Gamertell

The UK is all set to revamp the videogame rating system according to the recommendations made by Dr. Tanya Byron, who is heading a review into the ill effects of games and the internet in the U.K. Byron told Next-Gen that the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has assured her that the government will adopt her recommendations in full.

Byron also talked about the appreciation her report has drawn from British parents but her suggestions might be valued outside Britain also, if Byron is to be believed. “I do know for a fact that the US is looking at this report very carefully,” Byron told Next-Gen. She hopes that the new game regulation model in UK can be rolled out globally.

Byron also addressed concerns that her report might go as far as prescribing and proscribing the kind of games that people are supposed to play: “I can understand that gamers fear that there will be a [clause in the study that says] ‘you can’t play these games anymore.’ I’ve not said that, I’d never say that, and certainly if I heard people beginning to use my review to try and imply that I will be very quick to say that that was not and will not be a recommendation of mine.” So, its official now, gamers will retain the freedom to choose their own games and the ratings will only serve as a guide.

Microsoft has expressed its opinion of the Byron Review through Neil Thompson, regional director for entertainment and devices at Microsoft UK. Thompson told British paper Telegraph that the Byron Review will help change the people’s perception of video games and lend them insight into the industry.

He said that a console was no longer an interactive toy for kids but has instead become broad reaching and a mature form of entertainment. He laid stress on parents coming to terms with the fact that a lot of game content is aimed at adults. “We need to ensure that the way children are engaging with those platforms is appropriate, and there are tools and measures that help parents a lot to understand this, but we really do need them to get involved,” he said.

He didn’t forget to extol the measures Microsoft had taken in this sphere and pointed at the parental lock features embedded in both Microsoft Vista and Xbox 360. He lauded the people behind the review, headed by Dr. Tanya Byron, for taking a balanced view.

If the revamped rating system in the UK meets with any success, it should serve as a benchmark for similar reforms elsewhere in the world including the US. If one system is replicated around the world then it will lead to uniformity which will be good for the industry.

It seems that Byron has done a commendable job combining all the sundry perspectives from the game industry, government, parents and gamers and impeccably balancing them in her report.

Read [Telegraph] Also Read [Next-Gen]