New York has passed a bill placing restrictions on selling video games, turning the voluntary ESRB ratings into mandatory law.

The Assembly and Senate versions were introduced by a Democrat and Republican, respectively, proving that politicians can still reach across the aisle to pass legislation that, if signed into law, will be shortly struck down as unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. Congratulations, fellas.

This isn’t exactly complicated legal grounds. Mandatory content ratings don’t fly for books or movies, which is why you can still get that special unrated edition of Superbad with unnecessary footage. As the Cato Institute notes, it’s not going to fly for video games either.

There might be another judge or two out there who say that video games aren’t speech, but honestly, chances are slim.

Well, I’ll leave the constitutional arguments to the lawyers, but here’s what caught my attention from the sponsor’s argument for the bill.

Last year’s version… that included a provision that would have made it an E-felony to sell these games, we all thought it was wrong.

An e-felony? Like they lock up your Second Life avatar or something?

No no, probably what he means is a class E felony.

Anyway, now that the industry has been called to the mat, it’s time to see what the ESA steps up and does, especially considering that the ESRB ratings are their domain. This situation is pretty much a gimmie.

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