Good news for all you British gamers wanting to play Grand Theft Auto 4! A bill to increase censorship of violent films and games in England has failed. However, it wasn’t so much defeated as time simply expired in the debate over the issue. That sounds somehow appropriate on such an issue.

The bill would have allowed more appeals against rulings on products by the British Board of Film Classification. However, it simply never won the support it needed. The bill was brought by Julian Brazier in response to games such as Manhunt 2 and films such as Eastern Promises. So, there will be no additional censorship for now in England.

However, don’t think this is the end of such issues. As Americans know, game laws seem to pop up every few months on both the state and national level. In the same way that both television and music have been run through the gauntlet of politicians mugging for the camera, video games are getting plenty of attention, as well. Will something eventually pass?

It seems likely that at some point a state will get some law through. The most likely seems to be a tax of some sort on electronic entertainment products. Though, in the longer run, such battles do less for the law than they do for striking fear into game companies, which more and more are large corporations and not the independent PC developers of the 1980s. So, expect fewer games pushing the boundaries such as Manhunt 2. It simply isn’t worth the fight for most companies.

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5. Why video games are the big fat wizard behind the curtain

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