Game Ratings: A parent's must-have primer

What are you, 25? 27? Johnnie just started asking for God of War or Splinter cell so you Googled it, am I right? Well, before you start making bad decisions, you need a scoop. So let me tell you, this ain't what it seems.

At first blush, this seems like a great plan. Check the ratings, right? That's in a perfect world. Too much, too often, the American game industry has become hideously twisted. Good idea, bad execution. And that's what I mean: this is the execution of American digital entertainment. Yep. We are suffering from a bad case of rating inflation.

Go to the game section at Walmart or Target. Just scan through the games quickly, count the ratio of M:T:E10:E. All of them M, besides a few Ts and one or two Es, am I right or am I right? This is because ESRB has falled into the same pit that the MPAA fell into twenty years ago.

Take a flash back. Ratings for movies used to mean what was in it, and what wasn't. G meant it was fine to show to the fam, PG, slightly less so, and so on up, or down, the ladder. Then everything started to go haywire. The ratings started to mean Genre and Age category. G meant a movie for babes in arms, PG, a sophmoric humor flick with fart jokes, PG-13 a normal, interesting movie, and R a slightly adult movie with little held back. Unlike the sixties, where PG could mean a nice movie with a soft, sentimental edge, and PG-13 was something you didn't show a kid, this has gotten out of control.

Same with the game industry. Know why you see all those block Ms? Because they have become age touchy. Now that games are no longer only for pimply thirteen year olds in a shady arcade over on Fourth and Poplar, Every game with a little violence, or a swear word or two automatically gets saddled with that hefty M. Heavy handed, to say the least.

So whaddya do? Here's a rough guide to M games and below. Check out game sites. If the game's violence or horror/suspense is mentioned, or revered, it's not exactly a party game for the neighborhood kiddies. But if it mentions only the story and controls mentioned, it's probably safe. Give it a thirty minute play through before handing it over, though. Stuff pops up. BUT: if it says anything about nudity, sexual themes, or drugs, they aren't kidding. Even in a T game, this is not over-exaggerated.

So there you go. Be careful, and remeber, they're made to be fun. Give them a good look, but don't get too jaded. That M is a little overused.