By: Brian Crecente

Microsoft today announced a new nationwide initiative to help educate parents about video game ratings, plunging neck-deep into the debate raging over video games, censorship and children's access to violent and explicit games.
Starting today in New York City a bus tour called "Safety is no game. Is your family set?" will hit 20 cities, providing hands-on education on the current video game rating system and how to use the family settings available in both the Xbox 360 and upcoming Windows Vista platforms.

The national tour is being co-sponsored by Best Buy and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The initiative is the brainchild of Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division. Bach took some time yesterday to talk with me about the motives behind the program, the current state of video gaming law, Senator Hilary Clinton and the company's reaction to the misuse of the Xbox 360's Vision Camera.

While the initiative doesn't mention the Entertainment Software Rating Board or the Entertainment Software Association, Bach says that both groups are participating in many ways.

Both Patricia Vance, who heads of the ESRB, and Doug Lowenstein, who heads up the ESA, were involved in a set of meeting held today in New York with Bach and consumer, industry and government leaders, Bach said.

"There's no agenda for the meeting, we just want to get everyone together to talk," he said.

I pointed out that Sen. Clinton is likely the most vocal legislator on the issue of universal or government controlled ratings and asked if she or her staff would be in the day's meetings.

Bach said no, but that Microsoft has had private meetings with her staff.

"We are well engaged with her," he said.

Bach said the timing of the initiative has more to do with capturing the attention of parents than it does with the current state of video game law, with video games under fire in federal and state courts and Senator Hillary Clinton is calling for the government to take over the rating system.

"Why not last year or six months ago? Why are you doing this now," I asked.

"A year ago we were in the middle of launching the Xbox 360," he said. "This (time of year) is when parents pay attention and they are looking for information."

I was surprised to hear Microsoft taking such a strong leadership role in an issue that affects all gamers and game developers. Why, I asked, is this Microsoft's problem, why not let the ESA or ESRB deal with this?
"We are one of the industry leaders and it's the responsible thing to do," Bach said, "It's part of being a responsible leader."

Bach added that the tour and the increased comfort parents will have with the 360 is also a benefit.

"We think its good for the business, we think if parents are more comfortable, that the Xbox 360 is comfortable to play, it will lead to more sales," he said. "But that's not the primary issue."

While the ESRB continues to get beaten up by politicians pushing their own agendas, the industry has mostly stood behind the rating system. But could a move like this by Microsoft be viewed as the industry starting to break away from the current rating system?

Bach, who is on the board of the ESRB, said absolutely not.

"I certainly think we are doing a great job and will continue to add things to the system," he said, pointing out recent surveys which show that awareness of the ESRB system is at an all time high. "Can the system be better? Yes. Are there things we can improve? Of course."

"But the rating system is already really, really good. It addresses a complex set of issues in a very logical way."
"The reality of it is it's a challenging problem, games are not like a movie, they are not linear."

Under the current system, the ESRB relies on the company making the game to create a video showing a cross-section of the content in the game. Recently, politicians have called for the ESRB to play 100 percent of a game before rating it.

Bach says that's just not reasonable.
"What we rely on is the people who know the content in the game," he said. "If someone submits something that is not representative of the content, we do have fines."

"Games are not linear and they can't be treated that way."

What Microsoft is doing, starting today with the initiative, was designed to be cooperative with what the ESRB is doing to raise awareness as well, Bach said.

As the interview was winding down Bach started talking about the Xbox 360's robust parent controls. I couldn't help but ask about the recent issues the system has had with the Vision Live Camera.

Shortly after the streaming camera attachment hit the 360 there were numerous reports of gamers using it to flash other gamers, show themselves doing drugs and, in one case, actually stream a porn video that was playing on a separate TV into a game of Uno.

Bach said the company knew, going into the launch of the camera, that gamers might try to get creative with their camera, but they didn't realize how creative they'd get.

"We knew there were potential issues there, but it would have been tough to envision the way its been used in a couple of situations," he said. "We tried to be careful about that."

As of today, the default setting for a gamer who is under 18, is that only a friend can send them video or images.

Bach said that Microsoft also has a team of undercover gamers looking out for Vision Camera use violations.

"They are playing vision games and monitoring activity and banning people," he said. "Thin of it like an Air Marshall on a plane, no one knows who they are."

If you're interested in catching the bus when it hits your town here are the scheduled stops:
Hartford, Conn. - Oct. 24
Boston, MA - Oct. 26
Atlanta - November 2
Miami - November 8

The remaining cities are as follows (dates TBD)
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Phoenix, AZ
Austin, TX
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
Indianapolis, IN
Chicago, IL
Minneapolis, MN
Denver, CO
Salt Lake City, UT
San Francisco/Bay Area, CA
Seattle, WA

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