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Thompson's Utah bill vetoed: Another win for intelligence! photo

The poorly written and rather pointless HB 353, a videogame/movie bill intended for Utah by Jack Thompson, has been vetoed by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, thanks to the sloppy writing of the bill itself, and some clever lobbying from the games industry.

"While protecting children from inappropriate materials is a laudable goal, the language of this bill is so broad that it likely will be struck down by the courts as an unconstitutional violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause and/or the First Amendment," explained Huntsman. "The industries most affected by this new requirement indicated that rather than risk being held liable under this bill, they would likely choose to no longer issue age appropriate labels on goods and services.

"Therefore, the unintended consequence of the bill would be that parents and children would have no labels to guide them in determining the age appropriateness of the goods or service, thereby increasing children’s potential exposure to something they or their parents would have otherwise determined was inappropriate under the voluntary labeling system now being recognized and embraced by a significant majority of vendors."

That's really quite a masterstroke on the part of the games industry. Choosing to pull out of a voluntary rating system rather than risking the wrath of this silly bill was slick, and while Huntsman would likely have vetoed the thing anyway, it still hammers home something important that anti-games lobbyists have forgotten -- the games industry voluntary decided to stick to age restrictions. Nobody made publishers do it, and nobody is saying they have to stick to it. 

Those that moan about how videogames set out to corrupt young minds ought to remember that.








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Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize. Likes PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3 Meet the rest of the team



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9 comments | showing # 1 to 9
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sickNasty's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 12:05
sickNasty
Awesome news. But even awesome-er picture and caption.
Black Nexus's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 12:19
Black Nexus
Intelligence:1

Fools who don't know a damn thing but claim to know what's better for everyone:0

I smell a shut out.
Chronic Logic's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 12:29
Chronic Logic
Don't we already have laws which requires id proof to check on the age of people who buy mature rated games?
de BLOO's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 12:39
de BLOO
Jack needs to fucking realize he is done in politics.

Lazy parents can't take you far.
Solid Squirrel's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 12:51
Solid Squirrel
While it's good to see ridiculous attempts at game overregulation being trounced like this, the games rating board is ultimately a joke when it comes to the tougher ratings.
When something like Madworld is getting an M instead of an AO when it's clearly a gorefest, clearly this "board" is more interested in getting product out there than worrying about some silly content. It always baffles me when it's the sexual nature of games that garner a more harsh rating than say disemboweling or beheading opponents.
eternalplayer2345's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 12:52
eternalplayer2345
hooray for people with some common sense!
Timstuff's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 13:40
Timstuff
Thank God cooler heads prevail. These stupid laws always turn into a dumb political frenzy, and I'm glad to see that Jack Thompson's post-lawyer career is already shaping up to be just as unsuccessful as his career as a lawyer.
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 14:12
DaedHead8
@Solid Squirrel

There really isn't much in Mad World gore-wise that hasn't been done elsewhere. The M rating is perfect for MadWorld IMO. An AO rating should really be reserved for games that do much more than gore. Think about the NC-17 rating for movies, AO should be equivalent.
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 15:34
DinnertimeNinja
@Solid Squirrel,

How does something being a "gorefest" equate to receiving an AO rating?

A "Mature" rating means it's for ages 17 and up. And you think people can't handle stylized cartoon violence until they're even older?

Both violence AND sexuality are harmful without being given societal context and THAT is the job of the parents. If parents weren't such jack-offs these days in relegating their parenting duties to entertainment boxes then this wouldn't even be an issue.

Couple that with the fact that the ESRB is a completely voluntary ratings board for videogames and is actually MORE informative than the movie ratings board and your argument, and the argument of all of those money-wasting politicians, falls to the wayside.
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