A Computer Game's Quiet Little Extra: Parental Control Software

With all the buzz over the new Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3, there's been little mention of one new feature available in both game consoles: Tucked into the interface of each are content-filtering software tools designed to give parents control over whether their children can play violent video games.

Microsoft's Xbox 360, released last year, features the same sort of functionality. Like the PS3, the Xbox 360 is a multimedia device that allows users access to the Web and the ability to watch movies. So the designers of those two devices included software that users can activate to make sure their children cannot watch R-rated movies or chat with strangers online.

For an industry with image problems stemming from violent content, some might find it surprising that Sony and Nintendo aren't doing more to publicize their parental control features. Packed with the box for the new PlayStation 3, for example, is a sheet of paper that explains the video game ratings system to parents -- with ratings like "E" (deemed suitable for "everyone") or "T" (for "teen" audiences and up). But there's no mention of the parental controls, which automatically detect the rating for games and let parents determine if games in a certain category are available to their children.

Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said the parental controls on the PS3 were put in to "future proof" the device for a day when, the company hopes, the PS3 is used widely in people's homes.

"We tried to anticipate everything this system will need for the next 10 years," he said. "Most of the folks buying the system today are the hardcore early adopters who don't have kids in the house and aren't focused on that."

The Xbox 360, by contrast, has been on the market for a year and is now reaching for a more mainstream and family-oriented market. Microsoft has started to promote the Xbox controls in a 20-city bus tour currently underway. In a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Best Buy, the company has been offering to teach parents how to use the controls and understand the game industry's ratings system.

Some owners of the new consoles, meanwhile, say they weren't aware of the settings.

Stephen Baker, a father of two in Reston, picked up the Wii console on the day it went on sale last month. As a tech analyst for research firm NPD, he's no Luddite, but he said he was surprised to learn that he could adjust the system so that anyone wanting to play a violent game would need to enter a four-digit code.

"As a father, I didn't know, and as an analyst, I didn't know," he said.

He said he doesn't really care about the filtering option because he exercises a different kind of parental control. "If I think a game's not appropriate for them, I'm just not going to buy it," he said. Baker said he doesn't pay much attention to ratings, which are featured on the box of every video game sold at retail -- he mostly just goes with his gut on whether a title is appropriate for his 12- and 13-year-old sons.

This isn't the first time electronics firms have incorporated content-filtering features, and it isn't the first time such features have gone largely unnoticed.

Some techies compare the new controls to the V-chip system built into TV sets. Since 2000, all televisions with screens larger than 13 inches sold in the United States have come with this device, designed to let parents filter programming.