Further to the recent findings that suggest violent videogames negatively affect the brains of children, news now that will lighten the hearts of those gamers who wish interfering scientists, researchers, Miami-based lawyers, and anti-videogame activists would leave our beloved pastime alone.

A United States court has thrown out a prior ban (applied by the Louisiana State Legislature) of violent videogames to those beneath the age of 18, on the grounds that there is not enough evidence to prove that violent content actively encourages similarly violent behaviour in the player.

The ‘over 18’ law, which came into effect in June of 2006, restricted the sale of videogames with content considered out of line with "prevailing standards" in the community, or displaying a distinct lack of "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" for young children.

However, the law was immediately challenged, and Judge James Brady has now ruled it as unconstitutional, saying: "the evidence that was submitted to the legislature in connection with the bill that became the statute is sparse and could hardly be called in any sense reliable." Judge Brady also went on to say that any inferred connection between the violence seen in videogames and actual real-world violence was, at best, "tenuous and speculative."