I went off about this on my show a few weeks ago. The law isn’t really targeting games, it’s actually trying to do something about a more prominent and strict ESRB rating. the problem isn’t in the ESRB ratings. The problem is two major things. first, a parent just won’t pay attention. I mean, if your six year old is playing GTA and the box says that it might not be good for people under 17, you may want to figure out why! Second, store clerks sell games to anyone. They just don’t pay attention to the apparent age of the person and the rating on the game. Maybe putting some more severe penalties on people selling games to minors could help a bit more than this. – Candace Holly

Sounds like Candace has the right idea. What good is a rating system if it’s not enforced? – Zach Underwood

There are no penalties if movie theaters let people under 17 into R rated movies or if rental places rent R-rated DVDs to 13 year olds. Why should video games be any different? Gaming companies are helping parents be more informed about the games their kids are playing through the ESRB rating. – Bjorn Stromberg

I think parents are just going to have to step into the room and look at what their kids are doing with the 30+ hours it takes to finish a video game. Laws can’t replace good parenting. If you restrict kids from buying games at retail, they’ll just go to BitTorrent anyways: kids are clever. – Nicholas Molnar

@Nicholas – Yeap! The stores that sell the games are only part of it. The biggest thing is..parents are just going to have to be a parent. – Candace Holly

if you squint, that looks like a tengu! – Mona N

how about this we just stop rating everything… we need to just STOP censoring the planet if parents and teens don’t care then why bother. Besides if X wants to play Y game they will find a way to do it I think the people playing the games need to know not the parents if you want to watch blood spray everywhere that’s your deal but if not you should know how to avoid the games – Cecil Sandus

I’m sorry but Patterson is a moron .. I hate it for the people of the great state of NY you guys deserve much better then him .. eveything he’s asking for is already in place and well all know it he’s just bringing up this tripe so he can continue to be NY governor. .. that’s all it is – JohnBfromMemphis via twhirl

Actually the government did a test and found that games ratings were the most well enforced of all media. Aside from that, all modern consoles can be set to completely block games of certain ratings from playing. The industry does need to communicate that better, and help parents figure out how to set it up. But really, the attacks on gaming are because politicians are playing on parents’ fear of the unknown. It’s an age-old tactic that happens to every form of media in it’s adolescence. – invariant