NIMF's "Games To Avoid For Children" Full Of Awesome Games

Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, November 27, 2008 8:54 AM

The National Institute on Media and the Family has released their 2008 Video Game Buying Guide, which includes a section on games to absolutely avoid buying for children. The only problem is: the list is full of amazing games! The games are all on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 with the Wii avoiding the no-no list.

While I tend to agree that some games are too mature for young children, I also believe that each parent should decide if their child is ready to play an M-rated game. Some kids are mature enough to handle virtual violence and bloodshed.

Here's some highlights from the list:

"Fallout 3 is set in a post-nuclear world. The survivors must navigate their way through a world with giant insects, raiders, slavers and super mutants. Player’s kill whatever is in their path with guns and explosives. This game is rated M for blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language and drug use. Available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360."

"Gears of War 2 finds Marcus Fenix and the Delta Squad battling the Locust Horde for the survival of humanity. The game’s main weapon is the Lancer Assault Rifle, which combines a rifle with a chain saw. The game is rated M for blood and gore, intense violence and strong language. Available on Xbox 360."

"Resistance 2 finds Nathan Hale fighting the same Chimera alien race he did in the original Resistance game. This version is set in the United States instead of Europe. The Chimera obliterates cities and kills civilians by the thousands. The game is rated M for blood and gore, intense violence and strong language. Available on PlayStation 3."

The full list can be read here.

Do you think that no kids should play M-rated games? What was your first M-rated game and how old were you when you first played one? My parents got me Mortal Kombat when I was 9 and now I work at G4.

Source

Permalink

Tags: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames, Xbox 360

Comment(s)

Posted by roehn117 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:13 AM

lets see the first m rated game i played was perfect dark and i was likein fourth grade making me about 9 but i owned my first rated m game at 10 and that was halo:CE but i must agree some kids are mature enough and otheres are just not

Flag this comment for review

Posted by deleted_2EE6C52C-379C-4245-B72D-E38B6C785A03 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:14 AM

they play them anyways! so whats the point of trying to stop them they gonna get there way anyways.

mine was also Mortal Kombat back when part 2 came out i started playin it. back when mortal kombat was actually good

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Mouth_of_Sauron - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:20 AM

Perfect Dark. Wasn't even that bad.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by snuggle187 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:32 AM

First M game I bought was True Crime Streets of LA when I was like 12. Funny thing was that I got it at gamestop without an adult. :)
But I've been playing Mortal Kombat Since i was like 5.

On the list of games they rocommend there are only 3-4 good games. RB2, GHWT, LBP and Shaun White's Snow boarding. The rest of the games are like High School Musical and All Star Cheer Squad.

Sucks to have "informed" (gullible) parents. I'm lucky my parents can't even speak english.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by shepdaddy - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:36 AM

I think this is a good thing. Because it's up to parents to decide whether their kids should be playing M-rated games, they should be well educated about just how violent these particular games are. I mean, I LOVE Gears 2, but It's an incredibly graphic game, even compared to some other M-rated ones. Same goes for Fallout 3, and I would assume Resistance 2 as well (I haven't gotten to play Resistance 2 yet, but after playing the first one I would guess this one is pretty explicit). Now, my first M-rated game was one of the Mortal Kombats, but I don't remember which. Even though I was OK with the level of violence at the time, my parents kept pretty severe limits on my play time, and I always played more lower-rated games. But even those games were unbelievably tame compared to these three. If parents want to buy these for their kids, that's their right, but they need to have a serious warning about how graphic these games are, and I think this is just that.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by dantekratos300 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:38 AM

I saw that the other days on the 10:00 pm news. I was like what the f@#

Flag this comment for review

Posted by mr_nice_guy - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:39 AM

they said silent hill is a fps is that true? and you dont kill EVERYONE you come across in fallout 3 and when they say "blowing some ones head off" it sounds bad but when i say it, its nice sounding

Flag this comment for review

Posted by bjbradley - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:40 AM

the first m rated game i played was gta but the first m rated game i owned was god of war. they both were when i was like 11 or 12

Flag this comment for review

Posted by halokiller455 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:41 AM

Why is blitz the league on there?

Flag this comment for review

Posted by DamienHell - Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:46 AM

I've been playing M rated games for years, I'm just mature enough to handle them

Flag this comment for review

Posted by shadowfreak - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:10 AM

DOOM! i played it when i was around 2nd or 3rd grade... that was a good ten or so years ago.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by headexpl0dy - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:14 AM

I grew up with Packman and I never over-ate while trying to kill multy colored ghosts or whent into a sandwich making frenzy after an all night Burger Time bender so a few years ago I would have said that kids should be free to play any game they wanted but it's the parents job to supervise and explain the things they see so kids don't get the wrong ideas but now that I'm older I've come to the stunning realizaion that now more than ever, parents are lazy and love to blame everyone else for their lack of supervision leading to their kids shotty upbringing. Not all parents but enough to get a certain Clinton on the industry's back side! It's probably in the best interest for everyone that we uphold the ESRB's rules if only to keep M rated games in business.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by kangy3 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:16 AM

yeah, i agree that some kids just aren't mature enough, the games on that list are at least for 12-14 or up.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Sonicguy74 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:32 AM

The first M rated game I played was my brother's Mortal Kombat 2 when I was 6 and since then I've been in knee deep in playing Mature-rated games (specifically the N64 Turok games) until I bought my own at 13 with GTA Vice City.

Me, I'm not saying that young children should be playing M rated games but parents should judge their children's maturity and education as an everday basis to see if they're ready to handle all the violence, gore, and bloodsheed (and hence, why the ESRB is only a guide for them).

Flag this comment for review

Posted by deline - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:32 AM

If thay are mature enough unlike the school nuts who fight and kill.

My parents got me the ps1 on dec 25 with metal gear solid demo on the Inter active sampler disc cd for ps1 then later i got the full game i was 10 or 11 when i got the ps1.
also i got Mortal Kombat 4 on the game boy.
also some

Flag this comment for review

Posted by 1337h1pp13 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:33 AM

Lets see o i remember it vividly amazingly i was 2 or 3 at the time and my dad rented mortal combat one for me and him to play. i remember him saying hey this game isnt that bad as the news makes it and that when i pulled of my first fatality ive been buying every mortal combat since XD

Flag this comment for review

Posted by 1337h1pp13 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:40 AM

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Battlehobo4000 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 10:40 AM

As a 25 yr old(I think I might be the oldest person that posts comments) and a manager of gamestop, I think the ESRB is an incredibly important and useful system. I think that having parents decide if their kids are playing certain games is great as well, but the best thing I've seen is the ability of a (knowledgeable)parent to go into the menus of games like GoW2 and turn off the M content and then sit there and actually WATCH THE GAME THEIR CHILD IS PLAYING. God forbid, in this day and age, a parent should be cognizant of what their children do and watch. I'm not saying that videogames are gonna turn children into the next columbine shooters, but I've seen the difference between a good and bad parent, and a good parent cares enough to pay attention.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by SingleCrow - Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:04 AM

Well, lets go back to the games before there was an ESRB.
Likely that the first (Should have been) M-Rated game I played was Adventure on the Atari 2600. The game was purely about the greed of getting the tropies, stealing bridges, and slaughtering dragons. Such a horrible game. I still remember the horrors of feeling like I was in an invisible maze where I could only see 2 inches in front of my face.

I'm 30. When I was 9 or 10 or even 15, games really weren't that graphic. Mortal Kombat was about the worst that I remember. And the blood was pathetic. Didn't make me hurt anyone.
(to be continued)

Flag this comment for review

Posted by SingleCrow - Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:05 AM

However, games these days are amazingly realistic. I agree with Battlehobo. The parents needs to be active and learn about the games before hand. If they feel their child is mature enough to understand what is happening and that it's a game and should not be done in real life, maybe the kid can play it.
We can't lump every kid into one bucket. Each child is an individual and only a parent knows what their child can handle (given they are active in the childs life).

Also, if a parent doesn't want their child playing an "M" rated game, believe me, it can happen. I know some families like that. Granted, they are all home schooled and their parents are EXTREMELY overprotective.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by pmtoner - Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:09 AM

Bob- got you beat by a couple of years- and generally think you are right on. At a minimum ESRB can serve as a quick guide for parents who really don't want to take the time to play video games. Generally I think retailers should enforce ESRB ratings a little better,perhaps seperating M rated games to make it more obvious they have possibly objectionable content- and they should probably lower the age on M rated games to 15.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Yatzee1000 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:28 AM

Why was LBP called revolutionary? sure I mean it's fun, but revolutionary? Oh and they had legendary on there, which based on the reviews simply should be avoided because it sucks.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by bdm10593 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:30 AM

1st m game was the original perfect dark i was like 7 or 8 mature enough then mature enough now. i think it helped me be more mature

Flag this comment for review

Posted by slimmer - Thursday, November 27, 2008 12:06 PM

None of your business ha ha.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Oni_no_hanzo - Thursday, November 27, 2008 12:09 PM

Yeah my mom got me Diablo2 when i was 8....nothing says happy birthday like corpse explosion lol

Flag this comment for review

Posted by rbee90 - Thursday, November 27, 2008 12:26 PM

dude..i played the first GTA when i was 3rd grade, that was on 1999 and metal gear solid when i was in 2nd gade, that was on 1998,yeah, ive been a bad boy,lol

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Crankr - Thursday, November 27, 2008 1:48 PM

"Unistawl the disc you noob","pick up a weel gun, PICK UP A WEEL GUN". Man, this christmas is gonna be the best!

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Crankr - Thursday, November 27, 2008 1:49 PM

Hey parents, instead of the incredibly violent games, why not try Counterstrike For Kids!

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Crankr - Thursday, November 27, 2008 1:55 PM

Also, Resistance2? Whether or not you have children, that's a horrible game to get.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by dejavoodoo - Thursday, November 27, 2008 2:37 PM

first m rated game I had was turok on n64, and im 15 now, so what would that have made me, musta been 7-8? Then my parents learned about the rating system, and my next mrated game wasn't until GUN on the ps2. just got fallout 3 played it and loved it, i'm playing through again as a bad guy *waves goodbye to megaton and places modified FEV into the chemical slot in project purity*

Flag this comment for review

Posted by dejavoodoo - Thursday, November 27, 2008 2:46 PM

Flag this comment for review

Posted by WhiteWolfAssassin - Thursday, November 27, 2008 2:48 PM

My first M rated game was Mortal Kombat as well, I dont't recall what age I was then, but I do remember it was for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. I could tell you if I knew when it was released on the Genesis. I do remember playing it in the arcade though as a child.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by Antic1imacticKi11er - Thursday, November 27, 2008 3:15 PM

Oh, Jeez, Crankr is trying to start the fire... First M game I played was... GTA 3, was it? Yeah, but now about all the games I buy are rated M, and I love all of them. I mean come on, some of these are important! How else will our children learn what happens when you shoot a mutant in the head at a 5 foot range w/ a shotgun? The Wonder Pets? Dora the Explorer? THEY NEED TO KNOW THIS STUFF!

Flag this comment for review

Posted by ihitterdal - Thursday, November 27, 2008 3:16 PM

The USA should just use the Australian rating system. Sure, some games would be censored, but it would be far more reasonable to use a 15+ rating instead of a 17+ rating. This will not work for all cases (GTA IV, for example), but for these, at least, it would work just fine.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by TylerDFC - Thursday, November 27, 2008 3:39 PM

Every game should have the option to edit language and violence. It's ridiculous to us, but a simple thing like turning the blood from red to green seems to placate some of these officials. I'm a parent and a gamer, my kids are 8 and 12 and play T and up, and some M games. They also watch some R movies after their mom and I discuss it. My kids can handle the violence. My problem is with the language in some games. It irritates me half the time, usually because the characters are cursing constantly just to be "edgy". It's lame, and sometimes ruins good games. Believe me I drop my share of F bombs, but the pervasive language in the GTA games for example is ridiculous. There should be a way as the owner of the game to go to the options and be able to beep curse words. Some of you may think it is lame, but how much of this crap would go away if the language and violence could be controlled variably by the parents?

Flag this comment for review

Posted by o_NIGHT_TRAIN_o - Thursday, November 27, 2008 5:16 PM

Kids should be able to play M-rated games, it just depends on the kids maturity, they don't have to be super mature just not really stupid.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by blakezilla - Thursday, November 27, 2008 7:10 PM

Dang I feel old. All you people saying GTA or whatever, those were non issues for me by the time they came out. I was around like a few others when MK1 had just come out. It was in my bowling alley and ANYONE could walk up and play it. How time and a little bit of press change things. I remember there was a driving game that everyone made a stink about too...you pretty much just drove around and ran people over for points. I think that may have been the first (or pretty close) game considered M. I think that MK may have been the first "noticed" M game I played, but who cares I had already seen Alien/s and Predator and Rambo etc before I was in kindergarten. In fact in my young age I was upset that the queen alien died at the end of the one movie.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by blakezilla - Thursday, November 27, 2008 7:17 PM

I do think the language thing and violence thing sounds lame, but I do feel the same sentiment, cussing just to cuss or violence just as filler material etc is a waste. That is pretty much why I dont like GTA, (the new one does look better though) it is all just mindless violence that serves no purpose. I do think the ESRB is useful but unfortunately most of the parents I see that try and utilize it are crazy extreme about it.

I think that most kids that are gonna be adversely affected by games do not have parents that would even recognize it in the first place. I think bad parenting and the hands off approach toward their kids is what really causes the problem.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by kixofmyg0t - Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:58 PM

MAN I came outta da WOMB GEARS style! Then I sniped the doc and all you heard over the hospital intercom was "HEADSHOT!" Then I killed the nurse and got my money back!

Anyways I think the first "M" rated game I remember playing was Doom on PC...in '94. I was 11 if my math is right.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by staychisel (BANNED) - Friday, November 28, 2008 9:10 AM

i heard resistance didn't live up to expectations. i also hear GEARS 2 IS L33T!

Flag this comment for review

Posted by poker909 - Friday, November 28, 2008 9:28 AM

When I babysit my 10 year old nephew, I do not let him play most M rated games, but it really depends on content. I let him play Halo3, because he is smart enough to know the difference between game violence and real violence, and shooting aliens is different than shooting people. Call of Duty 4 for example, I would not let him play because the violence is too realistic.

Now, I have the advantage of being a gamer myself, so I know the exact content and intensity of almost every major title. The rating system in place does a great job of listing not only the rating, but why the game is rated as such, and I encourage all parents to take these ratings seriously.

Less M-rated games in the hands of kids means less controversy for the industry as a whole. The harder it becomes for minors to get M-rated games, the easier it will be to expand M-rated titles to include the type of graphic sex and violence Hollywood has had the privledge to feed us over the past decades.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by SingleCrow - Friday, November 28, 2008 10:16 AM

TylerDFC and poker909. Kudos to both of you. Tyler, you sound like a great parent, based on your description of how you say involved with your childeren. How you talk to them about it. Bravo.
Poker, you sound like a cool and responsible uncle/aunt (not sure which, but I'm guessing Uncle) I hope that your nephew's parents are just as responsible.

I know what you mean about the language Tyler. I enjoy the games, but lots of F-bombs, OMG's, and GD's, around a young child should be able to be censored. I don't mind the F-bombs, myself, but OMG's and GD's are everywhere these days. It's probably my Christian side coming out, but that really REALLY bugs me.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by BlackStarNova - Friday, November 28, 2008 10:52 AM

"Silent Hill: Homecoming is a “first-person shooter” game. The gamer plays Alex Shepherd, a recently discharged soldier who returns home to Shepherd’s Glen."

last time I checked a "first person shooter" had the camera from the first person view.
someone there, is an idiot.....

Flag this comment for review

Posted by violentJuggalo - Friday, November 28, 2008 2:05 PM

its not my first but its my favorite
diablo 2 when i was in the 5th grade
and i played everyday
i also played liesure suit larry (the college one) like a year later
im 15 now by the way

Flag this comment for review

Posted by phatdoggy440 - Friday, November 28, 2008 10:37 PM

5 or 6 Duke Nukem 64

Flag this comment for review

Posted by phatdoggy440 - Friday, November 28, 2008 10:39 PM

5 or 6 Duke Nukem 64

Flag this comment for review

Posted by zimmy91 - Saturday, November 29, 2008 1:17 PM

First rated m game was turok 2 on n64.

First rated m game I owned metal gear solid 3.

Flag this comment for review

Posted by neoix - Sunday, November 30, 2008 10:53 PM

the first 'm' rated game I played was probably the original Halo. Though I believe that Halo shouldn't be 'm' rated...

Flag this comment for review

You must Login or Register to post.

G4TV

Multiplex

TV Shows

Web Shows

Hot Topics

News From The Feed