Soon, the Supreme Court will rule on whether it is constitutional to ban the sale of certain video games to children under the age of 18. California's law has only a slim chance of being upheld; in the past nine years, 12 similar laws have been struck down as unconstitutional, with the states then being forced to pay the ESA's court costs. Even with such a strong precedent of games being considered protected speech—just like film and the written word—Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is jumping on the anti-gaming bandwagon with a press release supporting the law.

The problem comes from his descriptions of what he's fighting; this is a man who seems completely ignorant of both video games and the rating system already in place. If you plan on reading this article, be aware that we will be discussing nude female zombies.

A fantasy world of violent games

Reading Blumenthal's press release, it's hard to believe the charges he levels against video games. "The law prohibits children under 18 from buying the most violent games, including those where players decapitate people with shovels, beat police to death while they beg for mercy, and slaughter nude female zombies," the press release states. It gets better.

He points out that all violent games wouldn't be controlled by law, just "a subgenre of games that encourages players to commit graphic acts of homicide, rape, and sadism." Which subgenre is that? Can anyone involved in writing this press release name a single game where rape is encouraged? Can any of you?

Blumenthal also seems sadly ignorant of the state of video games and retail. "In the face of continued industry inaction—enabling unattended children to buy such games—states must preserve their critical right to protect children," he stated.

The problem with Blumenthal's argument is that the industry has not been in a state of inaction, as the ESRB has long assigned ratings to games, giving an accurate idea of the content included in them, and has made serious efforts when it comes to community and parental outreach to make sure the ratings are both understood and used. Chains such as GameStop and even Walmart actively check the ID of customers buying M-rated games.

In 2008 the Federal Trade Commission sent children into stores to try to purchase M-rated games, and the results were heartening: GameStop/EB Games turned away 94 percent of underage shoppers, while Walmart and Best Buy followed closely with an 80 percent turn-away rate.

What are movies doing that games aren't?

"I am calling on the video game industry to follow the leadership of the motion picture industry, which sensibly stops unattended children from viewing violent or graphic movies." Blumenthal said, ignoring the fact that the video game industry has already taken the same steps that the motion picture industry has. (It should be noted that, like video games, movie ratings are voluntary and lack the force of law.) In fact, the ESRB ratings are stricter in some ways, as films can forego a rating or opt for an NC-17 rating and some rental outlets will carry them. When it comes to video games, not only will most retailers not carry games rated Adults Only, no console manufacturer will allow games rated higher than Mature on their systems.

"The industry has agreed to Blumenthal’s repeated demands for labeling, but should extend such voluntary steps to include sale restrictions similar to the movie industry," the statement reads, somewhat oddly. The industry didn't agree to his demands; the ESRB's ratings system was launched shortly after the group was founded in 1994. Sales restrictions on games already exist at the retail level, in the same way we restrict the sales of movies: voluntarily, and enforced by the retailers themselves.

Blumenthal is running for Senate

It's easy to make political points by calling out games featuring the death of cops, nude female zombies (apparently nude male zombies are less of an issue), and rape. Chances are high that people scared by these claims will likely never ask for examples of the content. Political scare tactics such as Blumenthal's are costly, as other states who failed at passing these laws will attest. Furthermore, there far more important things to be focusing on. Blumenthal appears to be banking on the hope that voters are as uninformed and scared as he is.

Zombie image remixed from a Wikipedia photo.