When Apple talked up the upcoming firmware upgrade for their iPhone they touched on the fact that it will now allow you to block movies and TV shows based on content. But what about games?
With Utah legislators on the verge of passing legislation that expands the state’s Truth in Advertising statute, imposing fines on video game retailers and movie theatres that provide M- or R-rated products to minors, ESRB President Patricia Vance has written a letter.
As excited as the gaming community is about the impending release of GTA IV, sadly, a new Grand Theft Auto title tends to mean bracing ourselves for a new round of anti-gaming attacks from the uninformed. Fortunately, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board is more than prepared to head ‘em off at the pass, joining with the Parent-Teacher Association for a series of parental education initiatives kicked off with a webcast tonight.
In the April edition of EGM, Jerry Bonner, a former ESRB employee who worked for the company over six months, fills us in on the hot gossip of what it’s like to work inside the machine. While he dishes plenty of information we already knew—like that the ESRB raters watch clips in lieu of actually playing the games—some of what he said about the ESRB’s culture of secrecy is daunting:
In your face, California State Senator Leland Yee! Responding to the Senator’s demand that the ESRB detail the changes made to Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 to warrant the reclassification of the game from damning AO to the less damning but still frustrating to schoolchildren M rating, ESRB president and gaming hottie Patricia Vance issued a big ol’ none of your business.
In mid-July, veteran game company 3D Realms of Duke Nukem Forever infamy received a notice from the ESRB threatening them with penalties if certain guidelines regarding ESRB guidelines weren’t followed on the company’s website. 3D Realms’ Scott Miller was ticked off by the notice, and quite vocally so. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to ESRB Patricia Vance to get her side of the story.
“”What 3D Realms received was simply a 10-day warning notice that did not carry any penalties whatsoever,” she explains. “We’re hardly the heavy-handed bullies that Mr. Miller is painting us as. Tough love might be a better way to describe it.”
