Digital Cream

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District has ruled that a California Law that would require stiffer penalties for minors purchasing violent video games and more stringent labeling requirements is unconstitutional.

“We hold that the Act violates rights protected by the First Amendment.” – The Honorable Judge Callahan.

Once again another court joins to rule that games are a form of protected speech. Read more about it here at the Video Game Voters Network.

According to a soon-to-be released multinational survey commissioned by Deloitte, three-quarters of Millennials (ages 14 to 25) view the computer as more of an entertainment device than their television. The most eye-opening comparison, says the report, came from Brazil, where consumers spend approximately 9.8 hours a week watching television, but 19.3 hours a week pursuing personal/social interests online. You can see the study here. Thanks to MediaPost for the find.

My local paper in Brisbane, Australia, the Courier-Mail, came out today in print and online with an article I was interviewed for earlier in the week. I am going to be in a forum in a couple days about the same subject. The article quotes me on my views about games and parenting. Check out the article online.

Results Show Need for Continued Improvement by Movie, Music, and Some Game Retailers

I read this report by the FTC with interest. It supports my general argument that it should be up to parents to enforce age ratings and pressure retailers to do the same, voting with their dollars as they do so. I expect many retailers will continue to improve. Those that don’t will be all the easier for parents to keep their kids from frequenting. (continued »)

On Friday night my son Dylan took my place playing BioShock on the 360. I’d had my couple hours and couple beers, and was starting to make dumb mistakes as he watched with gentle sniggers of amusement. I know he’s a far better player than me, so I was expecting to be pretty impressed when he took the controls. What I was not expecting was the realization that my son is a species entirely different from, and superior to, my own.

The forward edge of this realization came last year when I watched him play Battlefield 2 on the 360 (which, I know, to many is like painting with a bar of soap, but it was fun for a while). I noted that he could do a couple things I had not mastered, such as to run backwards with a zoomed-in sniper scope headshotting the hapless guy trying to nail him with an SMG. I consoled myself that I’d not had as much practice, and anyway, Dylan is smaller than me; his nerve pathways are probably 25% shorter.

But watching him take over BioShock led me to inescapably conclude that while his arms and nerves have gotten longer, they must have dropped in temperature to become some kind of supercooled nanoconduits autoconnecting to a hyperbrain the size of a planet. So I really should not feel bad about the pwnage; it is simply a cross-species competition, like a jaguar racing a mollusk. (continued »)

Video games, like movies and books, are a nascent but promising form of artistic speech and as such must remain outside the power of any state to outlaw them by a different standard. This kind of law has been defeated on unconstitutional grounds in many states. Pursuing this kind of law wastes taxpayer money and defuses the impetus to take real, effective action against the serious problems of youth violence and antisocial behavior, both at home and in society at large.

Californians, please consider visiting this site opposing this video game law and pass it to other Californians. It helps you urge the governor to give up on his efforts to pass a law making it illegal for minors to purchase certain categories of games.

From MediaPost: Awww yeah… come to me, little ones…

TORONTO-BASED NEW PARADIGM, WHICH IS spending $4 million to study the global “Net Generation,” reported that 77% of the world’s online 16- to-29-year-olds would rather live without television than without the Internet. (continued »)

Teenagers who regularly play online multiplayer games could be benefiting from personal development that does not occur in the ‘real’ world, according to a new study. (continued »)

See this article at PCWorld about how the game “Manhunt” was given an AO (Adults Only) rating by the ESRB.

As a game developer and parent, I’m prepared to support the AO rating given to Manhunt 2 by the ESRB. (My support is contingent on my better understanding of the game’s content and the definition of AO.)

I don’t accept the argument that because certain retail stores don’t carry AO games, and no console maker at this point allows the publication of AO games, the game should not get AO “because that makes it effectively censored”. This is what the free market is all about, and allows the USA to have a better way of dealing with this game than UK and Australia and others. (continued »)

Interestingly, my research has revealed that “M15+” games, which IMO closely map to M games in the ESRB system (that is, not suitable for those under 15), can in fact be sold here in Australia to those over 15 or those who are in the company of their parent or guardian (in Queensland, only has to be an adult). So my earlier assertion was wrong.

I wonder if this was a recent (and quiet) change. I’m not very fond of the requirement that an under-15 needs to be accompanied– so I cannot give my son money to go buy a M15+ game at the mall; I have to be there with him as he buys it, the requirement of which I feel abrogates my role as a parent– but that’s not high on my list of injustices to rectify. At least I was able to get Crackdown for my Oz 360, and it is a M15+ game. I think this used to be different; in 2001 GTA3 was not sold here because it was deemed to hot for MA15+ but now the GTAs are sold as MA15+. I’m not sure if they got toned down by Rockstar or the rating definitions flexed a bit.