THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANAND NAIDOO, CNN ANCHOR: Concerns are rising over the reliability of the rating system for videogame content. Anything rated E is supposed to mean it's suitable for anyone 6 and older, but a recent study on videogame violence is giving the rating system an F.
Researchers say 64 percent of the E-rated games sampled contained intentional violence in almost a third of their playing times. More than half of those games rewarded players for injuring characters. And 45 percent of the games, without any warnings at all, contained violent acts.
Raj Ahluwalia of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation tells us why parents should be worried.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAJ AHLUWALIA, CBC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Judge for yourself: Is this popular videogame appropriate for young children? How about this one, Nuclear Strike 64? Both are rated E, that is suitable for kids as young as 6, games that are supposed to contain a minimal amount of violence.
DR. KIMBERLY THOMPSON, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We found that 64 percent the games did involve violence, and the range of violence in those games was very large.
AHLUWALIA: To come up with those conclusions, Kimberly Thompson and her team of researchers played and analyzed 55 of the best selling videogames, all of them rated E. Her study, published in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" suggests many parents may not realize just how violent their children's videogames are.
THOMPSON: The idea that these games may in fact reward violence or require the child to make violent actions or take violent actions in order to advance in the play is something that might surprise some parents, and particularly parents of younger children who may not be aware of what is in the game.
AHLUWALIA: Eric Willis knows exactly what is in those games, and they are not too violent for his son. Michael is 8 years old, and he plays videogames every day. Some of his favorites, like this one, Perfect Dark, are rated M for mature, not suitable for anyone under 17, partly because it's intensely violent. The object: To track down and kill the bad guys. ERIC WILLIS, PARENT: If you censor everything in a child's life, they are not in a position to develop judgment, so I think it's important they be exposed to mild things and violent things.
HARVEY NIGHTINGALE, VIDEOGAME MAKERS SPOKESMAN: Everybody is different, everybody has their own value system.
AHLUWALIA: Harvey Nightingale speaks for the makers of the videogames -- Sony, Sega, Nintendo -- the very companies that set up the rating system. He says they are not hard and fast rules, they are voluntary, meant to be a guide for parents.
NIGHTINGALE: There will always be a segment of society that says, notwithstanding how you labeled a product, we don't like it, or think differently. We say great, don't buy it. Your values should come into play.
AHLUWALIA (on camera): Canada's justice ministers are looking at the level of violence in children's videogames and what impact it may have on them, but the research into this won't be ready until next March. It will be longer still before there is any action from the federal or provincial governments.
Raj Ahluwalia, CBC News, Toronto.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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