14 DAY TRIAL // Activision is continuing its tirade against California's anti violent video game law, which reached the table of the Supreme Court at the end of last year, and also criticized the fact that media and lawmakers point to games like Postal, as examples of violence.
Activision Blizzard vice president and chief policy officer George Rose penned an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, in which he attacks the law penned by senator Leland Yee, which demands that violent video games should be banned by law, and their sale regulated much in the same way as pornography.
Rose says that the video game industry is already doing a great job, using its own money in order to fund the Entertainment Software Rating Board, and partnering with retailers to keep Mature-rated games from reaching the hands of teenagers.
According to the executive, lawmakers just seek to replace the well-oiled machine with a bureaucratic one, that shifts the blame from bad parents to the government.
Rose also goes against Postal, a game that was vilified by lawmakers in their eternal dispute against violent video games.
"Sadly, supporters will accept nothing less than more laws, subbing for parents, that the state can't afford to enforce. So to whip up drama and hysteria where none justifiably exists, zealots supporting this movement cite the worst of the worst by harking back to video game dinosaurs like 1997's "Postal.""
"By today's standards, this game was a commercial flop dropped by mainstream retailers long ago. No single movie, television program or video game defines an industry and justifies sweeping regulation, which is why the anecdotal example of "Postal" is disingenuous. "
Last but not least, Rose attacks the studies brought into question by supporters of the law, which link up violent video games with violent behavior.
"This movement's supporters also continually misstate that hundreds of studies support the harmful effects on minors from playing video games with violent content. But there are no hundreds of studies to cite because they don't exist. In fact, every court that has looked at this issue has found that whatever research is used to support the idea that games with violent content are harmful lacks credibility."
California's violent video game law is still in discussion at the Supreme Court, but the first round already swayed some of the lawmakers' arguments.