RSSClinton, Lieberman Team With ESRB
By Ed Oswald | Published December 8, 2006, 1:56 PM
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut said Thursday they were joining forces with the Entertainment Software Rating Board in order to launch a nationwide television campaign to educate parents about video game ratings.
Although neither Senator will appear in the advertisements, they both voiced their support for the initiative.
"We all share in the responsibility of making sure our children play age-appropriate video games, and I'm pleased that the ESRB and retailers are working together to educate parents about the video game ratings and make sure they are enforced," Clinton said.
Clinton and Lieberman are two of Congress' most vocal proponents for stricter policies surrounding violent video games, and introduced legislation last December to limit minors' access to games based on their ESRB rating.
Clinton was also one of the first legislators to speak out over the highly-publiclized "Hot Coffee" incident in the Take-Two Interactive Game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Like last year, supporters of the fight against violent video games have used the backdrop of the busy holiday shopping season in order to get their message out to as many consumers as possible. The ads would begin playing shortly on 800 stations across the country.
In addition, the ESRB plans to support the television initiative with a radio campaign as well.
In the advertisements, Best Buy president Brian Dunn and GameStop president Steve Morgan would appear. The two retailers account for a large majority of the games sold in this country, and both have policies to not sell mature rated games to those under 17 without parental consent.
According to the ESRB, a game rated mature "may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language."
The ratings system was created in 1994, and Lieberman was one of the biggest advocates of the system. Since then, he has continued to speak out on the topic of video game violence, and Thursday was no exception.
"I continue to be concerned about the impact on minors of playing violent video games intended for older players," he said. "There are many age-appropriate games that are clever and entertaining. Parents should understand and use the ratings to help them decide which video games to buy for their families."
Somebody shoot the b**** already
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|I'm more than surprised this hasn't had a (-)score already.
Seriously dude, not that it will happen or anything, but if the Government/feds wanted to put you away, they could actually do so for making statements like that. Again I realise this isn't a serious threat, and you will hopefully not get into trouble--but if the feds wanted you put away, and just needed a reason to obtain a search warrant, they now have one :|
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|eh it was a joke, i think it is honestly insane that anyone could think anyone deserves to die just because they lie alot and meddle with others business.... er i mean act like a political bull in a china shop.
on the other note, i really dont think the feds have people out searching for Hilary clinton and shoot references. She just isnt that important. either way i dot welcome the feds to come over and search my house, dont think they will find anything interesting.
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|Yup--Government isn't busy enough and still has more financial debt it can owe, so lets make them regulate video games. That's brilliant. Maybe they should ban all MMORPGs as well since they are so addictive, right?
When will we decide that more government will be too much? Will it be after we become a dictatorship or before, I wonder? Yeah, I know this is a "big freakin deal" (end sarcasm) type of thing, but it just shows where we may be headed.
When the government will be able to decide who is holding them back the most and determines your father/mother is wasting too much of their social security/medicare/etc., then pulls the plug, will we want them to have more or less control over medicare benifits then? How about when they decide your business is making too much profit, so they force you to forfeit 20% of your income to your competitor?
We the people are smarter than the government gives us credit for, why aren't WE THE PEOPLE in charge anymore? We say we want more control, then we say "but the government needs to do this" or "the government needs to regulate that"--see where I'm going with this?
By the way, this was a touch off topic and all, but understand this is not an anti-democrat or anti-Bush rant--this is an anti-dictatorship rant. Even if you disagree with my political views, can you at least agree that right now the government has TOO much power? Heck, isn't that what the other side complains about Bush anyways?
Yep, regulate video games, but get a blo**** in the oval office, publicly speak out against your own country, "reinterpret" laws to mean something they do not, and redefine the constitution to allow judges to interpret "speech" as a frikin blo****--does anyone here think George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or any of those other guys were thinking "let's allow folks to have sex in public in front of our children, and protect it along with all other 'expression' using our first amendment."???
Okay, I think I've stirred up enough hornet nests for one day :)
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|no they dont want to ban violent games, just tax them.
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|Welcome to Campaign 2008. Put on your helmets; here comes the hyperbole.
I dunno, maybe it'll help some Appalachians figure stuff out at Wal*Mart... but let's be honest. This is campaign facetime.
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|Oh lord, two war hawks with blood on their hands want to tell us about violence. Give yourselves another raise and leave us alone.
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|"Educate parents" What a Hoot! They actually think that parents that buy or allow their children to buy video games care. If they did they would not buy it in the first place. If it not the republicans trying to tell us right from wrong, it's the democrats trying to tell us were to stupid to do it without their help. ARGH!!!
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|The problem I think isn't about whether parents care or not. Probably they DO care, but they don't know.
However, people don't know stuff don't listen either.
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|If they did care, they would know...
Parents don't pay enough attention because of apathy which reflects in the fact that its a problem at all. Complacency is no excuse for raising children poorly.
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|stop wasting my tax dollars Hillary!
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|stop wasting my tax dollars Hillary!
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LOL, just Hillary? How's about everyone there in DC. She's the least of my concerns when it comes to wasting tax dollars.
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