Mandatory game ratings coming soon to NYC
Thursday, 26 Jun 2008 08:51
Games sold in the New York State area may all have to be rated from 2010
A new bill raised by Republican senator Andrew Lanza proposes that the rating of every game sold in New York State should be made mandatory.
At the moment, the Entertainment Software Rating Board classifies games on a purely voluntary basis, but this new bill could change that.
On Tuesday, the New York State senate voted 61-1 in favour of the bill, GamePolitics reports.
The measure will now be put before governor David Paterson for consideration. If he thinks it is a good idea, it will become law in 2010.
The video games industry, apparently, is likely to sue on the grounds the proposal is unconstitutional.
"There is some confusion with respect to what this bill actually accomplishes," said senator Lanza.
"The word prohibition was talked about. I want to be clear. This bill does not prohibit the sale of any video to anyone.
"This simply says that every videogame sold in the state of New York simply should have a rating consistent with what the ESRB does presently in a voluntary way... it does work.
"The problem with "voluntary" is that tomorrow someone can change their mind. Someone could decide tomorrow to no longer place ratings on these games. So this is not about prohibiting the sale, this is simply about providing information to parents."