Congressman Baca wants health warnings on video games.

January 12, 2:37 PMLA Video Game ExaminerKenneth Wesley

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Earlier today, Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto) announced that he has introduced legislation that would require all video games that are rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to be labeled with health warnings.

Here's the quote from a press release:

“The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families, and to consumers – to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products,” said Rep. Baca.  “They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility.  Meanwhile research continues to show a proven link between playing violent games and increased aggression in young people.  American families deserve to know the truth about these potentially dangerous products.”

First off, no they haven't. There hasn't been a proven case or study that playing a game will lead to more aggression. Even though a certain case involving Halo 3 might have given politicians more ammo for these acts, video games are a health risk?

Before any gamer understandibly gets upsets, this might be good for the industry. Think about it-how many warnings are all over a Big Mac box and how often do people serve up lawsuits to McDonald's? Exactly-never. Even though obesity is going up in America, people understand it's their own fault for swallowing grease as a meal. Just like going to heavy metal concert is equated to going home with a sore neck: fans know going in that head banging will be occuring and it may help.

And what will the warning labels say? Seeing as how the only thing that can be proven about video games is that they're a bunch of fun, this may be good for the industry. The next Halo can say 'WARNING: This game contains long periods of gun-shooting awesomeness' Or a Legend of Zelda game will say 'WARNING: In the midst of an epic journey, there will be time to relax with some fishing.' Or Guitar Hero can say 'WARNING: This game will attract random people to your house and encourage drunken bellowing and extreme pantomiming and will be the best time you had in weeks.'

By the way, these labels are for parents. And remember, parents barely read the content ratings now, what makes you think that parents won't ignore labels that say how it may affect their kids health?

Drunk driving prevention ads are some of the most pervasive in American culture, but car accidents still occur and not one beer maker has been held responsible. So, if game makers put warning labels, will it let them off the hook if something bad happens?

Nice to know that California can be counted on to be ass-backwards in thinking. Aren't people losing jobs and homes in California? Doesn't our state have a huge budget crisis? California has 99 problems and labels on video games aren't one of them.