Illinois Seeks to Curb Explicit Video Games

CHICAGO — This holiday season, children searching for the latest video game titles could walk into a store and buy "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" -- which lets players kill cops, steal cars, solicit prostitutes and then beat them to get their money back. Or kids could pick up a copy of "The Guy Game" and answer questions to get busty female characters to slip out of their clothes or engage in topless rope jumping and sack races.

Today, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will formally propose the nation's first statewide legislation to regulate the sale and rental of these games, propelling Illinois into a national debate over what to do about this burgeoning and controversial form of entertainment.

The two bills he is promoting would make it a crime for retailers to rent or sell such violent or sexually graphic material to minors, policing video games in much the same way as cigarettes and alcohol.

They also would target the powerful video game industry, which pulled in $10 billion in personal computer and console game sales in the U.S. last year -- revenue that rivaled Hollywood's box office numbers.

"Soldiers heading to Iraq use simulations like today's video games in order to prepare for war," Blagojevich said in a statement. "That may all be OK if you're a mature adult or a soldier training to fight, but is that really necessary for a 10-year-old child?"

If approved by the Illinois Legislature -- and upheld in the courts -- the bills would make it a misdemeanor to sell or rent sexually graphic or violent games to anyone younger than 18, punishable by as much as one year in prison and a $5,000 fine per offense.

Retailers would be forced to label the games in a similar way to the "Parental Advisory" warning used on music CDs; and stores would have to post signs explaining the video game industry's rating system. Those that don't could be fined $1,000 for the first three violations, and $5,000 for every subsequent violation.

And Illinois would create its own definition of what qualified as violent or sexually graphic -- including titles "realistically depicting human-on-human violence" or realistic images of human genitalia, the governor said.

The Legislature will consider the bills when lawmakers begin their new session in mid-January.

The proposals have been met with disbelief by retailers and video game makers, who long have pushed for self-regulation of their industry.