HR-287: Would make it illegal to buy. rent, or sell games not rated by the ESRB. and would also make - Polidicks

[QUOTE=ajrhug;39263725]minecraft is now illegal as it doesnt have an esrb rating Great Job![/QUOTE] Xbox version does though.

[QUOTE=doommarine23;39261617]This would potentionally make it illegal to sell/buy games such as NES or Atari, as those did not have ESRB ratings if I recall. So goodbye oldies.[/QUOTE] Those could possible be exempt due to law retroactivity. But yeah, generally speaking, for this to pass in the current wording, the US should have to guarantee that all devs have equal access to the rating board and that it is simple and cheap to get rated in the first place.

So what, does this mean making freeware mods wouldn't be allowed anymore?

I like how you're all acting as though this is even remotely enforceable.

Well, Steam Greenlight was short lived. Let's take a moment of silence

[QUOTE=Unimaginative;39261584]People say this but then shit passes if you don't voice opposition, it can pass[/QUOTE] FP is the headquarters of just saying "It wont happen" you expect that to change?

This won't happen, well unless America wants to be left in the dark while the rest of the planet continues to progress that is

-snipdiggity-

[QUOTE=Ray-The-Sun;39265044]Because that's actually a really fucking difficult problem to deal with? It's not like you can just throw money at mental health professionals and make them fix everything.[/QUOTE] Difficult doesn't make it impossible. All these knee-jerk reactions are astronomically dumb

So we can have all our violent big-name games like call of duty, because they can afford be rated, but all these nifty indie games with cute bunnies and happy platforming would be banned? The heck.

Ban politicians

[QUOTE=danharibo;39265319]I like how you're all acting as though this is even remotely enforceable.[/QUOTE] The biggest enforcer is customs

THIS IS TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN FROM EVIL VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES Until you figure out you can just pirate the games

[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;39261572]obviously won't pass[/QUOTE] I can guarantee you that 90% of republicans in the congress will vote for this.

[QUOTE=wraithcat;39265273]Those could possible be exempt due to law retroactivity. But yeah, generally speaking, for this to pass in the current wording, the US should have to guarantee that all devs have equal access to the rating board that it is simple and cheap to get rated in the first place.[/QUOTE] It shouldn't have to be rated, period. Imagine if every time you wanted to write a book, or paint a picture, you had to first get it submitted to a third party for review before it was deemed "safe to read" before you shared it with people. That is what this bill is saying but for video games.

BTW guys if this was to pass, controlling online flash/html5 games would be impossible and if they went hard on it most likely some people would be tempted to move servers from america to other countries

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;39266398]The biggest enforcer is customs[/QUOTE] What sort of games are going to be imported en-mass that are unrated?

[QUOTE=danharibo;39266642]What sort of games are going to be imported en-mass that are unrated?[/QUOTE] Any foreign game. Games under, for example, PEGI, are unrated by ESRB. [editline]18th January 2013[/editline] I mean it would probably be Amazon telling you "You can't buy this," more than customs.

Oh boy, now we have people trying to pass legislature on another thing they have [B][I]no fucking clue about[/I][/B]. First we get idiots wanting to ban those super scary [I]assault weapons[/I] and [I]high capacity assault clips[/I] (I wanted to stab myself every time some idiot who knows fuck all about guns said "clip") There should be a new rule implemented, if you have no fucking clue what you're talking about, have no experience with the topic, etc, you should not be able to pass legislature about it. Edit: Also, page king. :v:

[QUOTE=znk666;39266469]I can guarantee you that 90% of republicans in the congress will vote for this.[/QUOTE] 90% of Republicans shouldn't have a job next election

They mention the activity of distributing in, "interstate commerce" would be illegal, but I am not sure if this effects physical copies of games or not. Since no where in the bill it mentions any effect to digitally distributed games. Also, people are posting, "Fucking Obama" and, "Kill all of the representatives". It seems they don't realize how to politic. "Mr. MATHESON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce." I see no where in the bill it mentions every representative or Obongo introducing the bill. In essence, any representative can introduce any piece of legislation they want into the House, but that doesn't mean it will even pass a vote.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;39266613]BTW guys if this was to pass, controlling online flash/html5 games would be impossible and if they went hard on it most likely some people would be tempted to move servers from america to other countries[/QUOTE] Yep, I notice that laws like this is only going to contribute to the destruction of the US economy.

[QUOTE=areolop;39267354]90% of Republicans shouldn't have a job next election[/QUOTE] The funniest part about it, is that a Democrat introduced the bill. [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Matheson[/URL]

[QUOTE=Combin0wnage;39268001]The funniest part about it, is that a Democrat introduced the bill. [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Matheson[/URL][/QUOTE] Blue Dog, really. So kind of the same thing as a Republican but a Democrat for some weird reason.

[QUOTE=Glitchman;39266149]So we can have all our violent big-name games like call of duty, because they can afford be rated, but all these nifty indie games with cute bunnies and happy platforming would be banned? The heck.[/QUOTE] 'MURICA! [editline]18th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Combin0wnage;39268001]The funniest part about it, is that a Democrat introduced the bill. [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Matheson[/URL][/QUOTE] Stupidity transcends party lines. It's just that more stupidity tends to come out of the Republican side most of the time because of their conservative leanings and near pathological impulse to disagree with the Dems for the sake of disagreement.

[QUOTE=Ericson666;39261807]It'll have no effect whatsoever. The wording (it mentions having the warning on the packaging) suggests that only brick and mortar stores will be affected, and no reputable game store sells unrated stuff.[/QUOTE] Guys, nothing will happen. You won't get arrested for making a little flash game, this only applies to BUYING and SELLING unrated physical copies of games

Indie Game dealers on every street corner

[QUOTE=wraithcat;39265273]Those could possible be exempt due to law retroactivity. But yeah, generally speaking, for this to pass in the current wording, the US should have to guarantee that all devs have equal access to the rating board and that it is simple and cheap to get rated in the first place.[/QUOTE] No because major publishers like EA and Activision could easily lobby to keep the system slow and bloated to get rid of the competition.

Which means they will likely support this bill because it gives them an easy way too shut anyone they aren't exploiting out of the industry. You either sell your soul to them or you don't get to make games, not for profit anyways.

No more paying to get alpha or beta access... This would not be good for Kickstarter type stuff