oday the Entertainment Software Association sued the state of Minnesota in Federal District Court.  The ESA wants the state's new video game law to be overturned saying that this bill is "is an unenforceable effort to substitute the government's judgment for parental supervision."

The president of the ESA, Doug Lowenstein said that the industry’s products were being unreasonably and unfairly singled out, saying that parents, not government or industry, must be the gatekeepers on what comes in the home.

“The bill’s tortured effort to end run the First Amendment by punishing kids directly fails under the Constitution because children have rights under the First Amendment, like all other citizens. The State is attempting to impose liability on children because they know that courts have consistently held that they cannot penalize retailers.  We believe that the courts will agree that fining children violates the First Amendment as well.  “If this law is implemented, it will not only limit First Amendment rights for Minnesota’s residents, it will create a huge amount of confusion for retailers, parents, and children.  I’m confident the court will affirm our position given the rulings on similar statutes in other jurisdictions.”

The ESA noted that both parents and retailers are already doing a good job in monitoring what games kids purchase.  According to the ESA, parents are involved in the purchase or rental of games 89% of the time, and 87% of the time children receive their parents’ permission before purchasing or renting a video game.  Moreover, with the strong support of ESA, retailers have already implemented systems to prevent the sale of Mature-rated games to persons under 17.  In fact, the National Institute on Media and the Family found, prior to full implementation of these new enforcement systems, that retailers prevented the sale of Mature-rated video games to minors 66% of the time.

We'll have more on this as it continues.