Today is a big win for video games. The Supreme Court has placed their ruling regarding the Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Association case, ruling in favor of the EMA with a 7-2 margin.

This ruling allows video games to fall under the same jurisdictions as other entertainment outlets such as movies and books. The ruling also goes against the reinstatement of a 2005 California law that makes the sale of mature video games to minors illegal, saying that the law itself violates the First Amendment.

According to the court transcript, “Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And ‘the basic principles of freedom of speech . . . do not vary’ with a new and different communication medium.”

As a California gamer myself, I consider this a huge win for gaming. Video games have been scrutinized for years by various government and religious factions, and especially by parents that lack the ability to properly raise their children themselves. I’ll save you the personal ranting, however.

You can read the (exhaustive) transcript for yourself here. Enjoy your video games.