ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Reuters) - The video game industry told a federal appeals court on Wednesday that it has the same rights to free speech as moviemakers and publishers and urged the court to overturn a local government ban on the sale of violent video games to minors.

Appearing before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys for the Interactive Digital Software Association, which represents the video game industry, argued that a lower court ruling upholding St. Louis County's restrictions on game sales should be overturned as unconstitutional.

Video games, like movies and books, are forms of expression protected under the First Amendment because they feature art, music and performance, IDSA lawyer Deanne Maynard told the court. To support its case, the video game industry trade group submitted scripts from some games to the court to prove the artistic merits of its members' works.

The legal skirmish, considered an important test case, comes as the $30-billion video game industry moves closer to the mainstream entertainment industry through tie-ups and licensing deals and increasingly sees itself as a partner and sometime rival to Hollywood.

Over the last two years, violent games have been among the best-selling games, led by criminal adventure games "Grand Theft Auto 3" and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." Overall, games with a "Mature"-rating accounted for about 13 percent of sales in 2002.

The IDSA's Maynard argued that the St. Louis ordinance went too far in its goal of protecting children from violence and that the voluntary ratings system already in place was a sufficient safeguard.

"This is burning down the house to roast the pig," she said, adding that the solution, if any, was to "make parents more aware of the ratings system."

RATINGS SYSTEM

Video games released in the United States are rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

But Michael Shuman, associate county counsel for St. Louis, cited evidence that exposure to violent acts causes children to become violent themselves and said the county's law was intended to "protect the parents' choice of what comes into their homes."

Judge William Riley asked Shuman how video games were different from typical Childrens' make-believe games like "cops and robbers."

"I bet I killed 50 people a week playing Army as a kid," Riley said.

Shuman responded that unlike those playtime fantasies, video games exposed children to graphic depictions of violence.

He cited the work of Craig Anderson, chairman of the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University who has linked violence in games and real-life behavior.

Last September, a group of 33 other scholars, representing institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and London University, filed a brief with the court challenging that idea.

Questioned by the court about whether or not Anderson's work was just theory, Shuman said governments should not have to wait for proof that playing violent video games can incite children to commit violent acts.

"The government shouldn't have to wait to develop a record of harm," he said. "While the First Amendment is important, the county can't wait for scientists to provide evidence."

The court was expected to make a ruling on the issue some time later this year.

The "Grand Theft Auto" games are published by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. TTWO.O Other major publishers represented by the IDSA include Electronic Arts Inc. ERTS.O , Activision Inc. ATVI.O and THQ Inc. THQI.O