The Entertainment Software Rating Board has revealed that the North American version of Sony's PSPgo will come preloaded with the company's Video Game Ratings Guide. ESRB president Patricia Vance wrote the following on the PlayStation Blog:
"SCEA is doing its part with the ESRB Video Game Ratings Guide that comes pre-loaded right on the new PSPgo device itself. I got a peek at the Guide as it was being developed and it was great to see its straight-forward and thorough overview of the ESRB rating system as well as a step-by-step walkthrough of the device’s parental control features and settings. Definitions of the ESRB age rating categories and content descriptors give parents a good understanding of how the ratings work, examples of titles that carry each of the ratings provide a useful point of reference, and the tutorial on setting up parental controls makes putting those ratings to work on the system a quick and easy process."
While I'm all for informing parents of game ratings and how they work, this effort seems misplaced to me. Are parents really buying their kids $250 handheld systems? In some cases, sure, but I'm certain that most PSPgo customers are in their late teens to early 30s -- consumers that are mature enough to make their own purchasing decisions. The ESRB and Sony are making a nice gesture with this inclusion, but I don't see it as particularly effective.
What do you think, ladies and gentlemen? Wouldn't something like this make more sense on the Nintendo DS? Or am I wrong in thinking that the majority of PSPgo customers are "older" gamers?
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superelite777
i think they're trying to tell kids to play the retarded games they provide for little people, like fossil fighters , who cares for that crap, my brother plays t and m , because he hates kid games , they put no work into it at all
100percentgood
honestly, i feel like its due simply to the fact that this is an all-digital system.
without the physical box in their hands, parents would be less apt to notice the ESRB ratings. when their child goes to ask for a game, or what have you.
it simply seems that they are covering all their bases. if there WASNT something like this in place, you know that the first kid who downloaded god of war or something under false pretenses towards their parents, and thered be some sort of backlash. this way, they have the literature in place, and wont be held as accountable for any "wrongdoing" that someone could try and think up.
misplaced for you and me? absolutely. misplaced for the masses? not at all.
EKG
They were wrong to put it on the PSP Go! for one reason and one reason only...The PSP Go! is going to sell like junk.
-No New Battery with longer lasting Juice. Instead, we are given the same low grade battery and told it will last just as long as the old one. In other words, 3 hours tops.
-No replaceable Battery. Instead of giving us an easy way to replace worn down Batteries, they have made in nearly impossible in an attempt to thwart hackers. In other words, honest customers are being punished in an attempt to punish hackers who will just bypass it in a day anyway.
-No Second Stick. Since day one people have been begging Sony to add a second stick to the PSP. All Games and all Genres would benefit from a second stick. Instead, we got nothing. Considering how easy it is to download PS1 Classics on the PSP, and completely customize the controls to your liking, the addition of a second stick could have been easily made backwards compatible to existing games.
-The same screen as previous PSP's, only smaller. Instead of giving us a better and crisper screen, they cut the size of the existing one and called it a day.
-No Definitive way to play our old UMD Games. All they have said is "We are working on a solution". But anyone with half a brain knows that Nothing they can do will solve this problem. It is only going to end up hurting honest customers since Sony is only worrying about people renting and borrowing UMD's from stores and friends and downloading them on their PSP's. Of course, this would severely hurt UMD Game sales since no one would be actually buying the games, and Sony won't allow it.
-It is $250 for a PSP Go! that isn't even as good as the old ones you can get for $100 or more cheaper. You could buy a Top Model Xbox 360 or PS3 for $50 more. And with the PS3 you are getting a Bluray Player.
SinnerDelGore
This move is just a diaper that Sony needs to put on to catch all the crap naysayer will be flinging once the PSPGO comes out. Yes, the device is more for older teens/adults, but that won't stop the "special" groups from putting a negative spin on it. I agree that this is truely a waste of time but Sony is trying to make some type of consession to ease the pressure. However wrongly it is applied.
PSeybold
Its Patrick from PlayStation. Surprised you don't see this as a win. Educating parents, gamers etc is only a good thing here. While yes, its only on the PSPgo right now, its easy to imagine a lot of parents being PSPgo owners, getting educated and then implementing what they learned into their home consoles. Its not just about parental controls on the PSPgo, its about overall understanding the ratings and why and where games fall within them, and what you can do with the systems. Besides, it eliminates the need for the paper insert into the box, which is often times probably ignored. Finally, if you don't want it on your PSP you can remove it. Don't see how there's a downside at all here.
top8cat
I an M game could last long enough on the DS for parents to use it then yes, the DS would be the smarter choice
shagdaddey
Sounds to me like just another way to help deadbeat parents who are barely a part of their kids lives by looking at a rating. Problem is, like M0dSquad mentions, is that parents are "too busy working full time" so they dont care what their kids are involved with as long as they aren't doing anything illegal. That and, parents dont do any parenting anymore so whats the point?
At the same time, hearing more special interest children groups attacking gaming, tv, and film is only going to hinder and ruin the 18-35 audience that most ps3/x360 owners are. It's not like the ESRB rating are complex on any level. If a parent needs more help understanding these ratings, they are pathetic and should not be producing any more offspring. Clearly they have some bad dna and genes that should not be passed on.
"Protect the Children" is played out and pointless. this country can't keep taking rights away from the single 18+ males/females just because of lazy parenting passing blame to everyone except themselves.
chezstik
Your logic makes very little sense, as most new video games systems are launched in time for the hollidays, meaning they will be gifts, and while granted is seems most parents don't care or don't understand about ESRB ratings, I think it's a good step by Sony to bridge that gap.
PRD
This intent to overprotect kids with meaningless rating is a waste of time and resources. Really who pay attention to their kids games. Plus what they don't "learn" in games will learn outside of it so it seems pointless to put such system.
M0dSquad
Most parents these days are either too busy working full time, or just don't give a damn (excuse my french) about kids with their video games.
Besides, why would you put a more explained ERSB system on a PSPGo? Most times a parent won't touch their kids PSP unless the kid has done wrong and is being punished.
pklepek
Er, what's the harm? More informed parents, gamers is a good thing. Don't read it.
Zabbai
Stupid and unnecessary.
llaffer
At least using ESRB ratings is more intuitive than the "Security level 1-9" crap that makes no sense, that PS3 also uses.
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