A trade group that represents software and video game publishers sued the Chicago Transit Authority on Wednesday, saying a rule barring ads on trains and buses for “mature” and “adults only” games violates the right to freedom of speech.
“The CTA’s ordinance constitutes a clear violation of the constitutional rights of the entertainment software industry,” said Michael D. Gallagher, chief executive officer of the Washington-based Entertainment Software Association.
The association maintains that computer and video games are entitled to the same free speech protection under the First Amendment as other forms of entertainment such as movies.
Kenneth L. Doroshow, general counsel of the association, pointed out that the movie “Resident Evil,” which is based on a video game, could be advertised on CTA buses and trains but the game itself could not under the rule, which was approved in November 2008.
CTA spokeswoman Wanda Taylor said the authority believes “that our ordinance is defensible.”
“CTA does not allow ads for alcohol or tobacco products and this ordinance is consistent with that longstanding policy,” she said.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges that the CTA’s rule unconstitutionally “restricts speech in a public forum that is otherwise open to all speakers without a compelling interest for doing so.” It asks the court to declare the rule void, to bar the CTA from enforcing it and to award the association court costs and legal fees.
Doroshow said association officials discussed the matter with CTA officials for some time and that the transit authority’s objection was that some games labeled “”mature” and “adults only” could inspire violence among those who play the games.
The association says the ads themselves are subject to the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s Advertising Review Council, which “strictly regulates computer and video game advertisements that are seen by the general public.”
Review: Director Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” Starring Robert Pattinson
So you think YOUR job is bad?
Sorry if we seem to be lacking empathy here. But however crummy you think your 9-5 routine is, it'll never be as bad as Robert Pattinson's in Bong Joon Ho's "Mickey 17" — nor will any job, on Earth or any planet, approach this level of misery.
Mickey, you see, is an "Expendable," and by this we don't mean he's a cast member in yet another sequel to Sylvester Stallone's tired band of mercenaries ("Expend17ables"?). No, even worse! He's literally expendable, in that his job description requires that he die, over and over, in the worst possible ways, only to be "reprinted" once again as the next Mickey.
And from here stems the good news, besides the excellent Pattinson, whom we hope got hazard pay, about Bong's hotly anticipated follow-up to "Parasite." There's creativity to spare, and much of it surrounds the ways he finds for his lead character to expire — again and again.
The bad news, besides, well, all the death, is that much of this film devolves into narrative chaos, bloat and excess. In so many ways, the always inventive Bong just doesn't know where to stop. It hardly seems a surprise that the sci-fi novel, by Edward Ashton, he's adapting here is called "Mickey7" — Bong decided to add 10 more Mickeys.
The first act, though, is crackling. We begin with Mickey lying alone at the bottom of a crevasse, having barely survived a fall. It is the year 2058, and he's part of a colonizing expedition from Earth to a far-off planet. He's surely about to die. In fact, the outcome is so expected that his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), staring down the crevasse, asks casually: "Haven't you died yet?"
How did Mickey get here? We flash back to Earth, where Mickey and Timo ran afoul of a villainous loan... Read More