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Study Finds Games Stores Still Selling to Minors
A study funded by the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) has found that almost half of all games retailers are still selling 'M'-rated games to kids. "The two-month undercover survey, which covered 60 US retailers, found that underage teens were able to buy games rated M for Mature (17+) at 46 percent of stores, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune ... the findings of the survey still put the game industry ahead of many other entertainment sectors, including the movie and music industries."
Seeing as the ratings are a guideline not a law, and it's up to parents to enforce the guidelines they want to enforce, I am going to have to join in the calls of 'So what?'
The only way to sort out this out would be for people to stop assuming that games are for kids - but who knows when that's going to be.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
I think you missed the part about "guidelines, not law". It's not currently illegal for the store to sell these games to minors. Apparently there are some working towards making the video game rating systems law, at least in California at this point.
The fun part is that (so I've read) the law would impose fines of thousands of dollars as well as charging the offender with a felony of some sort, for selling Mature video games to minors. It seems the penalty for (first offense) selling alcohol to minors is a fine of about three hundred dollars.