than creating a Michigan-specific ratings system.
Though Michigan's legislature is currently in recess for the Easter holidays, Gov. Granholm said that she would encourage the lawmakers to give Clarke's bill a high priority when they reconvene.
-Nich Maragos
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while "the guy game" isn't exactly a great game to use as an example (though i guess it works in this case), as long as there aren't any hidden agendas, this is kinda interesting to see. now if only they'd apply the same strictness towards the movie industry (I know that comment just opened up a whole new can o' worms).
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[ QUOTE ]
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has lent her support to a bill aimed at criminalizing the act of selling or renting certain videogames to minors. The bill, introduced by Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit), is one of many such pieces of legislature currently circulating in states around the country.
At a press conference discussing the bill, Granholm said that the law was needed to warn "those who would poison the minds of our young people that were not going to take it anymore." Clarke, who was also present at the press conference, used the widely panned 2004 release The Guy Game to illustrate the problem, saying that it was too easy for minors to obtain access to the game.
The specifics of the bill were not mentioned, but it does differ from Leland Yee's effort in California in a couple of respects: it's aimed at all games featuring mature content, not just violent games, and it appears to take the currently existing ESRB ratings as its guide to what those under 17 will be allowed to rent, rather than creating a Michigan-specific ratings system.
Though Michigan's legislature is currently in recess for the Easter holidays, Gov. Granholm said that she would encourage the lawmakers to give Clarke's bill a high priority when they reconvene.
-Nich Maragos
[/ QUOTE ]
while "the guy game" isn't exactly a great game to use as an example (though i guess it works in this case), as long as there aren't any hidden agendas, this is kinda interesting to see. now if only they'd apply the same strictness towards the movie industry (I know that comment just opened up a whole new can o' worms).
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