Revolution announces parental control feature

This is predictable, and obvious ^^

Nintendo has always cared about content kids get ahold of, but now they also want to dabble into darker content, they need to ensure that kids dont play games that are meant for 17+ age, so they do this

I am guessing theirs will be the easiest to set up and the hardest to crack, because Nintendo has always been against kids and bad media (which I agree with, 8 year olds playing GTA is fsked up)

Alright lets keep them from playing violent games, but allow them to watch rated R movies???

Yeah slave, I agree. And don't forget that console makers have to deal with the backlash from those jackholes rockstar games. They took advantage of the trust required for an industry to be successfully self regulated. If stronger parental controls are all that come of it, consider the industry lucky.

Nintendo doesnt make movies, so I do not think they control the movie market and what kids watch, but I am guessing their DVD feature will ALSO have programming to protect it from children

I remember when Parents actually walked in the room and watched what was on the TV to make sure the kid was being good and not playing/watching anything bad...

Damn its sad that parents suck these days

i think this is great! it really do put all the responsibility with the parent. if they still dont give a damn, well then they can go to hell.

I agree with number three. Since when we have been such bad parents, seriously. My mom would make sure to check what a game was about, and play along with me, before she'd let me play it alone.

We had talks about the difference between somebody dieing in a video game, and somebody dieing in real life.

To me this seems just like a cheap way to pawn off responsibility, and then when it is cracked by an 11 year old blame the hardware companies for making it too easy to hack.

It shouldn't all be placed into the hands of stores making sure to sell the right games, and computer chips to block the wrong content. It should be a return to parenting.

The Xbox has had this type of parental controls, but it was never marketed that much. Nintendo is just catching up.

about friggin time! The current gen systems shoulda had this too. Movies have ratings, and you can lock out DVDs by rating. You can do the same on TV with that V-chip or any cable box(time warner has commercials on all the time begging parents to use it). It only makes sense to have this so parents can stop kids from playing T or M games that their kids might acquire from their friends.

"I remember when Parents actually walked in the room and watched what was on the TV to make sure the kid was being good and not playing/watching anything bad..."

And I remember waiting until my parents went to sleep and then sneaking downstairs to watch HBO after midnight. Am I the only who did this?

It seems Nintendo is doing this to avoid inevitable lawsuits. And it's a smart thing to do, really. But I don't blame this on parents being bad parents. Twenty years ago, media coming into the home was significantly limited by either the coax cable or the antenna. Not to sound like an apologist, but against Tivo, Internet, drastically superior video games, iPod Video, cell phones, and everything short of the toaster oven being online, how easy can defending your home be?

That said, I wouldn't change any of it.

to #6 Nintendo invented the home console, xbox is playing catch up ;)

this is good. im 19 now and will probably have kids when i'm 25 so yea, i'd like to know that my kids wont be playing the 'blood enabled' version of that elusive horror game Capcom are making.
I'm in.

Parent: Here is your new games system Jimmy, have fun. Oh, while you're hooking it up, could you set the VCR clock?

Parent: Here's this video game that I was told was very popular. Now go play while I do my nails/mow the lawn ... ooh you kids and those video games.

You'll be lucky to have any parents at all even set the controls.

I have a kid who plays video games, we have all 3 systems and 2 have parental controls ... which control do I use? My own damn brain and eyes. The TV even has a password to the inputs. We as parents control what goes on that TV, not the kids.

I'm not sure why parents don't just stay aware of their kids' gaming/viewing habits. My strategy is to not have games in the house that I don't approve of. I do have some grownups-only DVDs, but the TV is in the common area of the house and there isn't currently a situation where the little guy would be able to watch or play a thing without me knowing about it.

The PC is way scarier, but since he learned about google image search and we were suprised by some unplesant photos, I lock the computer when I am not sitting at it. If he is computer literate enough to crack my password when I don't have a working CD drive, good for him. I hope he teaches me his mad skillz. :P

What do you mean "Can handheld systems be far behind?" They already HAVE it! Just last night I helped a customer lock down their son's PSP so he couldn't play M-rated games or surf the web without the parental clearance code. The PSP lets you lock down the system to any rating you desire, and can completely disable the web browser via password protection.

And I was HAPPY to help this customer! I was happy to see a parent TAKING RESPONSIBILITY and using the rating system properly, instead of just letting her young teen son run amok and then blaming it on the video game industry. She stepped in and DID SOME PARENTING, and even though she didn't know how to work it herself, she was smart and asked for help. She deserves an award for using her brain in this era of idiot parents who like to pass the buck.

And the kid? I agree with his mom- There's no reason anyone under 17 should expect to be able to watch mature material, or have unfettered access to the internet. If you're not mentally mature enough to deal with it, and your parents let you mess with mature-rated things, then it's THEIR FAULT if you end up an idiotic screwup, not video games, not a lack of religion, not bad schools, but BAD PARENTS.

I say GOOD FOR NINTENDO that they're doing this. But I still think the Rev controller is dooky.

As a parent you should aleady know what games/movies your kids are watching and deem them innapropriate/appropriate.

Personaly I think its better to open about anything and tell a child the truth. Help them distinguish fantasy and reality at an early age (but don't strip them of imagination LOL!!!). The more you lie and hide things, the more you'r child will explore them behind your back.

It's misleading to talk about companies "caring" about what kids do. They're companies. They care about making money. When somebody says a company cares about whether or not kids are exposed to adult material, they're really saying the company cares about the financial impact it might have on them.

Nintendo doesn't care about kids, they care about what parents think.

The Xbox has had this type of parental controls, but it was never marketed that much. Nintendo is just catching up.

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Uh, yeah.. and Nintendo gets labeled as the 'kiddie console' because of posts like this? Eh?

All console makers have this technology. The freakin PS2 has it. Next..

This piece of news shows that Nintendo is ready to delve into the un-kiddie realm.

I want hentai games!