A bill currently in the New York State Assembly would make selling video games with certain types of violent content a felony, reports GamePolitics.  The bill, AO8696, is sponsored by Democrats Joseph Lentol and Audrey Pheffer, as well as Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (pictured).

If passed into law, the bill would make it a "class E" felony to sell or rent video games featuring "depraved violence and indecent images".  "Depraved violence" as defined in the bill's language as "rape, dismemberment, physical torture, mutilation or evisceration of a human being".

Similar to the New York State Senate bill recently reported on by GWN and GamePolitics, this Assembly measure would establish an Advisory Council on Interactive Media and Youth Violence to supervise the ESRB, effectively imposing state-level influence on a nation-wide organization.

Also among the bill's provisions is the requirement that any console sold in the state of New York be fitted with hardware- or software-based parental controls.  Such controls are already present in the three major consoles, the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Of course, this bill may also be walking the constitutionality line, seeing as it, like the failed Louisiana and Illinois laws, as well as the bill currently in the New York Senate, legally prohibits retailers from selling games to certain age groups, something of a constitutional no-no.