Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 1:07 PM
Thu Nov 12
55 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us: tips@kotaku.com
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
Email | AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
Email | AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
Email | AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
07/27/09
Microsoft's willingness to prevent kids from downloading mature content could, if done properly, send the appropriate message to the knee-jerk anti-game lobby who doesn't understand that adults game too and some of the content out there is geared towards us, not their "precious snowflakes." (Whether or not the most unreasonable of those reactionaries would actually take notice or listen is another story entirely.)
I have no problem with age based restrictions, and as kids grow older, they too will come to appreciate the reasoning behind it and realise the world didn't come to a crashing halt because they couldn't download some mature title on the marketplace.
Really though, it's sad that parents have so little control and/or can't take time out of their busy schedule to monitor their child's gaming habits all the time, not simply when they happen to notice their little darling is already playing Gears of War 2.
....
Let your little darling shoot strangers in the face online, unsupervised, all the while hurling obscenities at people twice his age through his headset that you paid for, and jam mountain dew and hot pockets down his gullet.
I hate the world.
07/27/09
07/27/09
I absolutely concur. New Zealand: Like Lord of the Rings!
07/27/09
10000010000111000000101000010001010001
07/27/09
07/27/09
I'd rather censor myself and protect myself from a government style reaming then 'fight the power' and end up sitting in jail over something like this, which IMHO isn't worth lawsuits, million dollar fines and jail time. Plus the unspeakably bad PR.
07/27/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
Microsoft's intention, no doubt, is simply to avoid falling foul of the law here, by halting the sale of what could end up being restricted materials to people that will not be legally allowed to possess it.
What it unfortunately amounts to, however, is a corporation taking it upon themselves to censor media, which is unacceptable.
A government censoring any sort of media is questionable enough, but acceptable given that we live in a democracy, and we could kick up a stink if we really felt that strongly about it.
You could argue that people also vote with their dollars, when it comes to the actions of corporations, but this always ends up as a lot of talk on the part of a vocal minority (i.e. a few Kotaku readers), while Joe Consumer who doesn't give a damn carries on buying whatever he likes.
However, I find myself thinking that, were I in Microsoft's shoes, I would be doing exactly as they are, and for this reason: If a 14 year old currently owns content that will soon, retroactively, become illegal for him to own, where to from there? I would want to avoid as much of that mess as possible, even knowing that there's already going to be a lot of mess needing attention when downloadable content ratings come into place.
As for where the prompt for this action came from, and I speak entirely on the basis of rumours here, I hear it's a government department, but not the department of Internal Affairs, oddly.
07/27/09
Apply it to other elements of entertainment - their money's as good as anyone else's, so why should they be kept from going behind the curtain at video stores that have "adult" videos?
Their money's as good as anyone else's, so why shouldn't the casino allow them unfettered access instead of restricting them to the periphery?
Then there's the other half of it; their money may be "as good as anyone else's," but on the off-chance that they get into trouble with it, their guardians won't blame themselves. They'll blame Microsoft for not "doing something about it." An American corporation, even if it's multi-national, is going to be decidedly more risk-averse than corporations formed within another culture, and they're going to act accordingly.
Whose money is how good be damned.
07/27/09
A better comparison in this case is a kid being banned from going behind the adult video curtain, but also being kicked out of the entire video shop.
07/27/09
The proprietor was right to throw the kid out!
;)
07/31/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
If your 17, you DO have something to worry about.
The unfortunate way Xbox live works is thus
If you have a credit card, you can validate yourself as at the age to play M rated games and the like.
If you don't have a credit card, tough luck, no game demos or trailers rated M or "RP", which really sucks.
The problem? You need to be 18 to have a credit card.
07/27/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
*gets off soapbox*
07/27/09
They call me the Hiphopopotamus!
My lyrics are bottomless..................
07/27/09
Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
Did Steve tell you that, perchance?
Steve...
(Edit - Huh, I promoted my own comment? WTF?!)
07/27/09
Indeed, it was the Rhymenoceros.
Did you know that he was raised by a rapper and rhino that dated and subsequently procreated?
07/27/09
...What kind of rapping name is Steve...?
Steve.
07/27/09
07/27/09
But Season 2 still had some great moments, like the "hair gel" episode. "Fashion! F-F-F-F-Fashion!" :D
07/27/09
07/27/09
07/27/09
Well, I'm 22 now, so I won't. But I guess it sucks for the kiddos!
07/27/09
07/27/09
11/13/08
11/13/08
11/13/08
"Philosopher's Stone takes threads from the novel, the film, and the PS1 classic, and weaves them all together into a jumper with one sleeve longer than the other and a picture of a turd on the front."
11/13/08