The state of Washington is to implement a new law which will impose heavy fines on retail employees who sell violent video games to minors.

Under the terms of the bill, which was passed by a large majority in the state senate last week, a fine of $500 can be imposed. The bill targets games featuring violence against women and the killing of police officers - so the most high profile game to be affected is clearly Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which features both of the above in spades.

Gail Markels, the general counsel to the IDSA, denounced the law as a "misguided attempt at video game censorship", Reuters reports. This sounds to us like exactly the kind of knee-jerk reaction which the games industry often (rightly) accuses national governments of making to violent games; censorship, after all, is what passing legislation to remove content from a videogame would be. Preventing children from playing unsuitable games is just called "common sense". © gamesindustry.biz