ESA set to engage Illinois governor in court

Because the US government and video games haven't mingled enough lately, the Electronic Software Association,
alongside the Video Software Dealers' Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, are filing a lawsuit against a bill signed today by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.  The law in question is the Safe Games Illinois Act, which will make game retailers responsible for protecting children from video games – something that parents should do in the first place.  What the ESA, VSDA, and IRMA (acronyms are fun) argue is that this law violates free speech, and that it does not help to educate parents about their child's video games.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, because one way or another it will probably affect how other states handle video game retailers.  I am just waiting for the ESRB to change its system to parallel the movie industry's ratings – that is a system that most parents seem to inherently comprehend.

[via GameSpot]