Massachusetts tries Jack Thompson's failed Utah game bill
Massachusetts' legislators have been offered up HB 1423, a game bill which seeks to "restrict the sale of video games wih [sic] violent content to minors." "Harmful to minors" is defined as content describing or representing nudity, sexual conduct or sexual excitement, "so as to appeal predominantly to the prurient interest of minors." Section four of the bill is where the civil rights lawyers are going to have a field day. It states a game is harmful to minors if it "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors." That's about as broad as making brush strokes with Mr. Fantastic's super powers.
Why does this all seem oddly familiar? This bill was created with the assistance of Jack Thompson and similar versions were shot down in Utah and deemed unconstitutional in Louisiana. Mayor Thomas Menino, one of the petitioners of the bill, was one of those who pushed through a ban on M rated game advertisements on the subway and got very upset during the infamous Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb incident. Hopefully this bill will die somewhere along the path, because we're sure the citizens of Massachusetts aren't looking to pay back the ESA when this bill is deemed unconstitutional in the courts ... again.
