Gamertell

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 »

According to the European Commission survey, Ireland is now banning violent video games. The reason for banning violent games, according to the EU’s study of the implementation of Pan European Game Information ratings, is that many of the EU nations are not enforcing the age limits on the games identified… Continue Reading »

Leave it to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to take the fun out of this year’s most anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto IV. Teaming with the National Institute on Media and the Family, the two forces are strongly advising parents to take special notice of the ESRB rating for… Continue Reading »

Adults Only-rated games have been despised by major retailers and console manufacturers. But there is a very distant possibility of console manufacturers giving the green signal to AO-rated games if they see any merit in the argument that AO-rated games are a form of free speech. Adam Thierer, director of… Continue Reading »

The Australian Federal government is contemplating the introduction of the R-18 certification for video games that contain highly explicit content not deemed fit for minors. The absence of such a certification means that titles which exceed the MA certification (only for sale to persons 15 and above) are altogether denied… Continue Reading »

There is an interesting article by Bruce Everiss that uses the Bible to help put things in perspective regarding the ratings system and how it is used. If we were to examine the Bible under the same light as so many videogames, we would find it potentially inappropriate reading material… Continue Reading »

In a push statewide to educate parents on how to use the Entertainment Software Rating Board as a tool for deciding appropriate games, Delaware Lieutenant Governor John Carney and State Representative Helene Keeley joins ESRB president Patricia E. Vance to announce the launch of a new PSA campaign. The campaign… Continue Reading »