April 20^th, 2005 (11:16pm) - Video games and software determined to be graphically violent or sexually explicit won’t be sold or distributed to minors in a bill unanimously approved by the state Senate in North Carolina.

The bill would create certain thresholds that video games would have to exceed before they would be considered "harmful to minors" and be regulated under the proposal.

A game would have to be considered graphically violent to the point that it tends to "appeal to a morbid interest of minors in violence" and is "patently offensive to prevailing standards" in the community.

The measure passed despite arguments that it could be unconstitutional. Similar municipal ordinances in Saint Louis and Indianapolis have already been declared unlawful by federal courts.

Violation of the law, if approved, would be a misdemeanor.