Vaz tables third gaming Early Day Motion

Third time lucky. That must be the thinking behind Labour MP Keith Vaz’s posting of a third games-related Early Day Motion in ten months.

The latest, entitled ‘Video Games and Young People’, is possibly his vaguest yet. It reads as follows:

"That this House welcomes the call by Shigero Miyamoto, creator of Super Mario, for people to drop their joypads and venture out into the sunlight once in a while; recognises that video games have addictive properties; notes that children flourish when they undertake a variety of extra-curricular experience; further notes the current Hungarian EU Presidency priority of protecting minors from harmful audiovisual media content in media legislation; is concerned about the potential impact of violent video games on those under 18; and calls on the Government to ensure the purchase of video games by those under 18 is carefully controlled and that parents are encouraged to limit the amount of time children spend on video games."

So far it has received the backing of 11 MPs, including eight from Labour and one each from the Tories, Lib Dems and Democratic Unionist Party.

In November 2010 Vaz tabled an EDM calling for tighter mature games restrictions, citing racist hate shootings in Sweden.

This was preceded by an EDM from July 2010, again calling for action on mature games sales.