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ECA: Supreme Court Vs. CA Case Puts Video Game Medium At Risk
The Entertainment Consumers Association has already gone on the record saying that the Supreme Court case regarding a California law seeking to criminalize the selling of violent games to minors is the “most important challenge” the game industry has ever faced. ECA president Hal Halpin has gone on the record once again regarding the case, explaining the varied ramifications of a ruling in favor of Schwarzenegger's state law.
When asked by GameCulture whether the video game medium was seriously at risk in this case, Halpin asserted that “It really is no exaggeration.”
He stressed that if you look at the larger potential repercussions of the case, there are a handful of important things at stake. Halpin said that it raises “a question about the First Amendment rights of minors, the segregation of games from entertainment media – such as music or movies – to instead be legislated similarly to alcohol, tobacco or firearms, and perhaps most importantly for the medium itself, the reinitiating of the hundreds of failed efforts to legislate games.”
In the interview Halpin also shares that the ECA’s submission of an amicus brief (an outside testimony to a case) to the Supreme Court marks the first time an organization like it has brought a petition into a case such as this. Halpin said that key targets of the petition are “the media, publishers, developers, retailers and…gamers.”
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