Venezuelan government trying to ban the sale of violent video games

Following stories of governmental censorship of gaming in both Australia and Germany earlier this year, it seems that another country may be falling under the banhammer, as Kotaku is resporting that Venezuela is close to enacting a complete ban of all violent videogames.

The Bill for the Prohibition of Video Games and Toy Weapons was presented to the National Assembly yesterday, and was swiftly approved after its first debate. Under Venezuelan law, a bill needs to pass two debates, and then be approved by the President, before being passed into law.

Should it become law, it will be illegal to sell or distribute violent video games in the country, with offenders risking heavy fines if caught in violation.

It seems a bit ignorant to lump in videogames along with violent toy weapons, as even if playing games does make you more violent (Newsflash: It doesn’t.), you can’t do as much damage to some with a game case as you could with a toy sword or gun. Although throwing an original Xbox controller at someone could definately kill them. (Warning – This joke expired in 2003.)

Lets all hope and pray that this bill does not pass, as videogame censorship of any kind is something to be avoided whereever possible. But if it does happen, you can probably blame Mercenaries 2, which reportedly pissed off Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by tasking players with overthrowing him.