By Mary Jane Irwin, 6:19 PM on Fri Sep 7 2007, 549 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

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"It shouldn't be so hard to protect children from the most twisted, sadistic images that the mind can imagine," writes an editorialist for the San Jose Mercury News — giving a shout-out to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's appeal of a U.S. District Court judge ruling that California's law banning the rental or sale of violent videogames to minors was unconstitutional. The editorial tries to drum up support for Schwarzenegger by calling upon the oft cited studies that "prove" there's a link between videogame violence and aggression. The jury is still out on that; there are an equal number of studies claiming the contrary — not to mention Steven Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good For You. Antivideogame legislation has ramped up ever since the infamous "Hot Coffee" scandal in 2005. Recently "Manhunt 2" (from Rockstar, the same company behind "Hot Coffee") was banned in several countries after receiving an Adults Only rating for its extreme violence. "Bioshock" (from 2K Games, another Take 2 company), also drummed up a lot of media attention for its "killing of little girls." FYI: Just five of the top-selling videogames of all time are violent.