China limits video gaming to 3 hours a day!

In a move that could throw cold water on the developing market for online entertainment, the Chinese government has announced that gamers under 18 will be restricted to no more than three consecutive hours of video gaming per day. Regulation of the rationing has been put on the shoulders of the country's online game companies, who have three months to install "anti-addiction" software.

The gaming industry is already deeply entrenched in China, with an estimated 17.8 million gamers willing to pay to play. The China National Children's Centre recently announced that 13% of the nation's web-accessing youth were addicted to gaming in the virtual realm. The government has even set up a special department to deal with what they see as a serious problem. Just last month, they imposed a ban on new internet cafes.

Interestingly, the software nanny the game makers are required to add won't prevent children from playing games for longer than three hours. It will, however cut their score by 50%. After five hours, they will be unable to score at all.

Open to question is whether American game designers like Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) will be required to similarly comply, and whether they will. Following the lead of companies like Google, I'd guess that their yen for the market will overcome any reluctance to compromise their product.