The partnership will see Parenting.com host a series of articles explaining both the ESRB rating system and the parental control options that can help prevent kids playing age-restricted games. The site will also offer a 'Video Game Safety' search widget that will show the ESRB rating for any of the 16,000 games in the system's database.

"Video games are actually among the easiest of media for parents to control," said ESRB President Patricia Vance, "and for the readers of Parenting it just got even easier."

For a full explanation, presented using the medium of the press release, hit the jump.

PARENTING.COM AND ESRB PARTNER TO EDUCATE PARENTS ABOUT

VIDEO GAMES AND THE RATING SYSTEM IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

New Tools and Resources Help Prepare Parents for the Gift-Buying Season

NEW YORK – The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the non-profit, self-regulatory body which assigns age and content ratings for video games, has partnered with Bonnier Corp.’s Parenting Group to offer moms a series of new online tools and content on Parenting.com that will help them make informed choices about the video games their children play. The partnership is expected to generate a total of nearly 50 million parent impressions, and has been timed to begin at the start of the busy Holiday shopping season when more than half of all games are sold each year.

“As we head into the Holiday season, parents are keeping their ears open for gift ideas, and video games are a perennial favorite. But just like movies and TV shows, not all games are intended for kids,” said ESRB president Patricia Vance. “That said, video games are actually among the easiest of media for parents to control, and for the readers of Parenting it just got even easier. With the tools, resources and information we’re providing on Parenting.com, moms will have all the help they need when it comes to choosing the right games for their family.”

Through this new partnership, Parenting.com will offer readers an ESRB rating search widget designed exclusively for Parenting. The widget searches ESRB’s database for the ratings and content descriptors assigned to more than 16,000 game titles, making sure parents are informed even before they head out to the store with their gift list in hand. The widget can be grabbed and placed on one’s desktop, personal homepage or social networking page, as well as shared with friends.

The Parenting.com website will also publish a series of three articles by ESRB president Patricia Vance, the first of which, “5 Steps to Smart Video Game Choices,” provides a primer for parents about the ESRB age and content ratings as well as how to take advantage of the parental control settings available on all new game consoles.

To keep parents ahead of the curve when it comes to the games their kids are likely to be asking for this Holiday season, Parenting.com will publish a monthly list of some of the best-selling titles with their complete ESRB rating information. Parenting will also run four full-page ESRB print PSA ads, two in the November and December issues to be timed with the Holiday shopping season, and two more in early 2009.

In addition to the ESRB partnership, Parenting.com will also be introducing a new Parenting.com Shopping Channel, an online video commerce tool that enables users to make purchases while they view videos of Parenting editors discussing their favorite product recommendations. The Parenting.com Shopping Channel will kick off with a series of shopping guide videos including the Parenting.com Video Game Cheat Sheet, a guide to choosing the right video games for kids which includes complete ESRB ratings information for all titles mentioned.

“Parenting is dedicated to empowering moms with the guidance they need to make smart choices for their children,” said Susan Kane, editorial director of The Parenting Group and editor-in-chief of Parenting magazine. “Navigating the world of video games can be a daunting task for moms, so we’re thrilled that this partnership with ESRB will give our readers an extremely valuable tool to help them better understand the video games their children love to play.”

The ESRB engages in several initiatives to reach parents about the ratings, including an award-winning Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign that includes television, radio, print and online components. Working in partnership with national retailers to post in-store signage about the ratings as well as groups such as the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to distribute informational brochures and develop online resources, the ESRB continues to aggressively pursue opportunities that present consumers, especially parents, with information about the tools at their disposal.

The ESRB rating system includes six age-based rating categories: EC (Early Childhood) for ages 3+; E (Everyone) for ages 6+; E10+ (Everyone 10 and older); T (Teen) for ages 13+; M (Mature) for ages 17+; and AO (Adults Only) which indicates that the game should only be played by adults age 18 and older. The rating is found on the front of virtually every game sold at retail in the U.S. The rating system also includes over 30 content descriptors, found next to the rating on the back of game packages, which describe content in the game that may be of interest or concern to parents or may have triggered a rating category, including violence, sexual content, language, use or depiction of controlled substances, and gambling.

# # #

About Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
The ESRB is a non-profit, self-regulatory body established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). ESRB independently assigns computer and video game content ratings, enforces advertising guidelines, and helps ensure responsible online privacy practices for the interactive entertainment software industry.

About The Parenting Group
The Parenting Group delivers over 15 million mom impressions and 20 million consumer touchpoints every month to the valuable mom market. Its two flagship brands are Parenting, the nation’s premier magazine for moms, and the Babytalk portfolio, which includes the monthly Babytalk magazine and its siblings Babytalk First Months and Babytalk Mom-to-Be. The Parenting Group's other extensions include: Parenting.com; MomConnection®, an online research tool; and a custom content unit. The Parenting Group is a division of Bonnier Corporation.

Blake convinced his folks (that is, "We couldn't take the complaining anymore," said his mom) to let him drop out last September. They hired in-home tutors to continue his education there, at least, but there's no doubt priority number one is Guitar Hero. There's a vaguely defined goal of Blake playing it professionally, either through Major League Gaming or by winning prizes in a national and international competitions. But so far he's only made about $1,000, most of that value realized in meals and other freebies won at local competitions. The other pro gamer the reporter contacted for this story said he's cashed in about $25,000 in his entire career.

The description of Blake's room, his interests (or lack thereof) , and his folks' decision to let him do this just ... well, they don't make anyone look good. It would be one thing if the guy was a bona fide music or athletic prodigy. However quixotic a career in either field might be for the majority who pursue it, at least there's a long history of it paying off if you are that good enough. But Blake's never touched a real guitar (cue up the get-a-life bait). He didn't seem interested in much of anything in high school (a Christian academy where his parents had enrolled him) and wheedled his way out of going by complaining that it was a waste of time. (That line should sound very familiar to my folks. If only playing Master of the Lamps on the Commodore 64 could have won me some free Chik-Fil-A. I might have had better luck.)

You gotta read it to believe it, and nearly three weeks after it was first published, it is still one of The News & Observer's top e-mailed stories. Try to keep it civil in the comments, gang, especially if you aren't a parent. I'm not, but I'll admit this blows my mind.

Update: Reader yoagner. points us to an .mp3 of an American Public Media feature on Blake. The story's page is here.

'Guitar Hero' Whiz Aiming Higher [The (Raleigh N.C.) News & Observer, via davelozo.com, thanks tooji]

(Also: Don't tip me on my commenter page, as I check it infrequently. If you've got a tip, send it to me at owen@kotaku.com on the weekends, or tips@kotaku.com for the rest of the staff midweek.)

Seriously, there was a kid in Missouri who destroyed a vacuum cleaner in order to play video games. I'm betting at least one BOB's power cord, locked or not, gets introduced to a pair of scissors. AND THEN WHO'S GONNA BE THE BAD GUY????

Can you believe the "Today" show touted this as "fun stuff for summer?" You mean something that deactivates the fun stuff I do in the summer? Honestly, I'm wondering if I can reverse engineer BOB to not shut off my TV. Because I have Netflix and Gamefly rentals piling up while I do stuff like THA LAUNDRY, and DINNER, and CLEANING MY TOILET.

BOB— The Screentime Controller [usebob.com, hat tip to Richard Blakeley for the video again]

By the way, whenever you see me type all caps, you should imagine a monster trucks voice — Owen

My 13 year old managed to break the vacuum....thinking it would release him from that duty. He also has a list of other chores that were TYPED up for him to do Friday afternoon....one thing on the list was done...mind you these are simple things...empty the trash, clean your room, etc. Then I go thru the cookies on his computer and find out he has been checking out porn sites. Now there is a password so he can't even get on and his my-space page has a picture of snoopy on it now. Apparently I'm the meanest mom in the world, were his words.

I'm a single mom. I can't let them walk over me or I might never get up.

This is the subject matter that Turner tackles in her recent rant/article on The Times website. Although her article is titled "Xbox is crack for Kids" she mostly complains about general media and technology and how to (or not to) regulate "screen time" for her kids and how this is a seemingly impossible task. She saves her most venomous words for video games which she attacks with vehemence in the last paragraph:

Once, such kids would be the playground outcasts, but no longer. Mine are. Because, unlike the TV-hating parents, I refuse to buy them portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s. These are Satan's Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators' brains. And they play them - beepety-beep - on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.

And their parents never seem to say, hey, this is the bit where you pick up a book. Or game over, kids: get an inner life.

Several Times readers were quick to come forward and refute Turner's claims and point out that within her article she even states that "I don't have the resolve for all this." How can someone complain of the negative effects of media on their children when they admit that they can't be bothered to make the effort to control it themselves? Times reader Marcus hit the nail right on the head with his comment:

Ahhh videogames. The source of all evil. Again. I'm guessing Janice you've never ever played one. I regulate my kids TV time very strictly - about 4 hours a week presently. But I let them play Super Mario Galaxy (as part of that time). It is a joyous, wondrous world of colour and fun and inspires them to draw pictures, write stories and play 'Mario' outside. So what exactly is the problem with that?

The problem you have by the sounds of it, is that you are laying blame at the door of the easiest scapegoat and not your own deficiencies as a parent.

It's the age old saga, parents complaining about something they just don't understand and heaven knows they aren't going to try. The whole piece just reeks of someone who discovered too late that if you are going to try and regiment your kid's media time, it has to be done from the beginning. You can't just decide this would be a good idea after eight to ten years and then only half heartedly try to enforce it. Just like the never ending debate over video game violence, the problem of too much media time for kids lies squarely on the doorstep of the parents. The onus, Miss Turner, is on you.

Xbox is crack for kids [The Times]
[Thanks, zany_ninja]

However, be aware that the ESRB's "T" rating for "Lyrics" and "Mild Suggestive Themes" is no joke. The songs in the game deal with traditionally edgy themes of rock music, ranging from the sexually suggestive ... to the occult

Or on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare:

As you might expect from a game designed to evoke the intensity of a battlefield, the action is frenetic and often presents situations where the player is under fire from all sides. The blood and gore, though not gratuitous, is prevalent throughout. Bullets tear through body armor and into flesh, explosions throw combatants around like rag dolls, and corpses litter the battlefield in the aftermath of each skirmish.

What They Play [via Game Politics]

We'd prefer a campaign titled, "Get Off Your Ass And Parent," but this will do just fine for the time being. Still, we can't help but wonder, once again, why the ESRB didn't adopt the movie rating system already in place and eliminate the need for such ads altogether.

Street Fighter II sound effects make everything funnier! But this poor, poor child. Hopefully, it came back in the next round and KO'd the dude with a Spinning Bird Kick. Pro tip: don't let your young ones go wandering around break dancers. Hence the term "BREAK DANCERS." Brian Ashcraft

SF 2 Vs. Baby [YouTube via Joystiq]

Some of our readers have bred, which might or might not be a good thing. But, it does give them an understanding of what gaming is, that it's not bad or evil. The Guardian points to a gaming parent post written by the mother of a 16 year-old son. It details how Super Mario 64, Halo and PG-13 rated trash talk has brought them closer. There's From the post:

I played badly at first but I would sneak into his room at night while he was asleep to practice and hone my skills. His gaming time was limited because he was young and reading and learning were more important at his age; each night we would play for an hour and on weekends a couple of hours per day. We would take turns on the controller. I would usually only play if he was having a hard time getting through something. We each would have our attempts at defeating the unbeatable bosses. I shared in the excitement when after 20 grueling tries he would finally beat a level or boss and I would bask in the hugs, kisses and pride when I beat a level or boss he could not defeat. And yes I even spent late nights while he slept looking for hints and walk-throughs.

How sweet. The post is gooey, schmaltzy and slightly heavy handed — Important words are put in bold to drive home the point. Still, it's really nice to see this kind of stuff. What about Kotaku-land? Anyone game with their children or parents? Brian Ashcraft

Gaming Parents [2old2play via The Guardian]

Wired's Clive Thompson called me up a few weeks back to talk to me about how I deal with Tristan playing video games. My 5-year-old son, for those of you who don't know, has written game reviews, play tested hardware and jammed with me on Guitar Hero.

I treat video games like I do television and movies, I restrict how much and what kind of games he can play.

As you'd expect, I found that joystick-wielding parents are much better than Hillary Clinton at parsing the nuances in various types of combat games. Brian Crecente, the editor of game blog Kotaku, takes an approach that most gamer parents described to me: They treat games as they would movies. If they're too adult in content for his 5-year-old son, he won't let his child even watch them being played.

"Everybody knows, as an adult, that the world is not always a nice place," Crecente told me. "But I don't want him to know that yet. I want him to have a childhood." So he disallows games with "realistic" combat, like World War II titles, or Resistance: Fall of Man, but permits highly cartoony shooting, like Starfox on the Nintendo DS — since he regards it as essentially as abstract as playing cops and robbers with your fingers as guns.

Thompson's boss Chris Anderson uses the Lego Rule, the same rule that the company uses to make their games.

The Lego Company, it seems, has a policy of not producing toys that replicate 20th century weapons. "You can have swords, and you can have laser guns in space, but no actual 20th century guns," Anderson says. So his four children can play games like Halo, since it contains only futuristic, fantasy war, where you're killing only green- or blue-blooded aliens. The same goes for Roman swordplay titles. "But it clearly walls off Grand Theft Auto."

Thompson said he plans to use a mix of my policy and Anderson's for his own child. What's your take on child rearing and games? Brian Crecente

You Grew Up Playing Shoot'em-Up Games. Why Can't Your Kids? [Wired]

Ass-pinchin', booze-hound Tomonobu Itagaki sits down with 1Up and talks up a good interview. He discusses last year's console launches and is very open about Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, which was met with a frosty reception. Standout Itagaki quote:

In our house, my daughter was playing DOAX2 almost exclusively, playing volleyball and playing Kokoro and getting all her swimsuits. But as soon as the Wii came to the house she's been playing Tennis. And she plays tennis in real life, she can return a serve from an adult, so I've just been seeing her playing tennis a lot.

Is it because this is coming from Itagaki that this remark seems so dirty? Must be! Brian Ashcraft

Big Itagaki Interview [1Up]

Senator Joe Lieberman and NILF founder David Walsh presented the 11th Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card today. The report card grades how well retailers and parents work towards making sure their kids are playing the right games. Retailers and console developers got the big thumbs up this year. Guess who didn't.

"While improvements have been made by the video game industry and retailers, parental involvement received an "Incomplete" as surveys showed too few parents following the ESRB's [Entertainment Software Ratings Board] ratings and parental controls on gaming consoles."

This is proof that the failing lies with adults who either don't know or don't care what their children play, at least until they start shooting other children. Then it's time to sue a game developer. Crecente needn't be concerned over the NIMF's game watch list. It's not like parents are going to read it. Michael Fahey

Lieberman Targets Video Game Industry [NewsMax.com - Thanks Hank]

In this Apple-thieving Sears commercial, wee Conner tells us how much he digs like, Need for Speed, and also like, Halo and Halo 2. The latter are, of course, M-rated.

The tipper who wrote in about this was incensed that Conner could buy games that "no one else would sell him", and natters worriedly about the Jackass Army "licking their chops" at this blatant "corporate irresponsibility".

Is this what we've bred? The assumption that Conner's parents could not possibly have purchased these games, and the Xbox, for him? That he has the money to acquire these things far from their protective gaze?

I call bullshit. Halo is no worse that what you see on the History Channel, and this paranoia is getting on my nerves. If you're worried about your kids seeing things you don't want them to see, which they always have and always will, equip them with the right tools to deal with it.

It is not the responsibility of Sears or even the ESRB to determine what's right for your kid. They can offer some help as guides, sure, but ultimately it's up to you. And even then, you only have so much control. Eliza Gauger

Here's a product designed for over-protective, lazy parents of lazy children. Called the Game Guardian, it is a cabinet for the PS2 that is designed for people who are addicted to video games. Set the clock, and when the timer is up, the PlayStation 2 shuts off. The product is made by a British company Argos, whose website at the time of writing is down. Chalk that up to some timer going off. Brian Ashcraft

Game Guardian [iStuff Korea, Thanks Torokun!]

There's this "new trend afoot" where video games are getting active. Fortunately, cutting-edge tech and gaming mag Parenting is all over it. In their latest issue the glossy for the pregnant set looks at four games that get your kids off their ass on on their feet to (gasp) play games.

The article takes a quick look at Dance Dance Revolution, the Eye Toy, Donkey Konga and Nintendogs. Apparently, Parenting magazine is exactly one year behind the times. Expect the mag's next video game expose to hit next year when it looks at something called "high-definition gaming." Brian Crecente

Video Games Come Alive [Parenting, thanks Dirk]

Passing the Joystick to a New Generation [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Adult Gamers and their Ulterior Motives [Slashdot]