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Nintendo Puts Emphasis On Parental Control

Posted by Zonk on from the big-brother-is-your-dad dept.

Gamespot is reporting that Nintendo will allow parents to control what games can be played on the Revolution based on game ratings and other factors. From the article: "The password-protected system will let parents set which rating categories are acceptable for their children, and prevent the system from running any software outside the approved range. The system is based on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's industry standard ratings, and each game's rating will be encoded on each Revolution disc. Nintendo says the system will be instituted on every Revolution console worldwide, presumably utilizing the local ratings system of each region."

4 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Now there is a good idea by FidelCatsro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually put the responsibility Squarely at the feet of the parents , no fobbing it off to the government to pass legislation or even letting the "MORAL PANIC " groups start a witch burning .
    Though I don't know how many parents will actually bother to read the Manuel and discover about this feature , or how quickly the child will find a way to reset the defaults .

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  2. Good Idea by csbrooks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As a game programmer as well as a parent, I think this is a really good idea. I think the public thinks that game developers want kids to buy all the violent or inappropriate games they can, but it's not true. People don't realize how many adult gamers are out there. Developers don't need or want kids to play violent or sexual games.

    --
    Game Company Database
  3. The question is... by Ozymand+E.+Us · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...will parental control really help? I'll illustrate with an example. To stop us from watching TV, our parents would lock the TV up with parental control. Naturally, my brother and I began an intensive program of password cracking. Using intelligent brute-forcing, we cracked it on the fourth try. The number? 4444. Another example. My school locked its computer (yes, singular- there were onyl 120 students) with an administrator password. It took 2 minutes to crack it- we just rebooted into safe mode and changed the passwords. As long as kids are more tech-savvy than adults, "parental control" is a joke.

  4. Another good idea by Polo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...Limit the amount of time and/or time of day when games
    can be played.

    If the game won't work at dinner time/homework time, that would
    be wonderful :)