Comments on: ESRB Wants App Store Games to Be Rated

By: Mac Attack | OS X REALITY

Mac Attack | OS X REALITY — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:18:49 +0000

[...] ESRB Wants App Store Games to Be Rated [...]

By: Apple News » Apple Implements App Ratings/Restrictions for iPhone, iPod Touch

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:12:05 +0000

[...] just choosing at random because their eyes are bleeding from reviewing thousands of apps. Doubt the ESRB is pleased with the company’s decision to go it alone, but I expect we’ll hear first-hand what [...]

By: Apple Implements App Ratings/Restrictions For iPhone, iPod Touch

Apple Implements App Ratings/Restrictions For iPhone, iPod Touch — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:03:52 +0000

By: Apple News » NIMF Backs ESA on iPhone Game Ratings; ESRB Says Bring It on

Apple News » NIMF Backs ESA on iPhone Game Ratings; ESRB Says Bring It on — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:12:45 +0000

[...] the ESRB, which, as at least one commenter pointed out in a previous post, may have a vested interest in pushing Apple to adopt its ratings system, NIMF [...]

By: NIMF Backs ESA On iPhone Game Ratings, ESRB Says Bring It On

NIMF Backs ESA On iPhone Game Ratings, ESRB Says Bring It On — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:17:47 +0000

[...] the ESRB, which, as at least one commenter pointed out in a previous post, may have a vested interest in pushing Apple to adopt its ratings system, NIMF [...]

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:38:57 +0000

@James, don’t forget that the iPod Touch is capable of most of the features in these games (aside from any that use GPS, etc.), and the Touch is right around the price ranges for the DSi and PSP.

As for the ratings, I was personally unaware of the high fees the ESRB charged until reading the comments here. My issue with it would have been that it would further delay and complicate the review process (Apple’s approval process causes enough problems). Combine that with the high fees that they charge, and this seems like a terrible idea. Let Apple govern the ratings. It seems more like something they would do anyway.

By: Ryan Burke

Ryan Burke — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:09:00 +0000

I’m all for rating sytems; it’s voluntary in the movie and games industries, and it helps keep that little freedom the devs have to publish what they want.

Should the ESRB be the rating system for iApps? Not my decision. Considering Apple already has an approval process, there should be another qualifier, and that could be “level of content”, with 3 to 5 ratings. Could use ESRP like ratings, could use MPAA like ratings (G, PG, PG-13, etc).

But it essentially comes down to the PARENTS of any child who has one of these devices to either a) know what’s going on it or b) know their kid well enough to know if something nefarious is going on.

I haven’t seen one thing that would merit a need for a rating…

By: Eggbert

Eggbert — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:35:07 +0000

Victor and James are right, but I’m going to say that ESRB just wants to cut out all the money they can from this. They’re seeing it rise, so they’re going to try and grab control of it.

By: James Dempsey

James Dempsey — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:35:21 +0000

I have to wonder what parent is buying their kid an expensive iPhone AND paying for an uber-expensive AT&T rate plan when the kid is young enough that a parental warning is necessary for a game.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:43:47 +0000

Why we need the ESRB? Apple won’t allow anything remotely offensive on the app store anyway.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:14:38 +0000

And how long does it take the ESRB to rate a game? I have no problem with developers submitting their games on their own time and dime, but NO, Apple should not require games to be rated.

btw… I’ve heard $3K to rate a game. If these types of devices are the future of gaming, of course the ESRB wants them rated.

By: Twist

Twist — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:12:42 +0000

Microsoft actually has a decent system in place to handle this in regards to their Xbox Live Community Games (soon to be renamed Xbox Live Indie Games) in which before a game is posted to the service it goes through a peer review process were among other issues the game’s content is rated. Sadly Microsoft doesn’t use these ratings for Parental Controls (all Community Games are Unrated and not accessible on accounts with Parental Controls enabled). Perhaps Apple could do something similar either with the developer community or better yet with the user community by letting people who have downloaded the product rate the content in sad product on some sort of sliding scale. Optionally the developers could submit their games to the ESRB for an official rating and hopefully the ESRB will be willing to lower their rates for mobile games (and it would be nice to see them also start rating things like Flash games as well but their current model isn’t very indie or low budget friendly).

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:43:35 +0000

Of course the ESRB wants in, they aren’t handing out ratings for free. According to what I’ve seen it’s $4,000.00 for a standard game. Now of course it would probably be less on the iPhone, but how much less? Anything over a few hundred could scare off the small indy devs. Requiring ratings is a bad idea and increasing barriers to entry makes me a sad panda.

Now if they want to allow, but not require games to get rated and set the parental controls to make unrated = triple x super nasty violent game so that kids can’t play unrated games, I’d be ok with that.