The Cutting Edge / Technology News : Video Game Rating Group Plans Campaign

A 5-year-old watchdog group created to rate video games will announce next week that it is launching a public service campaign aimed at increasing awareness of its little-known ratings system. The campaign by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board follows close scrutiny of its ratings system earlier this year by lawmakers and parents when assailants in the Columbine High School massacre were reported to have played violent video games. The nonprofit ESRB was created by the Interactive Digital Software Assn., an industry trade group, to develop a voluntary ratings system for video games. Teams of raters evaluate games before they are distributed. Their ratings, which appear on the back of game boxes, have five age-based categories: early childhood, teen, everyone, mature and adults only. The campaign will be announced Tuesday in Washington.