DS Daily: Do game ratings even matter?

With all the controversy surrounding the Wii's Manhunt 2, we're reminded of a question we've been pondering for some time. In fact, since we here at DS Fanboy were discussing the issue just today, it seems like a good time to get your take on it: do game ratings even matter? It seems as though we all had stories that seemed to indicate that they didn't; so many people don't seem to pay attention to the content of games. In her column at GameSetWatch, Leigh Alexander mentioned something along these lines recently when talking about our secret favorite game: "Look at the bright-and-sunny box art-if parents can be dense enough to grab more forbidding-looking games for their inappropriately-aged kids, you can imagine how many weekend dads will try and bring home a pink-haired cartoon witch to their elementary-school daughters."

It's funny because it's true. Too many parents don't pay attention to anything except the cover, if that, and sometimes it seems that the ratings don't even matter. Anyone who's worked in retail around games can testify to that. It's much worse than with the movie industry, wherein the rating actually seems to make a difference at times. But that's just our opinion -- we're here to find out what you think.