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An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
Game Devs Get Incentives to Move to Texas
Vicarious Visions Speak Out on NY Legislation
Illinois Passes "Video Games" Gambling Bill
Another Gaming Bill Enters Capitol Hill
Clinton's Bill Equates Video Games With Cigarettes
Anti-Game Bill Becoming Law?

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anabbeynormality
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
What a great policy.

Also only those who SAY they're against crime should get in trouble for it. After all, it's one thing to be a criminal, but hypocrites are the WORST.
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N●Gage Croal is grabbin' peels
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
I've always respected the ESRB. I think they were providing a good service.

I'm glad to see the president is taking a stand against these foolish game laws. Yes, I think kids shouldn't get ahold of M-rated games and R-rated movies (unless their parents approve of it), but this shouldn't be a government issue, it should be a social issue.

Simply put, ALL parents need to be responsible for their children's upbringing. Use the tools they have at their hands, and not pass the blame when things go awry.
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randlsa
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
I don't get it... How is the legislation harmful? I'm missing the picture here... Can someone help me? I do think the ESRB does a great job for the most part, and that the retailers I deal with are executing properly. I understand that this might not be valuable, but why does Patricia oppose it?
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Erode
03/06/09

@randlsa: From what I can understand, it goes like this:

Gamestop has a policy to not sell mature games to an underage audience. If a cashier forgets to card a customer when buying an M game, and that customer is underage, then Gamestop (or that cashier) is liable and can be fined, because they broke their policy.

Now, let's pretend EB Games is different than Gamestop. They have decided to not have a policy regarding selling M games. They sell an M game to an underaged customer, and....nothing happens. Because they have no policy, they've done nothing wrong in the eyes of this law.

So, if a store has a policy, and someone violates that policy, they get in trouble. If that same store decides to not have a policy, they can sell to whoever they want (minors buying M games) without consequence.
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ShadowOdin of dubious snowiness
03/06/09

@Erode: The irony of your post is that here in Sweden, Gamestop bought up EB Games and took over their stores.
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vid3oman64
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
Hey, they have K-A still?! Cool. I've never seen it on any game since the N64 though.
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N●Gage Croal is grabbin' peels
03/06/09

@vid3oman64:

K-A became E. Surprised to see a "modernized" version of the icon, though.
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Turambar: B> Selvaria Body Pillow
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
Wait, so if I understand this particular piece of legislation correctly, it only punishes vendors that decide to abide by it, meaning no one intending to violate it will actually be punished? Please tell me my reading has failed me somewhere because this sounds ridiculous.
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butterbandit
03/06/09

@Turambar:

It's ridiculous because ESRB ratings for games aren't mandatory right now.

What retailers will do, is start selling games WITHOUT ESRB ratings on them, in order to avoid the fines associated with selling an M-Rated game to a minor.
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GnatB
03/06/09

@butterbandit:
Nah, they don't even need to do that. They can still sell ESRB rated games, as long as they don't have any sort of official policy requiring adherence to the ratings.

So yeah, it's a seriously fubar piece of legislation. But then again, what would you expect from something good ol' Jack had a hand in?
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ShadowOdin of dubious snowiness
03/06/09

@GnatB: That is...STUPID. What on earth? No wonder ESRB went this far, and probably will go further if the people in Utah fail to listen.
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Ryan Van Riper
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
That's great Utah! By the way.. did you know your state is the #1 state in the country in sales of Porn?
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null_unit
03/06/09

@Ryan Van Riper: Mormon Porn? Does it involve fantasies about having just one partner at a time?
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geekgrrl
03/06/09

@null_unit: bahahaha.. excellent.
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ph15h
03/06/09

@null_unit: Mormon Pr0n? :o

@Ryan Van Riper: 'Cuz they don't have fast enough internet and actually buy pr0n? I kidd I kidd.
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Heromachine
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
Parents...when did they loose their responsibility?
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MaxDragon7
03/06/09

@Heromachine: Probably when they realized they have never sat down to actually play a game. Most parents don't play games.

...which probably means they have no idea what they should do when it comes to the topic of games and their kids.

For the commenters who have kids and are gamers themselves;
-'Thank you for being responsible.'
=D
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dae_giovanni
03/06/09

@Heromachine: June 12, 1984.
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ShadowOdin of dubious snowiness
03/06/09

@dae_giovanni: What happened then?
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warjilis
03/06/09

@Heromachine:

about 1968
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FireflyPunk
03/06/09

@Heromachine:

There's a whole lot more 'bad' parents out there than 'good' parents.
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FireflyPunk
03/06/09

@warjilis:

Sadly, that's probably accurate.
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mattjop1033
03/06/09

In reply to An Open Letter From the ESRB to Utah's Parents and Leaders
That's a good letter, but is it gonna get in the hands of its intended readers?
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DragonYen
03/06/09

@mattjop1033: Probably not... however I failed to see in her letter where she suggests that another sollution would be to require all games be rated, that retailers should be forced to adhear to a standard (like movies), and finally punished for breaking the law. I can't figure out why we all cry "foul" when they want to restrict games the same way they do music, movies, tabacco, alcohol, and porn. I'm "overage" so I won't be effected... my kids won't be either, as if there is a game I am ok with them playing, I'd be buying anyhow. However I don't want my 12 year old son to be able to pick up Left4Dead at the local Wal-Mart until I've had a chance to check the content, and decide if it's ok for him to play. It seems to me the people who "lose" on this dead are 16-17 year olds who's parents obviously wouldn't let them play whatever it is there are worried about losing (otherwise it wouldn't be an issue to them), the esrb who are worried they will lose their stranglehold on all the publishers/devs, and finally the publishers/devs who pander their M rated games to 12 year olds, but don't want the parents involved in the buying process.

I see a lot of people saying "Parents should be parenting"... But kids will be kids. No matter the level of "training" they will always look at getting away with something they aren't supposed to. If you get the retailer to help the situation, then you don't have to put your child on "lock down" because he might walk to Target, buy an M-Rated game, and play it when no one is watching. Maybe they're right though... maybe we should start letting them go to R-Rater movies without parental consent... hell let them drink and smoke too, why the fuck not? I guess if your kid gets hit by some other kid who was drunk driving, you just weren't being a good parent.
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DragonYen
03/06/09

@DragonYen: *deal... *rated...(bah)
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Dangeresque (Kojima-san doesn't have to make Metal Gear any more)
03/06/09

@DragonYen: Well, one of the reasons we cry foul is that we came up with our own system of regulation, rather than waiting for the law to do it for us, and it is proven to be the most effective media rating system in existence, at least in the USA. Critics of rating systems always have lots of nice things to say about the ESRB. I've heard professionals talk about how movies should follow their lead.

We did it without being told, and we did it better.
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