I remember back in the eighties when Tipper Gore and her band of fascist uber-moms tried to accuse the ills of the world on heavy metal. Now it seems bored house-wives have found an easier target in the video-gaming industry to blame their poor parenting skills on.
Video game developers and publishers do not pull anywhere near the weight that rock stars do in the media. Without any celebrity cache I think that this
could prove to be a losing battle.
On the freedom of speech front, though, the proponents of the industry really don't have a leg to stand on. In actuality all congress is doing is asking that there are ratings and age prohibitions placed on video games the same way they are placed on movies. There is precedence for what the congress wants to do. Arguing the first amendment will do little good.
Now if the bill is passed, will it hurt the industry? It depends. Nintendo will love this new law if it is passed because it will water all game content down to what they produce, which is basically cartoony adventure/action titles, and we all know that they own that genre.
Meanwhile. Rockstar will be hurting BADLY. Ever notice that there aren't that many R rated movies anymore? Thats because the movie industry realizes that the teen market is where the money really is. Same with video games. While I think mature titles will still be made, especially by PC developers, I think developers and publishers will be concentrating more on their "PG-13" titles.
Of course, this all depends on 1) if the bill is passed, and 2) if law enforcement actually pays attention to it.
