Tax That Fellow Behind the Wii

Jesse Walker | March 31, 2009

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a sin tax on violent video games. Similar ideas have been floated recently in Texas, Wisconsin, Louisiana, and New Mexico, among other places; Texas ended up adopting a subtler system, in which the legislature created a video game subsidy and steered the money toward efforts that meet the state's "general standards of decency." I hope that means some programmer in Austin is making a game that lets you smoke some weed with Willie Nelson, hook up with Anna Nicole Smith, and then head down to the Alamo for a bloody standoff with Santa Anna.

Comments

|3.31.09 @ 10:12AM|#

Oh what a state to be in

|3.31.09 @ 10:15AM|#

I hope Gov. Paterson doesn't read this. That fool doesn't need any more bad ideas.

|3.31.09 @ 10:17AM|#

What the hell is wrong with these folks' mental processes?

Over the years I've learned that you average state legislator is not fit to be on the H.S. school council.

D.A. Ridgely|3.31.09 @ 10:28AM|#

It wasn't much of a standoff.

BakedPenguin|3.31.09 @ 10:33AM|#

I hope that means some programmer in Austin is making a game that lets you smoke some weed with Willie Nelson, hook up with Anna Nicole Smith, and then head down to the Alamo for a bloody standoff with Santa Anna

How about one called Prosecute! in which the goal is to send as many men to death row as you possibly can. You get bonus points if they're minorities or innocent.

Abdul|3.31.09 @ 10:35AM|#

How about one called Prosecute! in which the goal is to send as many men to death row as you possibly can. You get bonus points if they're minorities or innocent.

Is there some downloadable attachment where you can beat an ACLU lawyer to death and pin it on a homeless Mexican?

T|3.31.09 @ 10:36AM|#

I hope that means some programmer in Austin is making a game that lets you smoke some weed with Willie Nelson, hook up with Anna Nicole Smith, and then head down to the Alamo for a bloody standoff with Santa Anna

Willie's a cultural outlier, except in Austin. Statewide, it'd be more like drink a 12 pack with Jethro and Bubba while gorging on BBQ. Then find a chick who resembles a celebrity in you squint in dim light and take off 40 pounds and hook up with her in the cab of a pickup.

Jesse Walker|3.31.09 @ 10:40AM|#

It wasn't much of a standoff.

It depends on how well you play the game!

|3.31.09 @ 11:01AM|#

If you escape with Crockett and kill Santa Anna, I think you get a 30G achievement, plus an alternate ending.

the innominate one|3.31.09 @ 11:16AM|#

Meanwhile, some other programmer is making a game that lets you smoke some weed with Santa Anna, hook up with Willie Nelson, and then head down to the Alamo for a bloody standoff with Anna Nicole Smith.

BakedPenguin|3.31.09 @ 11:20AM|#

Is there some downloadable attachment where you can beat an ACLU lawyer to death and pin it on a homeless Mexican?

Abdul - that mission is in Prosecute 2!, along with the one where you go after business competitors of your campaign contributors.

T|3.31.09 @ 11:21AM|#

then head down to the Alamo for a bloody standoff with Anna Nicole Smith.

Meh. I've done bloody standoffs with chunky strippers in San Antonio. It's not as entertaining as you'd think.

the innominate one|3.31.09 @ 11:24AM|#

T, I always ask the stripper if it's her time of the month before contracting for the lap dance. Free advice.

|3.31.09 @ 12:12PM|#

How about "Texas SWAT Rampage". Bang out a warrant with no PC, round up a posse of well-armed racists in their late twenties, ram the door open and see what happens.

Think of the possibilities -- unarmed people with their hands in their pockets, dogs running in the other direction, old ladies with heart problems, and maybe even a drug possession charge or two. Just make sure you have plenty of shotgun ammo.

will|3.31.09 @ 1:12PM|#

I love Texas.

|3.31.09 @ 1:40PM|#

T, I always ask the stripper if it's her time of the month before contracting for the lap dance. Free advice.

She'll just lie, and I don't think it's such a good idea to file a public lawsuit against a stripper for fraud. The attorney general's office isn't likely to be interested in helping you either.

|3.31.09 @ 1:41PM|#

I hope that means some programmer in Austin is making a game that lets you smoke some weed with Willie Nelson, hook up with Anna Nicole Smith, and then head down to the Alamo for a bloody standoff with Santa Anna.

You forgot that guy in Crawford.

JB|3.31.09 @ 1:58PM|#

Argh. Can someone make a game that involves killing, maiming, and torturing politicians?

That way I can vent some rage instead of doing that in real life.

medic|3.31.09 @ 2:11PM|#

Isn't that a violation of separation of church and state?

Don't you have to be 'Christian' to follow the backwards ideology of sin?

Sorry Sam, can't tax an Atheist a SIN tax.

T|3.31.09 @ 2:41PM|#

You forgot that guy in Crawford.

What, you can chop brush and increase government spending too? Great game. I predict sales in the hundreds, maybe even tens of units.

|3.31.09 @ 4:18PM|#

"I hope Gov. Paterson doesn't read this."

Hit and Run is printed in brail?

...I know, bad joke

wingnutx|3.31.09 @ 6:58PM|#

Can I pay in bottlecaps?

|3.31.09 @ 10:54PM|#

This is just another part of the "national pattern of governments practically offering back-alley handjobs if it means that they won't have to cut spending."