Still in the Wrapping, Part 2

Another game of old has arrived still in the wrapping, this time from 1983. Oink! is for the Atari and explores the Three Little Piggies fairy tale from the wolf's point of view. Fortunately, we got another copy of the game as well, so this one will probably stay in the wrapping and be shown off in our display case.

Sometimes you just have to blow the house down.

Supreme Court Rules California Video Game Law is Unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 7-2 in the Brown v. EMA (formerly Schwarzenegger v. EMA) case that a California law barring the sale of violent video games to minors was unconstitutional, saying that video games are a creative medium deserving of first amendment protection.

You can read the New York Times story, or check out the text of the complete decision (PDF).

Politicians Commenting on Video Games

Video games have received a lot of attention lately from politicians like Obama and Gore, and their messages don't always agree.

Gore was quoted at the 2011 Games for Change Festival today, praising the video game industry as a "very large, extremely significant industry with a wildly diverse and rapidly growing audience of players on all kinds of platforms," and gave several examples of games that "integrate social good and efforts to make the world a better place into games."

Obama, on the other hand, though not expressly against video games, has warned people of the dangers they present in distracting kids from family time, as well as their education.

And with the decision from the Supreme Court forthcoming about whether minors should be able to buy violent video games, it would seem that video games have been on the minds of a lot of government officials recently. Whatever your take on them, it certainly seems that they continue to garner more and more attention.