If you've followed the recent controversy about sex and violence in video games, then you're probably not too surprised by Monday's announcement that Sony
After all the uproar about hidden explicit sexual content in Take-Two Interactive's
I'm a strong believer that parents should take an active role in what their children view and play, whether that's video games, movies, or music. If anything irritated me about the San Andreas controversy, it was the sense that a lot of the outrage came from people -- including parents-- who seemed very poorly informed. The graphics in question weren't easy to unlock, and it was no secret that San Andreas was a violent game to say the least -- it already had an "M" (for mature audiences) rating. To me, that suggests that a lot of parents were asleep at the wheel, seeing how sales of M-rated games are already prohibited to kids under the age of 17. (After the controversy, the game received an "Adults Only" tag.)
Sony's no groundbreaker for including parental controls in its console; in fact, it's last to the party. Microsoft
It's going to be six to nine months before Sony launches its latest PlayStation in stores. Microsoft beat it to the punch with the Xbox 360 for this year's holiday season, and it's looking like Microsoft's console is now one of the hottest electronics gifts around. Today's news out of Sony strikes me as nice ... but ultimately, investors will have to wait for its launch to see whether the Playstation pays up.
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Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.