Just when you thought your days of enjoying malt liquor in T-rated videogames would never end, along comes Illinois to crush your alcoholic fun. Yes, despite there never really being many instances of this, Illinois has decided to ban any and all references to malt liquor in videogames "marketed to children." This will definitely make America a better place somehow.
The State is introducing a whole range of laws designed to tackle alcohol abuse and drunk driving, of which this is but one. Advertisements and displays of any sort of "alcopop" or malt liquor will not be allowed in any videogame hoping to go on sale in the mid-Western state. Mystifying alcohol and making it look like some sort of forbidden secret will totally not make children all the more curious to try it.
Billboards within 500 feet of public schools and live performances where the majority of the audience could be children have also been affected by this new law, which went into affect this past week.
LittleBigPlanet reveals its first speakeasy in 5, 4, 3, 2 ...
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Contest:
6:30 PM on 01.03.2009
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cooking momma will be banned for useing wine in a recipe.
the world will be imploded.
many sorrows.
Illinois, cutting funding to children's hospitals since I got that thing that [expletive] GOLDEN!!!!
soon they will start forcing Rockstar to create a no-boose-patch for GTA4 and the same for the guys from Bethesda for Fallout3 :-) "GTA4 Illinois Edition: no booze, no violence, no hookers, no drugs, no fun!"
Quite the place to live.
You're wasting time and money on this shit?
WHY!? WHY WHY WHY!?
what does that have to do with anything?
Fucking brats will probably be meth heads by 14 anyways.
[sarcasm/]
check this out Jimmy...
you all noobs know nothing... after getting drunk in GTA 4... I was raped by my uncle... I BLAME ROCKSTAR!!! and booze... its de debils dwink... *hick*
Speaking of fail, fucking Midwest, I hate the flyover states so much...
Apologies if you live there and are educated enough to look at the internet, but seriously, you have to know what I am saying.
KNOCK ON WOOD
And meanwhile, alcohol is all over TV...
God, I should really leave.
Hey, at least it isn't Florida (our most fucked-up state). Amirite?
I'm surprised you can just ban shit like that.
From what I understand, this is NOT what's happening at all.
They are banning 'alcopop' beverages, or drinks like Smirnoff Ice (barf), from being advertised in any game that is targeted primarily to children.
Game Politics also reports the story this way (and they also cite the new law directly from the IL website, which also designates what a 'alco-pop' drink is if you are still confused).
Here's the link to the actual public act filed in IL : IL Public Act 095-0860
This literally will not affect a single game that I can think of.
lol, that's what I was thinking. I read it on GP as well. Now, who do I decide to trust? Jim "Holy Fucking Crap it's the End of the World!" Sterling, or GP, which has never steered me wrong? I'll go with Jim.
It's okay to get mad, but be reasonable, people. If you're going to get mad, at least understand what you're getting mad about, so you don't look like an idiot.
I'm too lazy to look since I am fairly certain its not that big of a deal.
I'm not even getting mad about the act, I just think it's pointless, was the gist of the article.
That still doesn't completely cover it. The bigger issue is that it is banned in games targeted towards children. If I was some anti game politician with have a brain, I would first try to get this law passed, which from what I can tell they succeeded in doing, and then grossly misinterpret what "marketed to children" means so that I could apply it to M rated games. And that might not even be that hard. M rated games are meant for people 17 and older, and I doubt the legal drinking age in Illinois is 17.