Gamertell

Activision is launching a campaign to educate parents about the ESRB ratings system and how to make an informed decision when buying a game for their kids. This campaign, called “Ratings are not a Game”, is backed by Dr. Cheryl Olson, co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media… Continue Reading »

PSP Minis was a new idea that came out alongside the PSPgo. The concept behind Minis was to provide quick pick-up-and-go games for under $9.99. The success of the games that are available on the iTunes App Store is obviously the influence behind Sony’s new line of Minis. The problem… Continue Reading »

Rockstar’s always controversial Manhunt series is back in the news. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) currently lists the PC version of the game with an “Adults Only” rating. The console version of Manhunt 2, released in 2008, initially received the same rating before Rockstar made changes that earned the… Continue Reading »

Each year I receive a stack of holiday greeting cards from various game and entertainment companies. Some come with small physical gifts (*cough* Sony *cough*) while others simply highlight a few featured game characters. This year, more companies have sent electronic cards and none have included a small gift (so… Continue Reading »

Check out the gallery: Christmas Cards from Game Companies 2008

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum used to be similar to nearly every other politician, believing that video games would train young children to be mass murderers. He took particular issue with the Wii version of Manhunt 2 due to the fact that he thought the Wii’s motion controls would enable… Continue Reading »

According to the ESRB, that is. While researching a rumor about Marvel vs. Capcom 2, we stumbled upon a listing for Street Fighter Alpha 2 coming to the Playstation Portable and Playstation 3. What’s particularly interesting is that this news comes hot off the heels of Capcom’s announcement that Sakura,… Continue Reading »

The average gamer age is higher than it was when most of us started gaming. Content is much more mature than when the older gamers started as well. Parents, who are often gamers as well, still want to insure that their kids play age-appropriate games. If you don’t want your… Continue Reading »

Censoring video games has been an issue since Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. If parents don’t want their children to play violent games, that should be up to them and no one else. However this isn’t the case in Australia where censoring laws are so strict, not even a forty-year-old… Continue Reading »

Do game ratings even matter if kids can get their paws on M-rated games either way? That’s what Cnet writer Don Reisinger contemplates in a recent editorial, and he concludes that the answer is a big fat “No.” Citing a recent survey that found that 17 percent of Grand Theft… Continue Reading »

Two things are important with video game ratings: who rates games and who pays attention to them. The “who rates games” is the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and similar boards across the world. Quite simply, they are there to think of the children so you don’t have to. If… Continue Reading »