ESRB president Patricia Vance discusses the PSPgo's built-in ESRB ratings guide over at the PlayStation Blog, praising it as a "straight-forward and thorough overview of the ESRB rating system as well as a step-by-step walkthrough of the device's parental control features and settings." The guide includes easy-to-understand definitions of the standard game ratings, helping parents to setup the parental control levels on their children's shiny new handheld.

It looks like an extremely useful tool that should be very helpful to the sort of parent who pays attention to things like game ratings and has the foresight to check out the device themselves before handing it over to their child. I'm pretty sure people like that do exist.

PlayStation Gives Parents Ratings Guidance on the Go [PlayStation Blog]

Microsoft's Play Smart, Play Safe study polled children and parents in the UK on different aspects of the parent/child gaming experience. While the poll did reveal that 75% of parents feel that video games can be beneficial to their children and families, some of the other results cause me to question how many of them considered babysitting as one of those benefits. When 69% of children want their parents to be more involved in checking what games they play and 47% saying that their parents check on them either "never" or "not enough", it makes one wonder.

74% of parents feel gaming is educational. Perhaps, but not as educational as Microsoft survey results. We continue.

Parents scores have improved in several areas over last year's survey, most notably in the area of awareness of parental controls (73%) and feeling they are personally responsible for checking age ratings (94%). Of course, looking at the children's numbers above, things still don't quite add up. Add to that the fact that 96% of children are aware of parental controls, with 92% aware of rating systems as opposed to their parents 60%, there's obviously a communication issue happening here. Even with all of the parental awareness, 64% admit they sometimes let their children play games outside of their age range. Tsk.

76% of UK children are playing online games at least once a week, which has 43% of parents understandably worried that their children are interacting with people older than they are online. The fact that 95% of children say they've not encountered anything that worried or frightened them while gaming should calm parents down a bit, until they realize that the number indicates that 5% of children have encountered scary things online.

So what do all of these numbers tell us? Parents are becoming more and more aware of age rating systems and parental controls, but don't seem to be worried about them, despite knowing it's their responsibility to do so. That, and older men and women in the UK aren't doing enough to scare young children in online games.

The Get Game Smart website is filled with glowing endorsements about family gaming, a break down of what exactly the Entertainment Software Rating Board's ratings mean, and some neat resources, like a gaming pact and pledge you can fill out with your children.

“I’m a dad, and I know how important it is for parents to get involved with their children’s video gaming and media experiences, not to mention feel equipped to make sure those experiences are as fun and safe as possible,” said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft. “Get Game Smart demonstrates Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to this effort and complements the award-winning Family Settings tools we built into our products like Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. These offerings allow families to get the most enjoyment out of today’s digital entertainment.”

The program also includes a search for Get Game Smart Ambassadors to help educate their peers on making smart video gaming and media choices.

I absolutely love what Microsoft is doing here, but they really need to open this up to other consoles if they expect it to be anything more than a dressed up marketing pitch.

For instance, hopping over to the website's tools and selecting "How to set parental controls" I've given a break down of how to set it up on the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows. All three consoles offer this service, so why not walk people through it?

If Microsoft is really interested in making sure that "parents and caregivers... be aware of — and have access to — resources and tools to manage their children’s digital media use" then maybe they should step up and outside the bounds of Microsoft and provide something useful for all gamers, not just theirs.

Get Gaming Smart

ESRB AND PTA LAUNCH NEW NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO EDUCATE PARENTS ABOUT GAME RATINGS, PARENTAL CONTROLS AND ONLINE VIDEO GAME SAFETY

Booklets Distributed to PTAs and Available Online; Free Educational Webcast Scheduled for April 23

NEW YORK - Furthering their shared commitment to informing parents, Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) have launched a nationwide education campaign through which a new booklet, "A Parents Guide to Video Games, Parental Controls and Online Safety ," is being distributed to all 26,000 PTAs. The campaign enables and encourages PTAs to educate their community's parents about the ESRB rating system and parental control technology available on the various game systems, as well as the concerns that exist when games are played over an Internet connection and what parents can do to mitigate those concerns. The booklets, which offer a step-by-step guide to setting up parental controls as well as an article about online safety from Andrew S. Bub of GamerDad.com , are available for free download in English and Spanish through both the PTA and ESRB websites.

In addition to the booklet, a free webcast featuring PTA national president Jan Harp Domene, ESRB president Patricia Vance, and Andrew S. Bub will take place at 7:00 PM EDT on April 23, 2008. The webcast will explain the ESRB rating system, offer information on setting up parental controls for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 and PSP, and Windows Vista, and include a discussion about online video game safety. It will conclude with a live text Q&A session with the experts.

"Video games continue to be a popular source of learning and entertainment for children, but today's games provide players with new abilities to interact with one another via online play. Just as with the Internet, that kind of interaction carries with it some risks," said Domene. "Using the ESRB ratings and setting up parental controls are important, proactive steps that parents can take to make sure their kids are playing games they deem appropriate. And being aware of the risks posed by online-enabled games and what can be done to keep their kids safe when playing online is crucial information for parents. We're very pleased to be offering them this guidance with the help of ESRB."

"Three in four parents use the ESRB ratings regularly when selecting games for their children, and the parental control features available in all the newest game systems give parents more control over the games their children play than ever before," said Vance. "But it's important for parents to fully appreciate what the experience of playing games today encompasses. Many online-enabled games allow players to interact in new ways, including online competitions or chatting with one another via text, audio or video. Parents should understand what type of content their child might be exposed to when playing games online, and what steps they can take to shield their children from content they deem inappropriate."

"Online-enabled games have opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Playing games online with others, whether they be friends or strangers, allows players to compete or cooperate with one another in new and exciting ways, and that enriches their experience with those games," said Bub, also known as GamerDad. "But with that ability to interact comes the ability to introduce content into a game that might not be appropriate for all players. Making sure parents are aware of the tools they can use to protect their kids is a central part of the GamerDad mission, and I'm delighted to have been able to take part in this initiative to arm parents with this information."

The ESRB engages in several ratings education initiatives that involve print, television and radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs) among other vehicles. Most recently, the ESRB launched a new ratings search "widget," which allows parents to search for ESRB ratings from a portable mini application that can be placed on their desktops, embedded in social networking pages or other web sites, and even shared with friends via email. It is available for free download at www.esrb.org/widget .

While many of ESRB's initiatives focus primarily on raising awareness and use of the ratings, the partnership with PTA also provides parents with valuable guidance and resources about computer and video games, parental controls and online safety, and is among the most extensive to date in terms of ground level support for communities nationwide.

PTAs nationwide will begin receiving the booklets in the coming days, and are encouraged to share them with PTA member parents through their PTA unit programs and events. The booklet is also be available online to all concerned parents through PTA.org.

Study Finds Usability Problems with Parental Controls OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 - Ratings-based parental controls are often used to protect children from exposure to inappropriate media. To compare the usability of common parental controls, Chicago-based usability consultancy User Centric, tested four devices with 20 parents and 20 children ages 9-12.

During individual usability test sessions, all participants were asked to set up parental controls using a television with a V-Chip, a digital video recorder, a game console, and a mobile phone marketed specifically for children under ten. Participants were also asked to rate each device based on ease of use during set up and their confidence in their own success.

Findings:

* Failure rates were high: 31% (DVR), 36% (mobile phone), 42% (V-Chip), and 47% (game console). Across all four devices, parents and children had similar failure rates when setting up parental controls. Participants who reported prior experience fared no better than those who had no experience.
* The relationship between ratings systems and their impact on parental controls was unclear to many participants. When using the V-chip, participants were often uncertain if selecting one rating would be sufficient for blocking the more severe ratings. When using the game console, participants were confused whether their selection represented the highest rating allowed or the lowest rating blocked (despite explanations displayed onscreen).
* One third of participants failed to set up parental controls across all the devices. This contrasted sharply with the high confidence ratings given by participant; many participants believed they had successfully activated parental controls when they actually had not.
* Several participants failed to set up parental controls because they were unaware that they had to perform an extra step to save and then activate their selection. Parental control interfaces failed to provide sufficient visual cues on whether a specific rating was successfully selected or automatically saved as the current setting.

Overall, User Centric found that participants' lack of understanding about ratings compromised their ability to successfully set up parental controls and that parents may be more confident than they should be that the controls are properly set.

A new, relatively small update hit the Wii last night. After the download, the Wii informed me that Parental Controls were now active, but I believe they were active prior to the patch, so I'm not quite sure what the update was for.

Maybe it tweaked parental controls. Nintendo isn't around at 1 a.m. so I can't ask them, and their site doesn't seem to have any mention of updates.

Anyone else have a clue what the patch or update did? Brian Crecente