Pennsylvania Attorney General Urges Parents to Check Game Ratings

Pennsylvania Attorney General Urges Parents to Check Game Ratings

December 15, 2007
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) has joined the chorus of elected officials urging consumers to check video game content ratings during the holiday shopping season.

Corbett is quoted on his website:
The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year for game sales, with almost half of all video games sold at this time of year. It is important for adults to carefully review game rating information when considering items for young children.

Do some research about toys and games now, before you make a purchase, and read all material carefully before you hand things over to your kids. Some careful thought and planning now, considering both toy safety and game ratings, can help eliminate a variety of problems during the holiday season and long afterwards.

While Corbett does not appear to be participating in an ESRB-backed public service campaign like some of his colleagues around the United States, it's not the first time he has spoken favorably of the ESRB's content rating system.

Comments

gah my fellow americans the end of the blame game is here ( please dont correct me i enjoy my world)
Well, at least he's urging parents to make the decisions, so that's a plus in my book :)
I see things starting to look up, somewhat.
Tom Corbett is always a good example of a fine state attorney general. To see him stick up for the game industry does not surprise me at all. Consumer Rights is usually his forte.
What's happening!?!?

Did some dimensional rift tear open into a world where politicians are intelligent and can see and correct their own mistakes?
yes! common sense is making a come back!
yay for common sense!
@kurisu7885

no, some aliens kidnapped us all and put us on bizarro world. ;-)
bizarro world is fine by me if this is what it's like
I am glad to see a turn in the politician/game trend. I hope this direction keeps up.
I'm with neoelasticman on this one. Biozarro world rules.
@ cullarn

I'm sure the blame game will continue, they will just blame other things...
and there still will be people who blame video games on everything, I'm surprised Al Gore hasn't blamed video games on global warming yet.
These people are starting to sound like broken records-- but in a good way, for a change!
Competent attorneys warning parents about M rated games?! I guess these guys don't want to end up like Wacko Jacko.
@sidewinder

shush you!!! i told you not to ruin my world!!!!!!
two down, 48 to go... sorry jack. ..... NOT! :P
Always nice to hear some positive news coming from my state.
Notice how every idiot politician has to point his finger?
How to be an idiot politican:
Step one: Find a media that looks like it should only be for kids and rant about it if it becomes violent to gain the soccer mom vote.
Step two: If there ARE adults that like the media, just rant about how childish they are and how they have no life, even if they do have a life.
Step 3: Keep bitching about the violent media until lovers of that certain media come and lynch you, then you will be a martyr of your beliefs.
Step 4: After your death, the media you ranted about will be either banned or is forced to be for children because the lovers of that media were violent rabid beasts and were made that way.
End of Chapter 1...
uhm..did America just get..better? In my home state no less? Im shocked!
Almost makes me wish I lived in Pennsylvania. [No offense to those who do, I just don't know anything else about the state, so I wouldn't want to just up and move. :)]
@ Catch 33

We have a city that forever smells of chocolate. I don't know if that does anything for you.

But in general nice to see my home state isn't acting like a total screw up on this issue.
Maybe they should just hook up their bandwagons or form a conga line or some-such.

Why yes AG there IS a reason the ESRB exists and puts those funny letters on the boxes of games.

Might be to late but this could almost bring back common sense.
@GD86

Where is it? I want to move there. j/k.
@monkeypeaches:

I do believe it's Hershey, Pennsylvania. :P
Finally! Now this what should have happened since the introduction of the ESRB. If that happened we would not have careless parents buying their kids just about anything, and we would not have as many crazy people running around.
doth my eyes deceive me or is the government doing something about parents not reading ESRB rating, nah i gotta be dreaming, or am i?
Yes, parents please look at the Esrb labels when you buy your kids games so that you don't go into a gamestop and blindly pick up a game called Manhunt and then act surprised and shocked when you find out the game is about a man killing other men.
This is definitely good, a nice step forward for our right to play. I was kinda surprised to see this on here after I just saw a segment on the news about someone also endorsing the esrb rating (can't remember who), but then he gets into claiming research that proves video games turn people violent and blah blah blah.
I live in PA by the way
Not to bring the mood down here, but I doubt this is going to help. If parents can't even look down and see the giant letter on the box, I highly doubt they'll pay attention to a government official. Can anyone here tell me the attorney general of their own state (other than Pennsylvanians)?
Well, since you ask:

The attorney general of Delaware is John Biden, III (son of the Democratic presidential candidate).

But I'm cheating because I work for the Delaware courts.
Eep. JOE Biden, III. Well, that's what I get for being too hasty in writing comments.
It's not a rift in realty--just Pennsylvania for you. Yeah, we're conservative in some really weird ways--and, well, weird's really about the best descriptor of our populace--but out of that oddness sometimes springs some rational thought and reasoned aproaches that seem to have no place in our nation today.

....Which can be said just as equally of our state's irrational and shortsighted choices as well, but at least we stay in character.
By George, I think he's got it! Finally, a politician who isn't bashing games. That's a refresher.
[...] Note: To be fair, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, Iowa, Rhode Island, Idaho, and South Carolina,  have all shown some support for the current ESRB standard and “urge parents to be responsible and check game ratings”. It’s good to know there are some sane states left. [...]
Re: Pennsylvania Attorney General Urges Parents to Check Game

HI,

 Its really very nice to hear that the Atorny general of pennsylvania took effort to make the parents aware of the gaming rates.He asked to check the quality and the safety of the product.

------------------------------

bhuvana

 

pennsylvania drug rehab

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
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.
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.
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.
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.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:40am
JDKJ: We can sit here all day and debate the relative merits. However, I think the events of recent days suggest that an FN Five-Seven ain't exactly the same as that Daisy BB gun you got for Christmas when you were a kid.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:38am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: tumbling can be quite dangerous. However, the rounds that commonly tumbled were variants of the SS90. Civilian ammo tends to tumble far less commonly.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:33am
JDKJ: I understand that while they don't have much expansion effect, they tend to "yaw" on impact. Yaw can be almost just as damaging as mushrooming.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:30am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: Except when one considers the lack of expansion for the 5.7, it basically ends up leaving a far smaller hole.
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:29am
JDKJ: But if the latter's travelling at close to twice the speed of the former, there's a compensatory effect on the weight difference.
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