Expert: Political correctness new threat to video games

Gamers are more used to battling aliens and Nazis than "thought police," but if you believe constitutional law expert Lawrence Walters, there's a new enemy on the way: political correctness.

Speaking to an audience of industry insiders at a conference in San Francisco, Walters pointed at recent legislative efforts in New York to restrict sales of games containing "profanity, racist stereotypes, [or] derogatory language."

The Most Controversial Games

"Think about that for a minute. Would we ever in a million years tolerate the government passing a law that movies cannot have profanity, racial jokes, or derogatory language? That would eliminate practically every movie made," Walters said.

According to him, now that attempts to restrict games with violent content have largely failed, games that express politically-incorrect ideas are next in line for lawmakers' attentions.

Wii Fit is probably safe enough, but many other top-selling games could potentially fall prey to political correctness laws. Take popular hits like Gears of War 2, which is packed with bad language, or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, heavily criticized by some for its use of Cuban and Haitian stereotypes.

"Like it or not, the video game industry is on the frontline of a war between the family values groups on one hand and the civil libertarians on the other hand. We didn't ask for this--we're just trying to entertain people with a product the public seem to want," he said.

Previous: Utah governor vetoes video game advertising bill
Next: 25 year old man dies after playing Wii Fit

MORE ON YAHOO! GAMES:

DOWNLOAD LITTLE SHOP MEMORIES WATCH GUITAR HERO METALLICA TRAILER