View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Brigham Young University Law School BYU Law Review Volume 2011 | Issue 5 Article 7 12-1-2011 The ewN Resident Evil? State Regulation of Violent Video Games and the First Amendment James Dunkelberger Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the First Amendment Commons Recommended Citation James Dunkelberger, The New Resident Evil? State Regulation of Violent Video Games and the First Amendment, 2011 BYU L. Rev. 1659 (2011). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview/vol2011/iss5/7 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Brigham Young University Law Review at BYU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Law Review by an authorized editor of BYU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. DO NOT DELETE 11/10/2011 5:28 PM The New Resident Evil? State Regulation of Violent Video Games and the First Amendment I. INTRODUCTION The game’s premise is simple: the player controls an escaped convict named James Earl Cash as he fights for his life through the gritty streets of a fictional American city. In doing so, players of the hit video game, Manhunt, first released in 2003, are immersed in a detailed, interactive world, offering a wide range of possibilities to the creative gamer. In the game, Cash is enlisted as the protagonist in a series of snuff films by “the Director,” who is eerily omnipresent due to his use of strategically positioned video cameras and an earpiece.