State game laws: Update

At the state level, legislation about videogame sales to minors appears to be gathering momentum – even though a Tennessee bill was recently withdrawn by its sponsor, Gamasutra.com reports. Louisiana is working on such a law (see ArsTechnica.com, and one in Maryland just got signed by its governor. Interestingly, in Maryland's case, the Entertainment Software Association, which has successfully fought similar state laws in courts around the country, says it won't fight this one. "The law is narrowly written to cover the kind of content that would only be seen in a pornographic movie or magazine, and as such, can be seen as an extension of current laws barring minors from purchasing pornographic DVDs to video games," Ars Technica reports.