Following last month’s tragic school shooting in Emsdetten, Germany, which saw an 18-year-old gunman inflict injuries on 11 people before eventually taking his own life, German politicians are in the process of implmenting yet another piece of legislation to further impose legal restrictions on violent videogame content.

"It is absolutely beyond any doubt that such killer games desensities unstable characters to violence and can have a stimulating effect," claimed Bavarian interior minister Günther Beckstein.

The new bill, which will be processed through the German parliament in 2007, focuses on those games that portray "cruel violence" such as Activision’s Call of Duty 3, and, if brought into effect, it has been reported that developers and retailers could well be penalised with up to twelve months in jail.

2006 has already seen high-profile next-gen titles Dead Rising and Gears of War (both heavy on blood and gore) not available for ‘open’ sale in Germany. However, that’s not to say that it’s impossible for German gamers to add them to their collections. As things stand, games refused age classification by the FSK, find themselves ‘under the counter’ on what’s known as ‘the index’. Consumers over the age of 18 can purchase said games, but must provide satisfactory identification before doing so.

The shooting in Emsdetten has cast more bad light on the gaming industry, as the shooter was said to be an avid player of Counter Strike on the PC and Xbox, and the worry for German gamers is that any further law could see usually indexed games banned outright rather than merely restricted to those over the age of 18.

The fact that often comic-book style videogame violence pales in terms of portrayal and impact when set against mainstream horror movies, such as the gut-wrenching Saw and Hostel, seems inconsequential as the shooter’s movie preferences have not been scutinised or criticised.

Yet it would appear that videogames are once again set to bear the brunt of stoked public opinion. In that regard, a German survey found that 72% of those polled said that the rise in school shootings is linked to violent videogames (Germany also suffered a similar tragedy in 2003), while 59% indicated they would indeed support a ban.

Oddly, though, Germany already applies some of the most stringent censorship laws across Europe, and yet tragic instances like the shooting in Emsdetten still occur.

"We have among the most drastic censorship rules for games," argued Deutsche E-Sport Bund boss Frank Sliwka. "Now we are being labelled as a breeding ground for unstable, dysfunctional and violent youngsters."

So, are videogames really to blame? Or does this once more come down to gun ownership and availability? Comments please.