Until then, video games news from France were quite positive, thanks to some politicians (especially Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres) who seem supportive of game industry... and then there were [I]Rule of the Rose[/I] and the German School Shooting.

It was enough for three French representatives to call for a ban of "very violent" video games. The representatives are [URL=http://www.bernard-depierre.com/]Bernard Depierre[/URL], [URL=http://www.lionnel-luca.org/]Lionel Luca[/URL] (who had already proposed video game legislation in the past) and [URL=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/tribun/fiches_id/267662.asp]Jacques Remiller[/URL]. They belong to the same party as Culture minister. In order to obtain a total ban of what they call "very violent video games inciting to barbaric behavior", Bernard Depierre [URL=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/amendements/3338/333800354.asp]proposed an amendment[/URL] to an existing juvenile delinquency law.

In his amendment (that he proposed on november 17th), Depierre used the Italian controversy around [I]Rule of the Rose[/I]. Here is an excerpt (translated from French by myself) of what he had to say about this game and other violent ones :

[I]"You randomly shoot people, you slaughter children in schools, you run down pedestrians, you rape, you torture, you slaughter... Here are the games our children play on their computers.

The action of the game Rules of Rose [/I][sic] [I]is located into a British boarding school in the 1930's. The goal of the game let appear an unacceptable sadism and perversion : it is about raping a little girl in the most horrible conditions, then killing her with the worst pain. The one who shows the vilest, the most repulsive ignominy, wins the game"[/I]

And in their yesterday's press release ([URL=http://hosting.afp.com/clients/assembleenationale/francais/assnat/061123174612.bu038yci.html]reported by the AFP[/URL]), the 3 reps. explained that the recent German school shooting [I]"reinforced[/I] [their] [I]conviction that the only solution against proliferation of very violent games is to ban them".[/I]

Sorry folks, it's a bit too soon to move in France :(