Thu, Mar 27, 2008 | 20:07 GMT

Byron Report to talk “pin codes and locks” for console games

British newspaper the Guardian is reporting that Tanya Byron’s report into games regulation in the UK this morning contains mention of lock-out codes for console games.

The report, to be delivered at 9am this morning, is to recommend, “A gold standard for the use of console games, including clear set-up guidance for parents on issues such as pin codes and locks,” said the paper.

The report doesn’t clarify whether or not this means such devices are to be including in games by law.

Byron is to recommend that “a national council to implement her strategy” will be set up, the paper says, “with a fixed timetable for industry experts.”

13 comments

morriss
27/03/08, 7:50 am

The internet will win that war, I’m afraid.

Tonka
27/03/08, 8:20 am

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t this just the Parental Guide system that both MS and Nintendo already have in place? Or is it just some manual they are talking about?

patlike
27/03/08, 8:21 am

It doesn’t say. I’m hoping it’ll be clarified when they publish the report.

Blerk
27/03/08, 8:38 am

I thought all the new machines had some kind of age-lock on them now, with pins and stuff? Regardless, it’s fairly pointless – most non-gaming adults wouldn’t bother to set them up anyway.

Tonka
27/03/08, 8:42 am

That’s why I’m thinking the “A gold standard for the use of console games, including clear set-up guidance for parents on issues such as pin codes and locks” might refer to some manual included in every game

Blerk
27/03/08, 8:46 am

Pft. Gamers don’t read the manuals, never mind their parents.

Tonka
27/03/08, 8:54 am

True.
(Is there a way to turn off the smilies?)

Blerk
27/03/08, 9:01 am

I could stop using them?

Tonka
27/03/08, 9:12 am

I wouldn’t ask that of you. I know how much you like them.

#10

Hero of Canton
27/03/08, 9:15 am

Fucking hell, they’ve just summarised it on Sky News, and claimed the report says ‘videogames can cause harm and affect the belief system of children’. Now, based on everything Byron’s said so far, I’d say they’ve deliberately twisted something there.

#11

Blerk
27/03/08, 9:17 am

They ‘affect the belief system of children’? What?

#12

Hero of Canton
27/03/08, 9:38 am

It may just have been ‘beliefs’, thinking about it – not that that makes much difference. But the gist of it was ‘videogames do harm and influence young minds’. Then they showed a clip of Byron talking about how parents are protective of their kids when outside the front door, so they should be when they’re inside too. Which is hardly the same thing.

#13

Tonka
27/03/08, 9:46 am

I would ike to see a report on the effects of human interaction compared to videogames. It’s the contact with humans or lack thereof that shapes us.

This is just fucked up