conradguerrero
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Europe To Publishers: Rate Or Die
30-DEC-02
The Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) announced today that all video games published in European Union countries will carry unified ratings beginning in April of next year. The ISFE, the Euro equivalent of the IDSA video game trade organization, will govern the ratings, which will supercede the rating systems each individual European country has right now.
The unified rating system was born out of a public backlash against graphic violence and antisocial GTA-style hijinx. "It is only fitting that an industry exerting increasing influence on people displays an enhanced sense of social responsibility," commented ISFE head Patrice Chazerhand to the British Guardian newspaper.
Like the CERO rating system in Japan, ISFE's scale is mostly based on the age of the target audience. Games with zero offensive content get a three-plus rating; after that, games can be appraised as seven-plus, 12-plus, 16-plus and 18-plus. In addition, each rating can have descriptor icons attached to it that outline the offensive content in more detail. There are six icons in all—violence, sex, drugs, fear, discrimination, and bad language—and we can't wait to see a game that has all six of them on the box. Personally speaking, that is. Your mom might disagree.
Find the new icons here.
