U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton, Joseph Lieberman and Evan Bayh formally introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act at a press conference on Friday, calling for tighter regulation on the sale of ultra violent and sexually explicit video games to kids. The act calls for a prohibition on sales of Mature and Adults Only-rated games to minors, an annual analysis of the ERSB's rating system, and an annual audit of video game retailers.  In announcing the bill, Clinton said the holiday season was a particularly opportune time to raise awareness that not all video games are appropriate for kids.  Video games are hot holiday items, and there are certainly wonderful games that help our children learn and increase hand and eye coordination, she said. However, there are also games that are just not appropriate for our nation's youth.

Lieberman pointed out that the rights of gamers will be protected.  We are not interested in censoring videos meant for adult entertainment but we do want to ensure that these videos are not purchased by minors. Our bill will help accomplish this by imposing fines on those retailers that sell M-rated games to minors, putting purchasing power back in the hands of watchful parents."