To get to the bottom of Julius Caesar's death, Jarvis Peay must rip the limbs off of his opponents in the gladiator arena and use them as weapons. But Peay also has swords, axes, maces and tridents to help him splatter his television screen full of virtual blood.

The hero in Peay's favorite game, "Shadow of Rome," is nothing like "Pac Man," "Super Mario Brothers" or "Sonic the Hedgehog." In fact, while the last three are cute, cuddly video game mascots, "Shadow of Rome's" Agrippa is a muscular, mean-looking centurion whose ability to viciously slaughter his enemies earns the game an M, or mature, rating.

"Oh man that's a great game," Peay said. "Most of it is battle scenes. You can use their maces to break their bones. Slice their arms off and beat them up."

But while Napa is far from the gladiator pits of ancient Rome, Napa stores stock "Shadow of Rome" -- along with other M-rated titles -- and local gamers such as Peay spend millions of dollars every year to immerse themselves in a virtual world of violence.

"It's a release," said Peay, 50, who said he's been playing video games since they were invented. "It's a palate cleanser. It's violence."

Real life video game war

Peay has no problem getting his hands on the latest violent video games, but state lawmakers such as Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, want to make it a crime for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase such games. Lee's A.B. 1179, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this year, would have made it a crime to sell or rent violent video games that depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.

Schwarzenegger, who himself has starred in many violent movies and video games, released this statement: "I signed into law legislation that requires violent video games be clearly labeled and prohibits their sale to children under 18 years old. Many of these games are made for adults and choosing games that are appropriate for kids should be a decision made by their parents. California's new law will ensure parental involvement in determining which video games are appropriate for their children."

In response to the bill the video game industry blasted back with a lawsuit, claiming that the ban was a violation of minors' First Amendment rights. On Thursday, a federal judge ruled in favor of the video game industry and put a temporary block on the bill pending further hearings.

"It is not up to any industry or the government to set standards for what kids can see or do; that is the role of parents," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, the organization fighting the bill.

Schwarzenegger said, "I believe strongly that we must give parents the tools to help them protect their children. I will do everything in my power to preserve this new law and I urge the attorney general to mount a virtuous defense of California's ability to prevent the sale of these games to children."

Currently, the video game industry uses a ratings system akin to the ratings system used by the movie industry. The ratings system, designed and championed by the Electronic Software Rating Board (ESRB), is meant to keep games with harmful content out of the reach of children. Most stores will allow underage gamers to purchase games with the approval of a parent or guardian. Does the system work?

Putting it to the test

Using a 15-year-old shopper, Vintage High School sophomore Jeremy Bomar, a Register reporter tested the system in Napa.

Bomar, who stands about 5-foot 2-inches tall, has moppy red hair, has no facial hair and wore jeans, sneakers and a T-shirt, entered seven local video game dealers including Staples, both local Target stores, Warehouse Music, Game Crazy, Office Depot and Wal-Mart and attempted to purchase M-rated games using his school identification card, answering 15 when asked for his age, and making it clear that his parents were not with him.

Bomar was successful in buying M-rated games at five of the seven stores.

At Target in North Napa, Bomar purchased "Blitz: The League," a football game sprinkled with cinema cut scenes of football players hiring prostitutes and purchasing drugs to fuel their over-the-top brand of football. The store's cashier said he usually checks IDs of young-looking gamers when they try and purchase M-rated games, but he forgot to card Bomar, he said.

"It gets busy," he said. "We usually card. But there's only two people back here."

Manager Dennis Williams said his cashiers are trained to card customers for alcohol, medication and M-rated video games. South Napa's Target didn't fare much better. Bomar walked out of the store with "GUN," an M-rated title set in the wild west, where players can blow the heads off their enemies and viciously trample them with their horses.

Armand, the store's assistant manager who did not want his last name used, said Target's cash registers prompt cashiers to check the age of the purchaser if they attempt to by M-rated games. Staples employees always card for aerosol cans, but don't card for violent video games said store manager Jose Padilla. Bomar was able to buy "Dungeon Siege" from a Staples cashier without a hassle.

At Napa's Wal-Mart, cashier Rachel Prudente stopped Bomar from purchasing "Spartan: Total War," a game where gamers cleave their enemies with an assortment of Spartan weapons such as swords and spears.

Prudente said the only reason she wouldn't allow Bomar to buy the game was that her register asked her to card him as she scanned the game. Bomar said that a customer that was standing in line behind him attempted to buy the game for him and asked Prudente if he could do so.

But Prudente politely denied the sale of the game, because the man was not Bomar's parent or legal guardian. She said some parents get mad at her for not allowing their kids to buy M-rated games, while others are appreciative.

At Warehouse Music Bomar bought "Castlevania: Curse of Darkness," a violent romp through Dracula's castle. Store Manager Steve Crego said the store goes through great lengths to keep M-rated titles away from underage gamers, even going as far as posting the ESRB ratings on their walls near their game titles. Crego said the cashier who sold the game to Bomar was a new employee and not trained to screen gamers.

Management at Office Depot said that their employee, who sold Bomar a copy of "Halo," was also new. They declined to discuss store policy on selling M-rated games and instead directed the Register reporter to a contact their corporate office.

Game Crazy, a store that specializes in video games, stopped Bomar from purchasing an M-rated title. A manager, who wished not to be identified, said no one gets away with buying M-rated titles at the store without providing the proper identification.

"There are a lot of games out there that have a lot of violent stuff in them," he said.

He often gets parents complaining to him as well for not selling the games, he said, but they are generally grateful that he's looking out for their children.

Game over?

While state lawmakers and the video game industry duke it out in courts, many gamers are reaping the benefits of new technology, including the XBox 360 and Playstation Portable System, which makes for a more vivid game experience. Holiday sales from game consoles and software is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

When video games first arrived on the scene, they consisted of simple controls and graphics. But that changed by leaps and bounds with the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System. As hardware began to expand, games got more complex. The introduction of Sony's Playstation changed gaming yet again, by introducing movie-like in-game sequences, sharper graphics and gameplay, and racier themes.

Fast forward to modern video games, where Sony's Playstation 2 and Microsoft's XBox reign supreme, followed close behind by Nintendo's Gamecube. Games such as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," (where gamers can car jack vehicles; kill cops; hire prostitutes, have sex with them in a car, kill them, and take their money; deliver drugs; run over innocent bystanders; and buy a gun at a gun store, kill the gun store owner and take his money) push the envelope further and will continue to fuel the national debate over video game violence.