If you go to ESRB, this site provides parents with straightforward and clear expectations of what to expect in a videogame. For example, a game called The Saboteur was recently released and this is the description of the game as found on ESRB’s web site:

Should this type of clear and frank description be mandatory by law on the OUTSIDE PACKAGING of the video game boxes so that parents and / or all customers are fully aware of what they are getting themselves into when they buy this game — in the same way that cigarette boxes are now equipped with gruesome images and messages?

What might these video game warning labels look like?

Noob (n.): Gamer slang for a new, inexperienced player

As gamer and a writer who’s also a Dad, one of the things I don’t get to write a lot about is my relationship with my kids and the things I’m learning about gaming, kids and how to find a balance between sharing my love of gaming with them and not turning them into addicts who spend most of their lives staring into a screen like — well, like their Dad.

That’s why I was thrilled when L.A. Parent magazine asked me to be a guest blogger at I Don’t Have Time for This, Editor Carolyn Graham’s official blog for the magazine. They asked me to put up a “basket of kittens” which is three little mini-reviews all on a similar theme. This time I did a thing on movie games — and trying to find three movie games that weren’t terrible wasn’t easy. You can check it out here.

With that in mind, I also wanted to quickly put up a list of 10 things I always want to shout at parents whenever I see them wandering about cluelessly in a GameStop. It’s not their fault, really. If you’re immersed in the culture, it’s tough to realize just how weird an intimidating and alien gaming looks like from the outside. Add to that the time pressure of modern life and the fact that kids are quiet while playing the games, it’s no surprise that most parents just choose to ignore the world of gaming despite the fact that it’s now so ubiquitous that it’s become the lingua franca of childhood. That’s a mistake. As parents, you need to know what your kids are playing and what they’re into. If it’s important to them, it should be important to you.

Still, if you don’t know your Mario from your Master Chief, these little tips should help:

1. Know your ESRB ratings!

This is a-number one the single most important tips for a parent. Look in the lower left hand corner of any game box and you’ll see a little white box. There’s a rating system similar to the movies that lets you know what age groups the game is recommended for. I’m not going to going into all the details here (you can get everything at the official ESRB Web site) but here’s a quick guide: Most games are rated E or E10+. that’s approximately a G or PG rating. If you see an M, that means “mature” — roughly the equivalent of an “R” rated movie. If you see an “AO” I don’t want to know what shop you’re in because those are the gaming equivalents of porn and most retailers won’t carry them.

2. Check the screens on the back of the box!

Game companies aren’t exactly shy about advertising what’s in their titles. The blurb on the back of the box will usually give you a pretty good indication of what’s inside and if that isn’t enough, look at the screen shots. If something in them gives you pause — a disturbing monster, a scene of bloody violence, a character dressed in a skimpy outfit, the rest of the game doesn’t get any better. Game companies put their most provocative stuff right out on the box for a reason — it sells.

3. Do some research.

In the age of the Internet, there’s simply no excuse for not knowing what kinds of games you’re bringing in your house. Games are extensively previewed and written about for months and sometimes years before they’re released. A quick perusal of a site like GameSpotwill load you down with everything you need to make a purchase decision. One site I particularly like is What They Play, a guide to games for parents.

4. Set time limits!

This is a biggie. Like any other form of entertainment, videogames can fill as much time in your kids lives as you allow them to. So don’t. Have kids schedule their game time the same way they would schedule anything else. How much time you allow them is up to you as a parent but what we’ve found works best in our house is a couple of hours on Sunday morning and that’s it for the week. That way Lily, David and I can look forward to “our” game time while mommy’s still sleeping.

5. Let your kids save their games!

This goes along with number 4, but it’s important. When time for playing games is up, it’s up. Don’t ever just shut off your kid’s game though. Give them five minutes or so to save their game, warn them and stand over them while they do it. Nothing gets a gamer more upset than losing progress in a game because it wasn’t saved. Give your kids a few minutes leeway and you’ll find it’s much easier for them to stick to their time limits.

6. Try some games out yourself.

Don’t worry about looking clueless — you will. There’s nothing a gamer like more than sharing their passion for games though and you’ll definitely score a few points if you’re willing to try out their favorite games. Ask to start on a tutorial level (almost all games have them) and be willing to ask your kids for advice (and ignore it). You might even want to fire up the games they’re playing after they go to bed just to see what kinds of images they’re exposed to.I know you’re tired, but why not TIVO Dancing With The Stars in favor of being aware of what’s in your house?

7. Don’t surprise your kids with a game as a gift.

This is a biggie. Games aren’t fungible. If you don’t know exactly what game your kid wants, don’t buy it. Gamers have definite ideas about what they want and will often plan purchases months in advance. In the same vein, if you go looking for a specific game, be sure to bring home that game. Don’t listen to the sales clerk that holds up another box and tells you that “This is just like that game, only better!” It isn’t and it’s not.

8. Be aware of games with a significant online component.

Even if a game has no objectionable content, be aware that many games these days have significant online components — even consoles. Players can now play with real people from around the world and that means that kids need to exercize the same level of Internet safety and awareness playing Halo ODST as they would while surfing the ‘Net on a PC. No personal information should be revealed, no phone numbers, no locations, no real names and if something uncomfortable happens, they need to tell you immediately. Ask them to remember people’s Xbox Live Gamertags or PSN IDs!

9. Monitor your credit cards!

The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 both have excellent online services that allow gamers to immediately buy new games, videos and downloadable content online. Be sure you know which of your credit cards these services are attached to and monitor them. Since these services charge “points” rather than actual dollar totals, it’s really easy for kids to forget they’re spending real money.

10. Monitor trashtalk and teach your kids to be good sports.

Gamers have a tradition called “trash talking” where they make fun of and try to “psyche out” an opponent by distracting them with insults. How much of this you allow is up to you, but if you allow it at all, make sure your kids understand that this is all in good fun and that feelings should never be hurt over a game. Trashtalking should never extend beyond the game and shouldn’t cross the line from mocking someone’s playing skills (“You shoot like may Grandma!”) to the personal. Finally, when all is said and done, players need to be good sports. That means being good winners and good losers and telling opponents “GG” (Good Game) when you’re finished.

Let’s just assume for a minute that it’s an ideal world, where parents keep a watchful eye on the video games their kids are playing.

If that’s the case, it’s great news that Sony plans to load a video game ratings guide directly onto the PSP, through a partnership with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

The guide explains the meaning behind ESRB ratings, along with movie ratings from the MPAA. It also provides a walkthrough for setting up parental controls on the PSP Go.

While it’d be great to see this functionality on all gaming consoles, it’s especially important to the PSP Go. The handheld gaming device, coming October 1, doesn’t support physical media, so every bit of content is downloaded directly onto the console.

That means no game boxes, unless you plan to buy download vouchers from Gamestop. While resources such as WhatTheyPlay, Gaming With Children and the ESRB’s own Web site are already available to parents who actively get involved with their kids’ gaming, the rating on the box remains the most convenient way of knowing what games are appropriate.

Packing a ratings guide onto the PSP Go isn’t just useful to parents, it’s a clever move by the games industry to head off inevitable criticism. Once politicians and other video game alarmists realize the box has gone away, they’ll target the PSP Go for providing easy access to explicit materials. When that happens, Sony and the ESRB can point to this ratings guide and say they did the best they could.

Así es chavalines, la ESRB ha revelado una vez mas los próximos PSOne Classics que serán estrenados en corto en la PlayStation Store, lamentablemente no tenemos fechas de salida aún, pero aquí la lista de los títulos:

• Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
• Cool Boarders 3
• International Track & Field
• Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus
• Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
• Pandemonium!
• Syphon Filter 2
• Um Jammer Lammy

Haver para cuando salen. Por cierto, ¿ya se bajaron el tema animado de Sackboy para su nuevo Firmware?, solo $3 dólares aprovechen, ¿que detalle no? ¬¬ Era para que lo regalaran, pinche Sony codo.

[Fuente: Joystiq]

This is the official ESRB rating for Brutal Legend. With hope, it will appear on the back of the box, right next to the ‘M’.

Brütal Legend

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Rating: Mature

Content descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes

Rating summary: This is an action adventure/role-playing game that tells the story of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who is transported to a mythical world of heavy metal rock. Eddie is armed with a guitar and a double-headed axe, which players can use to slash and dismember enemies. Players can also perform “face-melting solos” (literally melting enemies’ faces), meet humanoid creatures dressed like dominatrixes and brandishing whips, and liberate an army of rockers from a life of oppression. Although the storyline is often irreverent and whimsical, the depictions of violence are somewhat intense: Undead humanoids are dismembered with an axe (sometimes in slow-motion); a “Steel-Quilled Blade” causes human enemies to explode into gibs that rain down; machine guns, missile launchers, and sub woofers can be used to kill druids and other fantastical creatures. Eddie can also run over dozens of enemies with his hot rod, resulting in blood effects and more heads and limbs getting chopped off. During the course of the game, characters sometimes engage in suggestive dialogue intended for comedic effect (e.g., “Maybe with all your feedback, you guys could just blow me over the gorge” and “Playtime’s over. Now let’s get back to the orgy”). Players will also encounter “Skull Rakers” clad in bondage gear and amazon-like warriors dressed in leather outfits that partially reveal buttocks and breasts. Strong profanity (e.g., “f*ck,” “sh*t,” and “d*ck”) can be heard in the dialogue.

I’ve got this pre-ordered.  It’s going to rock.

Thanks, Kotaku.

O SporePrograms encontrou detalhes no site da ESRB sobre o Spore Creature Keeper, indicando que o jogo também foi classificado para o Nintendo DS. Apesar de que pode ser apenas um erro, talvez, o jogo também irá ser lançado para o Nintendo DS, e só o tempo irá dizer.

Spore Creature Keeper será o mais recente jogo da série Spore para PCs. Vale lembrar que o Creature Keeper NÃO é uma expansão para o Spore, e sim, apenas um jogo.

Join Lyfeliek, Scotsman, and Xcalybr for roleplaying and commentary! We answer an email, play RPG, and involve the community. Topics discussed are Batman: Arkham Asylum, Xcalybr being “DEAD” to Zeiram, ESA Ratings changes, Wolfenstein, PS3 cross-game voice chat, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Backward Compatibility, GRIN, and much more.

• Intro Music Composed By gamertag “TheHoleyMoley”
• Featured Interlude Music- Bionic Commando(2009)
• RPG Music From Enchanted Arms, FF9, and FFX
• Outro Music “Over Now” by Alice In Chains
• System Requirements Lab

We appreciate the feedback, so keep it coming! We’d love to have comments here or to the address, plus, submit news stories with roles you’d love to see us shoved into. We really need your support to help get this thing off the ground! Contact us at TheGamesmenRPG@gmail.com or simply comment below!

Direct Download | The Gamesmen On iTunes (01:14:34)

You know, once upon a time, I thought that there was a real significant difference between the major political parties in this country. As I’ve gotten older however, I’ve learned that what unites them is far greater than what seperates them and what unites them is best summed up in the immortal words of River Tam in Serenity — they’re meddlers. The details of what they want to meddle in vary. Republicans seem to hate that people have sex, Democrats seem to hate that people have money and both of them do their level best to stop it from happening. Case in point: the FCC is considering imposing a single content rating system.

The irony here is that the leader of this particular movement is a Democrat, though anyone paying attention really shouldn’t be surprised. For all their reputations as moral scolds and bluenoses, it’s been Democrats,not Republicans, who have led the crusades against gaming. Whether this is because the Democrats think they can pick up a few cheap “family values” points against a politically weak constituency or because Republicans are generally clueless when it comes to technology and the culture I’m not sure. If I had to hazard a guess I’d say it’s probably a bit of both.

The worst part about this is that this is exactly what the ESRB rating system and the ESA were founded to prevent — and man oh man, don’t we miss Doug Lowenstein! By all accounts, the ESRB system is fair, relatively well managed and pretty easily understood — though they could do a better job on outreach. For the chuckleheads at the FCC however, I guess that simply wasn’t good enough. I guess a bureaucrat’s hands get itchy unless they’re regulating everything in sight so now comes yet another ham-fisted government attempt to put safety rails around existence. That’s why I’ve reach the “pox on both your houses” stage with both major parties. When it comes to voting, I look for an “I” for “Incumbent” and then vote for their opponent.

Les pongo el nuevo Top Ten de ventas que la ESRB ha sacado.

1. Wii Sports Resort
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Cartoon Violence

2. NCAA Football 10
Platform: Xbox 360
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

3. NCAA Football 10
Platform: Playstation 3
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

4. Wii Fit*
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

5. Mario Kart
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

6. Mario Kart DS
Platform: Nintendo DS
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

7. Pokemon Platinum Version
Platform: Nintendo DS
TEEN
No Descriptors

8. Fight Night Round 4
Platform: Xbox 360
TEEN
Mild Blood, Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

9. New Super Mario Bros.
Platform: Nintendo DS
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

10. EA Sports Active
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

Come celebrate the “Metroid Prime-a-palooza”! Join Lyfeliek and Xcalybr for roleplaying and commentary! We answer an email, play RPG, and involve the community. Topics discussed are DLC innovations, PS3 Slim, PS3 price cuts, Backward Compatibility, GRIN, and much more.

• Intro Music Composed By gamertag “TheHoleyMoley”
• Featured Interlude Music- Metroid Prime Trilogy
• RPG Music From Metroid Prime Trilogy
• Outro Music “Over Now” by Alice In Chains

We appreciate the feedback, so keep it coming! We’d love to have comments here or to the address, plus, submit news stories with roles you’d love to see us shoved into. We really need your support to help get this thing off the ground! Contact us at TheGamesmenRPG@gmail.com or simply comment below!

Direct Download | The Gamesmen On iTunes (01:22:15)

The first game purchase I made when I turned 17 was Fallout 3. I’d heard many intoxicating things about Bethesda’s game of the year opal – my parents wouldn’t let me play it before I was legally allowed to purchase it on my own because they are principally opposed to the maturity granted by an ‘M’ rating. Excited by the prospect of things once withheld, I ran out to buy Fallout the first moment I could.

Fallout chronicles an alternate universe designed for exploration, one that wonders how the world may have changed had World War II gone a little differently, potentially dogging us down in a morose variation on the 50s. It is a sullen wasteland full of unsavory people who all seem to hold an antagonizing social-darwinist attitude. The environment wavers between self-serious and visually humorous, and often I felt confused as to how I was supposed to feel. I was shooting feral ghouls while tapping my foot to a big band ensemble, watching their limbs fly off in different directions. It was thematically pretty stark, but with a sort of humorous undertone guiding it all, like some sort of melodramatic teenager (hello).

There’s so much to discover in Fallout. Bethesda blows me away with the attention to detail and scope of the mini Washington DC they’ve created. Though the recreations of landmarks are often not picture perfect, they are refreshingly off the heels of The Conduit, where High Voltage used the setting as crass enticement, like some sort of bullet point. These recreations are mostly pretty fleshed out, and the interaction with them feels more intimate. I can walk inside most buildings and wonder what they might have looked like even without knowing what they once were, and there’s something awesomely curious about looking up at ceiling of the Capitol building and wondering how that giant hole got there. The entire mall is an oasis for imagining what might have happened, what this all might have looked like. And the Washington Monument is a reminder of it all; visible from nearly everywhere, it’s a beacon for damage done.

Environment is a key calling card of Fallout 3 – without the abundant detail and meticulous renderings Fallout 3 would have a hard time garnering much journalistic or critical buzz. From the moment you are released into the world you can see how rich the landscape is with consumable content: fetch quests, new items, stat-boosts, and new companions are all waiting for you.

Once I ripped that all away, though, and had spent a good 30 hours exploring, I didn’t want any more. That was enough. Every bit of interaction in Fallout is all pre-scripted, all planned out with definite answers that boil down to yes or no propositions. Dialogue trees are a way of pretending that the player has choice in a video game – like a veneer to a real experience. I was tired of dusting off the world Bethesda had made for me. I didn’t want to act out any more of the script, I wanted to direct it. I’ve ignored the main quest completely because it was the most pre-scripted of them all. Project Purity will save humanity? I don’t want to save humanity. We should have killed ourselves in the war, let me finish the job. But the game wouldn’t let me do that. I can’t kill anyone the game says I can’t kill, anyone the game deems integral to my experience.

That kind of experience is fundamentally frustrating and unbecoming of the notion of an “open-world”. Fallout is such a sprawl that there’s nothing really substantial to be had of the experience; everything is spread so thinly far out that nothing is particularly satisfying. I helped a town out by working out an agreement between aggressors, but so what? The game told me I was going to do that. All I did was press some buttons and wade through some text. It was either going to happen or it wasn’t, and it did because I said yes.

This isn’t an open world, this is a confined world, one with very strict parameters. Any action I take must be guided by the inclined programmer, and without his direction I can’t have any experience at all. Let me decide what’s integral to my experience. I want to direct, not act. Give me a place where my actions will create a narrative, not where I can watch what you want me to see. Create an experience for me that sublimates my actions into something constructive and telling, where my choices create the nature of the experience. I’m tired of playing out your fantasies.

Otra semana que pasa y otro Top Ten que nos da la ESRB.

1. Prototype
Platform: Xbox 360
MATURE
Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

2. UFC 2009: Undisputed
Platform: Xbox 360
TEEN
Alcohol Reference, Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

3. EA Sports Active
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10*
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

5. Wii Fit
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

6. Fight Night Round 4
Platform: Xbox 360
TEEN
Mild Blood, Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

7. Fight Night Round 4
Platform: Playstation 3
TEEN
Mild Blood, Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

8. Mario Kart
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

9. Red Faction: Guerrilla
Platform: Xbox 360
MATURE
Blood, Strong Language, Violence

10. Infamous
Platform: Playstation 3
TEEN
Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

There’s no rating system for IF games as regards content. This is a problem.

I’m a firm believer that you should be aware of what you’re getting into before you get into it. That’s part of the bond between writer and reader, between musician and audience, and between friends, and spouses. You say, “Would you like A?” and then you give them “A”. You don’t hide important information from people that would allow them to make their own decisions, and force them to either purchase or play your game before they know what’s inside. That’s simply arrogant and obnoxious behavior.

I think it’s plain that the MPAA movie ratings do NOT work. What a rated “R” movie is has shifted over the years, gradually accepting more and more vile content, as have the other categories, so that you cannot go to see an R-rated movie and know genuinely what to expect.

We need a different way. It should be simple and it should be encouraged; if the author does not want to assign a rating (or does so dishonestly), I think it’s fair that the first site that archives or reviews the game assigns the rating. Furthermore, this wouldn’t be an arbitrary decision, as the ratings system would be plain and clear for everyone to see. That is the fundamental weakness with the MPAA system; it is based on “community standards”. What “community standards” the secret cabal of randomly-chosen California residents have are apparently pretty darn low.

Now of course, no game will be censored by this, because only the government can forbid publication or distribution of something. However if a site doesn’t want to review a game because it has such-and-such content, then of course, these ratings enable it to do so. Much like any company chooses what they carry or any individual chooses what to buy — the end decision is no different. All ratings do is help people to find and play games that they like instead of being nastily surprised.

And as an author, I’ve struggled with this, too. How do I provide fair warning for those who will come across my games years from now? How do I tell people — this is what you should expect, so they’re not gagging or scarred for life? Don’t I owe it to them as a content provider? It is my responsibility as someone gifted with words to state clearly what my works are about.

Originally I thought of making a system that would explicitly categorize all sorts of generally offensive material, but then I surfed over to the ESRB site. I think they’ve done about as good a job as could be done. Not only that, but since IF games are what we are discussing (and all IF is a game in the loosest possible construction of the word) then it’s only fitting that we use a rating content for games.

Join Lyfeliek and Scotsman for roleplaying and commentary! We’re back to a complete format this week, and we are involving the community! We answer our second audio email, play RPG, and listen to featured music from Devil may Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening. Topics discussed are Project Natal, our in-game names, PS3 manufacturing costs, another Resident Evil movie, World of Warcraft counseling, and much more.

• Intro Music Composed By gamertag “TheWholeyMoley”
• Featured Interlude Music- Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening
• RPG Music From FF4, Baten Kaitos Origins, Enchanted Arms, Dark Cloud 2, and FFX
• Outro Music “Over Now” by Alice In Chains

We appreciate the feedback, so keep it coming! We’d love to have comments here or to the address, plus, submit news stories with roles you’d love to see us shoved into. We really need your support to help get this thing off the ground! Contact us at TheGamesmenRPG@gmail.com or simply comment below!

Also, listen to find out how you can enter the Uncharted 2 Navarro skin giveaway!

Direct Download | The Gamesmen On iTunes (01:06:01)

1. Prototype
Platform: Xbox 360
MATURE
Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

2. UFC 2009: Undisputed
Platform: Xbox 360
TEEN
Alcohol Reference, Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

3. EA Sports Active
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10*
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
No Descriptors

5. Wii Fit
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

6. Fight Night Round 4
Platform: Xbox 360
TEEN
Mild Blood, Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

7. Fight Night Round 4
Platform: Playstation 3
TEEN
Mild Blood, Mild Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

8. Mario Kart
Platform: Nintendo Wii
EVERYONE
Comic Mischief

9. Red Faction: Guerrilla
Platform: Xbox 360
MATURE
Blood, Strong Language, Violence

10. Infamous
Platform: Playstation 3
TEEN
Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

sorry i recently could not get any other videos on exciting  new games. but i  just found some more fore you. remember this site is not just for concept art for video games. ( even though most of it is)      .    i will still post video game cheats, walk throughs , and information on new releases and news and previews.  sometime i will probably have a page for reviews . remember though . if you want these things please comment. oh and if you have any requests or suggestions on any other updates topics and  things that i can  improve on my blog/site. please tell me!!!

Yeah, I had posted earlier that I would be participating in the JayIsGames IF contest (over here), but it’s taken all that time for me to come up with a good idea. Yeah, a one-room contest with the theme of escape is not as easy to do as I thought, but I prevailed and will unleash my game! Mhu hah hah! I also came up with some other cool ideas that had a small number of rooms but didn’t really fit the theme, and at least one really cool idea that fit the number of rooms requirement, but wouldn’t hit the T rating. Think lots of blood, not perviness.

And oh, the name of the game? Zegrothenus. Repeat the word slowly over and over, as in sentences like this one: Zegrothenus will totally destroy in ‘10! Zegrothenus owns your free time. Zegrothenus…well, you get the idea.

And why did I decide to enter a contest, given my feelings on contests? Two answers: this contest features real prizes and it’s not held by the insular IF community. The latter makes all the difference in the world and the latter is nice to have.

I am SO in.

Während in den USA schon an der Umsetzung gearbeitet und  Obamas Vorschlägen im Repräsentantenhaus zugestimmt wird, ist sich die EU wieder einmal nicht einig, wie kräftig eine Finanzmarktaufsicht mit Kompetenzen ausgestattet werden soll.

Folgendes ist geplant:                                                                                                    ESRB – Europäischer Ausschuss für Systemrisken – besetzt mit Vertretern von der EZB, den Notenbanken aller Mitgliedsstaaten, der EU Kommission und von den Mikro-Aufsichtsorganen (Europ. Aufsicht von Banken, Versicherungen, Wertpapieren). Aufgabe ist es, Risken aufzuspüren, die über nationale Grenzen und einzelnen Aufsichtsbehörden hinaus gehen. Das ESRB soll seine Wirkungen durch Warnungen und Empfehlungen kund tun. Diese sind aber nicht bindend.

ESFS – Europäisches System der Finanzaufsicht – besteht aus dem Netzwerk der nationalen Aufsichtsbehörden sowie aus drei neuen europäischen Behörden ( EBA – Bankenaufsicht/ESMA – Wertpapieraufsicht/EIOPA – Pensions-und Versicherungsaufsicht). Diese Behörden sollen aber nur dann eingreifen, wo nationale Behörden nicht oder schlecht agieren können.

Also nur in Extremfällen sollen europäische Aufsichtsbehörden auch in die Tätigkeit nationaler Behörden eingreifen dürfen. So ist der Plan, wie, wann und in welcher Form  diese neue europäische Finanzmarktkontrolle kommt, steht noch in den Sternen.

As much as I think Mortal Kombat was/is a pretty shitty fighting game, it deserves our attention.  For those of us in the Capcom or SNK school of fighting games Mortal Kombat always seemed pretty stripped down.  Every character had identical regular moves and were only differentiated by their specials and fatalities.  Out of 7 total characters, two of them even looked identical.  I’ll get to the fatalities in a bit, but mostly Mortal Kombat made for a pretty shallow fighting game compared to its competition.  And, I guess, what’s even more striking about Mortal Kombat is that the franchise stayed this way for some time but maintained a level of popularity that is more or less completely incongruent with most other Acclaim/Midway titles.  I don’t know many gamers who would consider the Midway logo as much more than a seal of mediocrity.  Sort of like the Nintendo Seal of Quality today (burn).

So many choices! Decidedly less stereotypes, though! Progress?

The original Mortal Kombat for SNES was a big deal, though.  I remember crowding around the TV the first time a friend rented this game.  I would have been in grade 4 or 5.  There were so many rumors about the game floating around in our tiny, misinformed heads:

“I hear this game is SUPER GORY“.

“Yeah, but Nintendo are a bunch of pussies and made the blood look like sweat! Pussies!”

“I hear on Sega you can see Sonya’s boobies!”

“Oh yeah?  I heard that in the arcade version you can do sex with her!”

“Cool!!!” (awkward boners abound)

“I heard that there’s a code to make it even more bloody!”

“Chris’ brother heard from a magazine that if your parents split up they’ll each buy you this game to prove that they love you!”

“No way!”

I actually wrote a completely different review before thinking about the ways that Mortal Kombat has been influential.  Just think about your life with Video Games at the age of 10.  If you were a console kid like I was, you probably had your Ninja Turtles, Double Dragon, Mario, Ninja Gaiden, Tetris… I dunno.  Ducktails?  For many of us Mortal Kombat was the first Hyperviolent game we ever played.  Everything before this was cartoony.  Even though the greyish-brown bio-chunks that flew out of fighters in the Super Nintendo version didn’t look like blood, our imagination certainly filled in the gaps just fine. But here were people, digitally rendered and motion captured, being impaled by spikes, set on fire, having their spinal cords ripped out.  And it was happening in our living room.  Even if you were from a family with a computer, Wolfenstein came out the same year as Mortal Kombat.  Doom came out in 1993.  Sure, some PC games had covered serious subjects like rape and brutal violence before, but few games were as accessible to enterprising kids as this holy trinity of gore.

Certainly, by today’s standards, Mortal Kombat is pretty tame.  After playing games like Soldier of Fortune where each body part has a number of articulation points for having limbs sawn off, it almost seems as cartoony as those older games.  Fallout 3 had hilarious limbular explosions in HD slow-motion!  But Mortal Kombat was likely one of the first games that you or someone you know wasn’t allowed to play.  It was a precursor to the congressman-based fervor of Grand Theft Auto.  It played a leading role in the eventual development of the ESRB.  Sure, a lot of parents ignore ESRB ratings even today, but they cried out for a rating system in the first place largely thanks to kids bringing Mortal Kombat home.

It’s other “legacy” is the more dubious one of ridiculous announcers.  Fatality, Babality, Finish Him, Toasty… they all lead to the Headshot, Multikill, Double Kill, Running Riot, Killamanjaro, and Unstoppables of today.  I could actually do without these though, so thanks Mortal Kombat.

Gender roles, you guys.

So yeah, it’s a shitty fighting game, but it might very well have changed the landscape of gaming as we know it.  That’s pretty neat.  And with the demise of Midway and the sale of the Mortal Kombat IP to Warner Brothers, I’m not sure we’ll see a return of the shock-value tuned, mediocre experience that so defined the series.  Who knows, someone make even take the initiative to turn it into something worth playing again.

I was visiting a website called GamePolitics.com, a place where the politics of video games are discussed.  I was intrigued by a piece of news concerning a partnership between Activision (through Activision Publishing Inc.) and Dr. Cheryl Olsen, co-author of the book, Grand Theft Childhood: The Suprising Truth about Violent Video Games.

According to the article, they are producing a series of videos posted at Activision’s webpage, “Ratings are not a Game”.  There are, as of this writing, three videos are posted.  Dr. Olsen has said that:

“These videos give practical research-based advice on how to help your kids–and your family–get more out of video games, and how to watch for and limit electronic game play.”

I have personally watched each and every video posted at the website, and I must say that I am impressed.  The information presented is clear and relative; Dr. Olsen mentions her son as playing video games.  The tone is relaxing, not condescending.  Moreover, I would definitely recommend this site for most parents with children who play video games.

Granted most of the information is referential, it’s a good starting point for parents who have little knowledge of video games.  The website includes links to help parents, like the ESRB ratings system and the PlaySavvy website.

Now, I realize that Dr. Cheryl Olsen has a bit of reputation due to her co-authorship.   The debate about the video game violence is never-ending, with studies that prove or confute their influence.  There have been attempts, both successful and failed, in the government to deal with video games.  Even grassroots movements have tried to support or oppose the role of video games.  However, these videos do point out something important about children and video games:  the parent.

Parents have basic needs when it comes to raising children of their own.  They need to hunt (shop) for food to nourish their stomach.  They need a place to shelter them and keep them safe from harm’s way.  They need clothing to protect them from the elements and keep their appearances clean and neat.  Most of all, they need to interact with their children to help them cope with the world.

Because video games require constant feedback from their user, a child can literally be enthralled for long periods of time.  They develop a sort of sensory tunnel, focused mainly what they see and hear in front of them.

It’s understandable that parents have busy lives trying to maintain their way of familial life.  However, it’s important that parents have a constant interaction with their children.  Parents of the past have fought with radio, television, music, movies, and books that have consumed their children’s attention.  Video games are no different.

It has been suggested that parents get involved with their children and their activities.  As one of the videos stated, most children have rarely played video games with their parents, and these same children would like play video games with their parents.  A parent can simply sit down and watch their children play, asking questions about the game’s content.  A parent can have their child teach them how to use the controllers and how to interact with the content.  In all, parents can become more interactive with their children by getting involved with their video games…

La ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) es quien se encarga de dar una clasificación a los videojuegos, es quien funciona como regulador de a que sectores debe llegar cierto contenido, ayudando a los padres y consumidores a elegir que juegos son los que les conviene.

Clasificación ESRB
Descripción de las clasificaciones

(Infancia Temprana)

Material con contenido apto para edades a partir de 3 años. Los juegos que entran dentro de esta categoría son específicamente desarrollados para niños pequeños y usualmente son de orientación educacional.

(Para todos)

Abarca temas aptos para edades de 6 años en adelante. Los títulos comprendidos dentro de esta categoría, pueden contener algo de animación, fantasía o violencia moderada o el uso de insultos suaves.

(Para todos mayores de 10 años)

(También conocido como Pre-adolescente). Material idóneo para edades de 10 y más años. Las obras dentro de esta categoría contienen animaciones, fantasía o violencia media, insultos regulares o sangre en temas sugerentes.

(Adolescentes)

Contenido que puede ser adecuado para edades de 13 años o más. Los productos de este género contienen de manera limitada violencia, temas sugerentes, humor crudo, sangre, juegos de azar simulados, o uso de lenguaje fuerte.

(Edad Madura)

Artículos que pueden contener material pertinente para edades de 17 años o más. Las obras de esta categoría muestran violencia, sangre y horror, temas sexuales o insultos.

(Sólo Adultos)

Contenido solamente para adultos. Los títulos en esta categoría incluyen escenas prolongadas de violencia extrema o temas sexuales y desnudez.

(Clasificación Pendiente)

La llevan productos que han sido sometidos a evaluación ante la ESRB y están en espera de una categorización final. Este símbolo aparece solo en demos y publicidad de juegos próximos en salir a la venta.

De acuerdo al listado anterior, es como se realiza la venta en EU , pero en México no aplica dicha regulación, de hecho ni al consumidor ni al vendedor les interesa, el primero la desconoce (y le vale madres) y por lo mismo no sabe que le esta llevando a su hijo, el segundo solo esta interesado en la ganancia muy a pesar de que tiene el conocimiento del contenido de dicho juego, con esto no estoy diciendo que los videojuegos sean culpables como se ha mencionado en varias ocasiones, de situaciones atroces, simplemente creo que no es sano para un niño admirar una masacre como las de GTA o un ambiente como el de Condemned 2.

Opiniones.

Nota: No olvidar la pokebola

Vía: Wikipedia