Action-packed military games take over E3 despite critical Supreme Court ruling due this week

Action-packed military games take over E3 despite critical Supreme Court ruling due this week

This week marks the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo featuring the latest developments in video game and online gaming technology. Running through Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Expo is expected to draw over 50,000 gaming enthusiasts eager to sample the latest the gaming world has to offer.

However, not all Californians are looking forward to the unveiling of games like Call of Duty: Warfare 3 or Gears of War 3. In fact, the state of California has enacted a hotly-debated piece of legislation aimed at preventing teenagers under age 18 from purchasing any video games featuring violence, mutilation or assaultive conduct. The Bill was immediately challenged on Constitutional grounds by video game manufacturers and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling this week.

Video games featured at this year's E3 are a far cry from the casual, almost cute, games featured just a few years ago. In recent memory, the Nintendo Wii was the most highly-touted video game system to hit the E3 in years. Wii features harmless competitive sports or recreation games and the occasional dance competition. In addition, recent E3 displays have included Guitar Hero or Kinect's games involving furry animals. This year Kinect chose to focus more upon guns, knives and weaponry stating "We skimped a little on the core [audience] with Kinect last year...."

Coincidently, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to give its opinion over whether California's violent video game statute is Constitutional as applied to California's minor consumers or whether it violates First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression. Proponents of the bill petitioned the court using evidence gathered from sociologists, pediatricians and psychologists which revealed that constant exposure to ammunition-heavy, violently brutal video games strongly correlates to anti-social and violent behavior in adulthood. Opponents of the bill argued to the Court that the bill unconstitutionally interferes with the rights of Americans to freely express themselves and practice free speech. Respondent's petition touted the bill as nothing more than an overreaction to new and expressive media and compared the games to historically-criticized comic books and rock music.

Regardless of the Supreme Court's final decision in Brown v. E.M.A., E3 continues to market to the young, male demographic and will feature dozens of games involving violence, guns and fatality. E3 is expected to take a dramatic shift away from cute, simple games toward hardcore, nearly cinematic, dramatic games featuring intricate story lines, highly-detailed characters and unprecedented imagery.

Whether fans in their teens will be permitted to buy these products remains to be seen.

Posted by LedgerLaw on Tuesday June 07 2011, 5:36 PM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Original. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0