Nintendo puts the power in parents' hands

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Nov 16, 2005 10:18 am PT

Revolution will utilize password system to let parents decide which ratings are appropriate for their kids.

Ever since Nintendo insisted that Acclaim "sanitize" Mortal Kombat for the Super Nintendo, the company has had an image as a family-friendly gaming company, despite occasional evidence to the contrary (Conker's Bad Fur Day, the temporary GameCube exclusive Resident Evil 4, the blood-rich Super Nintendo Mortal Kombat II).

While the company's upcoming Revolution console is certain to change a few things at The Big N, don't expect that family-friendly tag to be one of them. Nintendo today announced that the Revolution will institute a play-control system not unlike that of modern V-Chip-equipped TVs.

The password-protected system will let parents set which rating categories are acceptable for their children, and prevent the system from running any software outside the approved range. The system is based on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's industry standard ratings, and each game's rating will be encoded on each Revolution disc. Nintendo says the system will be instituted on every Revolution console worldwide, presumably utilizing the local ratings system of each region.

"Even though many Nintendo games are rated E, E10+, or T, we believe this kind of feature should be included in the hardware. It's the right thing to do," said Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Reggie Fils-Aime. "Game ratings are on the front and back of every game package, so families can easily make a decision about whether a game is right for them."

The Xbox and Xbox 360 already incorporate such controls for games and DVDs, and the PlayStation 2 lets parents control access to DVDs.

36 Comments

  • Evanrocknuma

    Posted Dec 23, 2006 7:54 pm PT

    Same mario brothers. I think it is stupid they are adding so much parental controls in next gen systems. I mean what happens if there is like one or two M games that you want to play and your parents let you? It is a pain in the butt to have to have them input a pass word every time you want to play the freaking game! And parents trust your freaking kids for once in a life time if they play the freaking game and dont walk away from the TV screen wide eyed the game isnt freaking effecting them! Im sorry but Parents need to freaking learn that what doctors say about violence in videogames can screw up your kid is for one a uncomplete study that does not have an answer yet and for 2 violent games are not going to effect every kid! Be smart parents if you dont want your kids to have a certain game just get off your lazy butts and check their inventory and special hiding spots to make sure they dont have it!

  • Evanrocknuma

    Posted Dec 23, 2006 11:13 am PT

    Same mario brothers. I think it is stupid they are adding so much parental controls in next gen systems. I mean what happens if there is like one or two M games that you want to play and your parents let you? It is a pain in the butt to have to have them input a pass word every time you want to play the freaking game! And parents trust your freaking kids for once in a life time if they play the freaking game and dont walk away from the TV screen wide eyed the game isnt freaking effecting them! Im sorry but Parents need to freaking learn that what doctors say about violence in videogames can screw up your kid is for one a uncomplete study that does not have an answer yet and for 2 violent games are not going to effect every kid! Be smart parents if you dont want your kids to have a certain game just get off your lazy butts and check their inventory and special hiding spots to make sure they dont have it!

  • mario_brothers

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 9:43 am PT

    i have m games cuz i doncare i am 13 years old

  • Tsimonian07

    Posted Aug 13, 2006 6:42 am PT

    Anyone who thinks this is a bad idea is stupid, its a way for parents to look out for what their children are experiencing. and that 11 year old kid sounds really big trying to fool his way into the password thing...

  • MasterFox72

    Posted Jul 13, 2006 12:47 pm PT

    stupid idea

  • FuguNabe

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 10:06 pm PT

    Nintendo still cares. Nothing new but nice to know.

  • Bluestorm-Kalas

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 3:04 pm PT

    wow...theres a hole 3 buttons on the rev controller, even a baby could figure out the password....jeeze people 3 butttons, maybe it will be text, but chances are its button oriented and copying something else *cough* 360! *cough*

  • Tenchi_774

    Posted Dec 29, 2005 6:07 am PT

    lniktheking, i like the way you think.....HAHAHAHAHA!

  • adam92682

    Posted Nov 21, 2005 8:21 am PT

    I wonder how the information is saved and if it possible to bypass it somehow. not that it matters to me because im 23 wouldnt play a game on any console anyway

  • Phantom_2003

    Posted Nov 20, 2005 8:27 am PT

    dwmorrow i agree totally with you. because if they release some sort of GTA for the gamecube (realistically it will never happen or it will be sanitized and mario will be in it and he will jump on gangster's heads or something stupid) and another columbine shooting happens. instead of people going "i played GTA and i killed ppl GTA made me do it omg" now the video game company can go "well if you weren't such a uncaring parent maybe this wouldn't have happened, we made it easy for you to stop it, but if you're going to let a 10 year old play GTA its not our fault, cause it's not designed for a 10 year old's mind"

  • genocide123

    Posted Nov 18, 2005 9:32 am PT

    Nintendo always thinking of ways to satisfy their audience, and yet they came up with a good one once again. Good job.

  • dwmorrow

    Posted Nov 18, 2005 9:17 am PT

    The best thing about this is that it puts the onus on parents to police their own damn kids, instead of blaming the video game industry when little Bobby borrows a buddy's copy of GTA and gets caught banging hookers and shooting cops.

    Btw, "Mature" does not equal gore and sex. Nintendo's got plenty of "Mature" titles.

  • Donkeljohn

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 3:25 pm PT

    It is decisions like these, that build my trust in Nintendo.

  • Pachilles

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 3:05 pm PT

    I sure wish the PS2 had parental controls in it. Maybe I could have stopped my 13yr old son from playing GTA (that he borrowed from his buddy).

  • ThePatinator

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 2:54 pm PT

    Yeah, sounds good, but if your gonna fork out the money to get the games it'd kind of suck if they didn't work.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 10:55 am PT

    old news.

  • Mastercheat117

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 10:08 am PT

    My mom dosent know or care about game systems. She cares about
    the game ratings and I cant play M rated games so it dosent matter to
    me.Nintendo is turning into a family game company (unlike the
    Xbox360) and i dont like it so i probably wont buy the system anyway.

  • Ohidjwae

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 9:43 am PT

    That's funny, considering that the original Xbox has this feature as well. Microsoft only bothers promoting it now since M rated games are such a hot topic.

    It'd be even better if parents would do a bit of research before purchasing games for their children. Even so, it WOULD keep friends from bringing games over that the parents may not want their children playing, which I think makes it a worthwhile feature on ANY console.

  • coolcool23

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 9:03 am PT

    Well, it IS a good idea, but i still say that nintendo is only aiming this console towards hardcore fans and children. The xbox 360 has parental contols too and they really hyped it up because the controls were "for the first time, INTEGRATED into the hardware!!! OMG, WTH!!"

    This should have been done long ago even though the hardcore gamer will never use it.

  • MegaXtreme

    Posted Nov 17, 2005 7:50 am PT

    This is good, since now more Mature-rated games can make it on the Nintendo Revolution and parents can keep these kinds of games out of the hands of their children if they do get a hold of one. This could have been useful for games like RE4, Prince of Persia 2, and other M-rated games on GC.

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