Tag Archives: ratings

Customers unhappy with day one DLC and complaints of console-related messages in the PC build have driven down the Portal 2′s Metacritic user rating.

More »

Following a spate of suspected malicious and bogus low ratings for games on Xbox’s indie game service, Microsoft has stepped in and changed the way votes are cast.

More »

PEGI communications manager Dirk Bosmans has explained the body’s decision to hand Ubisoft’s WeDare title a 12-rating despite the innuendo-filled adverts released for the game.

More »

The North American ratings body ESRB has completed their assessment of Two Worlds II, describing the RPG as including NPCs who protest their dismemberment, indirect references to prostitution, and a pair of “seductively” exposed buttocks.

The full blurb is below.

More »

Activision plans to launch the ratings awareness program started by Vivendi in 2008, which will provide education and information to parents regarding children and the videogames they play.

Called The Ratings Are Not a Game, Dr. Cheryl Olson from the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital will preside over the program, the purpose of which is to help parents make intelligent and informed decisions regarding games they allow their children to play.

“I’m pleased to partner with Activision on this initiative, and applaud their consideration for parents’ concerns,” said Olson. “As a parent myself, I know there are so many things to worry about and not enough time, especially during the holiday season.”

Also being used to promote the ESRB, seven videos based on different aspects of gaming are to be released. The first two will focus on using games to teach puzzle solving techniques, and how parents can identify age-appropriate games.

“These videos give practical research-based advice on how to help your kids – and your family – get more out of videogames, and how to watch for and limit electronic gameplay,” added Olsen.

Thanks, GI.biz.

The ESRB has released a new search widget that enables parents to check a game’s rating before they buy.

The widget is free and is available in English, French and Spanish.

“Our single most important message to consumers, particularly to parents, is that they should always check a game’s ESRB rating when considering a purchase or rental for their children,” ESRB president Patricia Vance said.

“Parents are hungry for this information, and research shows that three-quarters of parents regularly check ESRB ratings when making purchase or rental decisions about which games to bring home. Our ratings search widget makes checking the rating that much more convenient.”

To get the widget go here and click the link at the bottom of the page.

By Mike Bowden

According to this, ERSB raters don’t play the games they’re supposed to be rating. The news comes from an article in EGM, where ex-ERSB tester Jerry Bonner made recommendations on the process of rating games after he left the organisation.

“The ESRB’s current pool of fulltime raters… does not actually play the games that they rate,” he said. “They just watch submitted videotapes or DVDs of someone else playing the game… I would strongly suggest having the raters play the games to completion and carefully log their findings throughout the playtest. I’ve already heard the ESRB’s argument on this one: ‘That’ll take way too long and it will compromise our turnaround time.’ My solution to that is simple: Hire more people.”

That’s… a shame.

In this letter from US ratings organisation the ERSB, president Patricia Vance shows that last year 94 percent of all rated games were pitched at the age of 13 or younger, with mature games accounted for only 6 percent of the market, down from 8 percent the previous year.

Ratings in general had risen by 22 percent year on year, she said.

“While a handful of M-rated titles tend to garner a majority of media attention, the E (Everyone 6+) rating category continues to dominate,” she said. “The E category saw the largest increase over last year, accounting for nearly 60% of ratings assigned overall. The M (Mature 17+) category represented 6% of the overall ratings assigned, down from 8% in 2006 and 12% in 2005.”

Full thing, including pretty charts, here.