Category: Features

Contest If you feel that the video game industry has cheated you in any way in the course of your lifetime, here’s your chance to do something about it… and maybe get a little something for yourself in the process. As you read in Part 1, I turned in a great deal of video game…

“I’ve heard it said before that a game that’s ninety-nine percent finished is worth exactly zero dollars. So ‘getting it done’ is really the only goal.” – Anonymous, Game Developer, on the company’s ultimate goal Part V: Black Friday THE BIGGEST DAY This article is being posted on Black Friday for a reason. The holiday…

“If you’re looking forward to a game, and you plop down $5 or $10 to preorder it, you’ve made an investment. It’s up to you to stay up to date with news on that game, just in case it is delayed. Because the stores that you preordered at most likely won’t tell you if it’s…

“In the first 24 hours we’ll have an opening that’s (more) popular than any motion picture has ever had in history.” – Bill Gates, Microsoft, speaking about the release of Halo 2 (Yahoo News) Part 3: Shipping & Handling BIG RELEASES = BIG $$$ Halo 2 has been one of the most anticipated titles to…

“If everyone is doing it, flooding the market, then sales are going to be lost, either to some kid having to choose between Ace Combat 5 and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent now, or between no game next year and a baseball glove or something like it.” – Michael O’Reilly, Inside Pulse Staff Part II: Hardware PAY…

Im a relatively new gamer. I had a nintendo 64 but barely played it so about a year after the consles launch I decided to pick one up. EB was over priced and tried to sell me “refurbished Xboxs” So I went to Superstore and bought it no problem. but thats not the main story.…

PART 1: Creating the ESRB Many gamers aren’t old enough to remember it, but there was a time when there was no need for a ratings system. The video game boom of the late 1980’s helped present gaming as a family-friendly activity. Parents could gather around in the living room and watch their kids play…

PART 3: Parents Of Today In recent years, a wave of violent games has left a portion of the gaming world questioning the role of parents in gaming. Namely, when there’s a questionable game released, whose responsibility is it if that game were to have a negative impact on the child’s development? The ESRB is…

PART 2: ESRB vs. MPAA Upon its creation, the ESRB faced inevitable comparisons to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). While these comparisons arise simply due to the similar nature of these two entities, they are not as closely aligned as one might think. The MPAA The MPAA states that its original purpose was…

PART 4: Parents of Tomorrow And this, my friends, is where many of you come in. Listen up, and pay attention. A lot of active gamers neglect the ESRB for various reasons. Maybe they don’t have kids yet. Maybe they’re over 17 and don’t need the system. Maybe they’re under 17, but have lenient parents,…

INTERVIEW WITH PATRICIA VANCE, ESRB President On Thursday, October 7, 2004, I had the opportunity to speak with ESRB President Patricia Vance on a number of subjects. Here are Ms. Vance’s thoughts on the changes in the industry over the last ten years, parental responsibility, and why the ESRB ratings system is as important to…

Top 50 Selling Games, 1995-2004 1. Super Mario 64 (N64) – Units Sold: 5.94 Million – Rating – E – Descriptors – None 2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) – Units Sold: 5.81 Million – Rating – M – Descriptors – Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Violence 3. Grand Theft Auto…

Closing Thoughts To those of you who made it to the end, thank you. This piece was written with the intention of making you think, and hopefully you have a clearer picture of the ESRB now. If you’d like to read up a little more on the ratings system and its applications to our lives,…