PTC Gets Behind "Truth in Video Game Ratings" Legislation
PTC Gets Behind "Truth in Video Game Ratings" Legislation
February 27, 2007
Watchdog group the Parents Television Council has taken an active role in video game issues of late.Earlier this month GamePolitics reported on the PTC's support of video game legislation proposed in the Indiana State Senate. Last week we noted PTC's joint participation with the Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood in an effort to ban ads for M- and AO-rated games from appearing on buses and trains owned by Denver's mass-transit system.
The PTC has also weighed in on the Truth in Video Game Ratings Act, a bill re-introduced recently by conservative Senator - and 2008 presidential aspirant - Sam Brownback (R-KS).
Of the legislation, a press release attributed to PTC president Tim Winters says:
The (PTC) sides with Senator Brownback on this issue. There is a clear conflict of interest that arises when a video game’s producers and distributors submit segments of their choice to the (ESRB) for review...
Video game distributors should no longer be able to skew ratings in their favor by concealing the material they do not want reviewed...
The PTC applauds Senator Brownback for adding language... to commission a... study to evaluate the current video game rating system, look into instating an independent rating system... and consider the application of a universal ratings system...
The full text of the Brownback bill, S.568, can be seen here. The measure has been referred to the Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
"I think it’s a good thing that the PTC is putting the blame on game developers for hiding the material, rather than putting the blame on the ESRB for not rating the games well enough."
That's the next step. First you assert that game companies hide stuff. Then you blame the ESRB for not finding it, even though they have severe penalties for hidden stuff discovered after release, even if it's accidental.
Color me not suprised. Good to know, though, GP. Keep your enemies closer and all that.
But I would have been shocked to find out the the King Kooks at the PTC didn't support this POS legislature. In fact, I am sort-of gald about it, because most reasonable parents that I know laugh at the PTC.
Now of course, I don't mean what the PTC is saying is right, after all, not all game developers hide their content.
I don't think that will fly.
This pile of crap bill will be struck down as unconstitutional.
The PTC should find something else better to do with their time and energy.
I should also point out that Brownback was(I don't know if that moron still is) a member of the PTC's so-called "celebrity advisory panel"(so is/was Lieberman).
I believe this is what you were after?
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/01
In other words, try to establish a federally managed organization to take over the whole process. Then we'll get FCC-style knee-jerk behavior.
Penny Arcade hit the the proverbial nail on the head with this issue. For those of you who missed the comic about it (it's fairly recent), you'll have to find it yourself. My kingdom for the ability to use HTML again.
Well, the paranoia-levels at the PTC have (yet) again shown themselves to be at a full 100%!
Which by itself isn't anything new.
It makes no sense, but this country has a major problem with the topic of human sexuality. Unfortunately, the problem won't likely be corrected anytime soon.
They same that the game rating system is flawed by using videos rather than playing the game, and yet fail to realise that this MUST also mean that the game lawmaking procedure is also flawed for precisely the same reason, since these laws only ever have accompanying video, they never ask people to play the actual game.
Hippocrisy much?
Although, yeah, they have a point. I mean, look at Nintendo. They stuff their games full of sex and then don't mention it to the ESRB. Like, umm...Super Smash Bros, oh yeah, a LOT of sexual content in that. Yoshi-on-Pikachu action; I was scarred for life.
Oh, the Sims games, oh my god. It promotes prostitution! And there was a lot more violence in Pikmin that you didn't see! It was like it was made by R*!
I'm not soo sure if we should be surprised with this incident - it feels like a lof of this legislation is crawling out of the woodwork now that the 2008 presidential race is starting up.
It would suit them perfectly, since Spore has evolution, and according to people who think like the PTC, evolution is a farce
Yes, there is the 2nd clause, but would that REALLY change the rating if it doesn't blow out of proportion later? "We were going to add a minigame that gives a brief sexual scene, but we decided against it and have not even programed in the naked skins yet so there is no nudity."
So yea, one game, one problem, and the law does nothing to actually address it. (Unless you think you would put an AO rating on the game for 'Fully clothed, accessible only by intentional hacking' program...)
Because at the time television was the big "evil" that our children need to be "protected" from. Now they appear to have expanded their scope to the next big "evil," video games.
Also, video games are commonly played on televisions. That may be one of their ways to justify it. =)
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1. biased to the point that if they began publishing articles in "credible" newspapers, they'd immediately turn them into tabloids
2. apparent attempt at making the esrb look like they are only shown certain parts of a game when in fact they are specifically required to show the most gruesome and violent parts
3. They claim developers are trying to skew the footage for certain ratings (come on now, really)
4. They are applauding a obviously unconstitutional bill.