Microsoft’s Xbox to Let Users Block Mature Content
Microsoft Corp. plans to incorporate content-control capabilities in its upcoming Xbox video game console, allowing parents to block violent or sexually explicit games and DVD movies.
The Xbox, due to hit stores this fall, will be the first console that allows parents to disable certain games--a feature similar to the so-called V-chip screening device embedded in many television sets today. Sony’s rival PlayStation 2 allows users to disable the DVD player.
“It’s relatively easy to do, and it’s something we’ve built into the design,” said John O’Rourke, Microsoft’s director of games marketing.
Parent groups and policymakers applauded the move but said that more could be done to prevent children from being exposed to inappropriate content.
“We absolutely support technology that will help parents make choices about their children’s media consumption,” said Patti Miller, director of the media unit at Children Now, an advocacy group in Oakland.
“However, I don’t think this type of technology takes away the industry’s responsibility to our children. They still need to be conscious of the message they are sending our children about sex, violence, race, class and gender.”
With the Xbox, Microsoft hopes to take on Sony, which has sold close to 9 million PlayStation 2 consoles since the machine’s debut last year. Also slugging it out for a piece of the $20-billion worldwide game market is Nintendo, which launches its Gamecube console this fall.
Sony and Nintendo declined to comment on the Xbox parental-control technology. Neither Nintendo 64 nor PlayStation 2 gives consumers the option of blocking games based on their ratings.
Officials of Sega said they decided not to incorporate parental-control technology in the Dreamcast console because they didn’t want to alienate consumers, who for Sega include younger, hard-core gamers.
“You don’t need to treat consumers as if they live in a nanny state,” said Charles Bellfield, a Sega spokesman, who declined to comment specifically on the Xbox feature. “You can empower parents to make the right decision by providing them with information.”
One problem area is stores, where--according to veteran gamers--children can easily obtain Mature-rated games. “Hardware and software manufacturers have to work in tandem with retailers to truly have impact,” said Geoff Keighley, editor of Gameslice, an online industry news site.
Even so, Microsoft’s decision comes at a time of increasing federal scrutiny of the effects of media violence on children.
In January, the U.S. surgeon general issued a report linking graphically violent content--primarily TV programming--to increased aggression in children. And last fall, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission found that violent movies were being marketed to children, triggering a flurry of public condemnation from lawmakers and parent groups.
Much of the outcry was directed at Hollywood. But with increasingly realistic graphics, violent games such as “Carmageddon” and “Doom” have been condemned by some lawmakers and parents who consider them far more insidious than movies or television.
That’s because unlike the passive experience of watching television or a movie, video games require players to take an active role in the violence.
Fearful that they might end up under the same microscope as the film industry, many game developers are counting on preemptive actions such as parental-control features and voluntary ratings of video games to show that the industry can regulate itself.
Virtually all console games and most games played on personal computers are assigned one of five ratings from the industry-sponsored Entertainment Software Ratings Board.
Sexually explicit games are given an Adult Only designation, while violent games are assigned a Mature rating. Other ratings are Teen for mildly violent games, Everyone for games with no violence and Early Childhood, a rating given to educational games aimed at small children.
The Xbox will rely on these ratings to let parents filter games. Game publishers can add a small notation to the game identifying its rating. The console would then scan a game disk for its rating and refuse to play games that parents have locked out.
The Xbox also has a DVD player, and the same concept could be applied to filter out R-rated or X-rated movies played on the Xbox.
Microsoft is hoping to do more than just win political bonus points. It’s also hoping to win over customers, particularly parents of young gamers who have until now gravitated toward Nintendo products.
“They want to appeal to the Nintendo crowd,” said P.J. McNealy, senior analyst at Gartner Group Inc., based in Stamford, Conn. “They want to be a safe choice for parents of children under 18.”
The strategy, however, has one potential downside. The small but influential crowd of hard-core gamers--on whom Microsoft is relying to build buzz around the Xbox--might not appreciate technology that restricts their choice of games.
“It might tarnish their image among that crowd,” said Billy Pidgeon, analyst with Jupiter Research in New York.
