U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Video Games Are Protected by the First Amendment

Can’t remember the last time I was deeply pleased by a majority opinion written by Scalia:

“Like the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas — and even social messages — through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world),” Justice Scalia wrote. “That suffices to confer First Amendment protection.”

Strange bedfellows in the ruling: Scalia’s opinion was joined by Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan.

★ Monday, 27 June 2011