You're not necessarily missing anything.  The issue with this kind of law is it is terribly open to interpretation and unclear application.

So for example I could say anything with blood, humans and real situations is violent (so goodbye CoD, etc) but anything that is clearly 'cartoon' in nature in fantasy environments is okay (so hello R&C, etc).

I think this approach is both a shame, as it's taking goverment guidance too far, and a mistake as its going to be very difficult to enforce or even reliably apply.  In the end it seems likely it will (if made law) struggle for a few years, waste a lot of money, and be quietly changed or adapted at some future point.

A better answer, I believe, is clear (and simple) rating of games content linked to a much better level of education of parents/stores in terms of controlling access.

In the end though it really varies by individual, so guidance is all anything is at the end of the day (apart from clear exceptions).  For example my eldest child is about to turn 13.  Because he's sensible, mature, etc. I have no problem with him playing many titles that are 15 or 18 or watching certain 15 or 18 certificate films.  On the other hand there are other titles (games & films) I know he is not mature enough for yet, and I guide him away from them for the moment without hiding their existence or tyring to demonize them.   He knows that over time he catch watch and play whatever he wants, as he matures and grows to take responsibility for his own tastes and actions

Better parenting and awareness of their children and the content would make more sense to me - but that's a tougher problem than trying to pass a quick law.

In addition to what was already said, some videogames and such are already banned in Germany.

BTW, aren't some people trying to ban paintball in Germany?

This is clearly a case of government corruption and bribery. I can just picture an underground parking garage's shadows concealing a lurking italian plumber with a suitcase of money...

That's a very harsh response...   Shouldn't we be supporting the downtrodden gamers there?

Well, "better education and parenting" are always necessary and welcome, but reality today is quite the contrary: Parents have less and less influence on their kids' activities. Blaming the government for the bad state of education is a bit easy, and it doesn't help solving the problem either. I'm not sure I agree with that law either, but I think it's legitimate to think about actions against the brutalization of today's society.

(Not talking about you here): In internet discussions on the topic, I noticed that most gamers never say anything constructive. It's mostly dumb sarcasm like "Oh well they should ban Mario cuz he's killin dem turtles" or "Why don't they ban bread cuz teh killers sure ate bread before killing". Or they're just trying to end the discussion by blaming it all on the government: "The government should spend more on education instead!". 

I'd LOVE to see every government spend twice as much on education - too much is never enough. But it's a bit more complicated than that, with social classes growing further apart. For typical young offenders it's already too late for school to have any positive influence. 

Typicals politics in Germany before an election

In response to the shooting spree that occured recently they decide to ban violent video games

It does make sense though why support better mental care for disturbed people or ban guns that were linked to the crime but ban violent video games based on the fact that they were played by the killer.

I new Germany had it in for video games but this is absurd. It literally puts Germany at the number one spot for touchest video game restrictions.

This is just like when they tried to ban paintball. Even though Germany has some of the toughest paintball restrictions in the world and they still blame there problems on it.

The paintball ban was dropped due to public outrage.

Now if they dropped the paintball ban before it came to parliament due to public outrage then I think there going to have a strong response from the German gaming community.

Even if they do take it to parliament it is unlikely it will be passed. The German parliament is known for being more level headed and doesnt have the same impulse control other sections of German politics have.

Crytek has already said they will move development to another country rather that try to work around the ban.

lol? i'm speachless. so thanks to mentally disordered kid and his stupid dad with collection of guns in his own house and his own shooting range Germany won't have any T rated and higher video game? that ridiculous.

it's same thing in japan where thanks to some feminists there won't be pretty much any hentai game EVER - they can't even name them like developer want, because it can break the law(and same goes to putting girls with cat ears, pregnant women etc in those games that are banned from now on) because thanks to them people will rape everything in japan - but hey the fact that in japan is the lowest number of sexual crimes in the world thanks to those games doesn't matter to those fugly 60year old virgins who couldn't get laid who call themselves feminists. the same feminists claimed that 70% of japanese highschool girls were raped and by rape they mean even wet dreams and dirty thoughts about those schoolgirls.

Guns are mostly banned already in Germany (or at least much, much harder to get than in the USA). But I guess many American readers wouldn't like that idea either...

And how should it help if the government "support better mental care for disturbed people", if the amok gunman didn't receive psychological treatment before? It's funny how, on the one hand, people want the government to mind it's own business and leave them alone, at the same time they're lamenting that the country is to blame for mentally disturbed people.

Rule #1: Americans care more about their freedom than their safety.

Any good American would rather die than have the government be able to ban simple entertainment like video games.

Rule #2: Germans care more about cleaning the blood off their hands.