Oh, don't get me started...
Oh, this kinda crap just ticks me off...
Video games that have players shoot rival gang members, watch bare-breasted women and recreate the assassination of President Kennedy were criticized today by a watchdog group that said, at the least, they should be kept away from children.
In issuing its annual report card on video games, the National Institute on Media and the Family urged the industry to educate parents better about ratings and asked retailers not to sell such games to younger teenagers.
``This segment of games keeps getting more realistic, and they keep pushing the envelope,'' David Walsh, the institute's president, said at a news conference. ``The problem is that these games are the ones that are particularly popular with kids, particularly teenagers.''
The video game trade association said its games carry appropriate ratings and recommended that parents police the activities of their children. (source)
The last line is, in my experience, quite true. My PS2 console came with a big glossy placard explaining video game ratings in excruciating detail. The box of every game has a rating right on the front explaining why it was rated that way. Many (if not all) video game retailers have their registers prompt for an ID check when it scans a mature-rated game.
What more is the industry supposed to do when they've already done everything they can (save not making such objectionable games and alienating the thriving market for post-pubescent gamers)? Why do parents continue to blindly buy their kids everything they ask for without finding out what it is?
Why must the world be foam-padded for the least common denominator (at the expense of everyone else) when a perfectly good alternative is tucking that least common denominator into bed every night?
Video games that have players shoot rival gang members, watch bare-breasted women and recreate the assassination of President Kennedy were criticized today by a watchdog group that said, at the least, they should be kept away from children.
In issuing its annual report card on video games, the National Institute on Media and the Family urged the industry to educate parents better about ratings and asked retailers not to sell such games to younger teenagers.
``This segment of games keeps getting more realistic, and they keep pushing the envelope,'' David Walsh, the institute's president, said at a news conference. ``The problem is that these games are the ones that are particularly popular with kids, particularly teenagers.''
The video game trade association said its games carry appropriate ratings and recommended that parents police the activities of their children. (source)
The last line is, in my experience, quite true. My PS2 console came with a big glossy placard explaining video game ratings in excruciating detail. The box of every game has a rating right on the front explaining why it was rated that way. Many (if not all) video game retailers have their registers prompt for an ID check when it scans a mature-rated game.
What more is the industry supposed to do when they've already done everything they can (save not making such objectionable games and alienating the thriving market for post-pubescent gamers)? Why do parents continue to blindly buy their kids everything they ask for without finding out what it is?
Why must the world be foam-padded for the least common denominator (at the expense of everyone else) when a perfectly good alternative is tucking that least common denominator into bed every night?