Its the time of day once more when a political award must be given out, this time to the politician that is the biggest idiot of the day. The award could be given out because they wore a silly hat, or in the case of today's winner, Labour MEP Glenis Willmott its because she has decided to take a stand and call for something to be introduced that already exists.Glenis you see, has called for a "red button" on games consoles saying a "red button fitted to consoles, computers and other gaming devices would offer parents the chance to control access or even disable games with inappropriate content."
Glenis, you really should spend your expenses on more research staff then you won't face being told you're an idiot. Had you taken a moment to use Google - a neat little thing called a "search engine" in case you didn't know - you would have learned that such things already exist on gaming consoles.
The X-Box 360 and Live have specific family settings which have two functions,
When playing offline, they can be set to grant or restrict access to games based on the ESRB rating. When playing online, they can be used to restrict access to content and contacts based on the parent's choice.Or how about Playstatioon 3 and its Parental Control system designed to stop the kids getting too much fun out of Kill Zone 2? Congratulations Glenis, thanks for supporting a complete waste of money being spent on something that already exists. Truly special!
Note: Glenis was submitted for the award via email.
12 comments:
Well, we know where the euromoney for her researcher went.
I remember covering an earlier version of this story back in February and came to exactly the same conclusion. The market and common sense have already moved in months, nay years ahead of the politicians, yet they still insist on meddling.
Not sure about other people but I use the rather simplistic approach of saying "oi, turn that off" for some reason (I assume because I'm an average parent) they do what they are told. Then I tell myself off for leaving the game out.
Well, she's a blonde, it seems. Maybe that's her adopted religion though.
There's a 'parental control button' on every console - it's called the 'Off Button'.
Politicians are utterly clueless about videogames.
But what this actually reminds me of is hearing the news of Alex Salmond's decision to make all eye tests in Scotland "free" on the NHS just as I happened to be passing a Specsavers with a huge "FREE EYE TESTS!" poster in the window.
They live in their own little world.
@ Sam Duncan.
Free eye tests have been available here in Scotland since, I believe, 2006. Are you saying that Salmond has only now realised this and is therefore an idiot and if so, please provide details or are you the type of pedantic twat that spews shite out of the wrong end and means I have to comment on one of Dizzie's posts rather than moving straight on to the next entertaining piece?
STB.
p.s. Anytime, Dizzie...anytime :).
" Sam Duncan said...
They live in their own little world."
It is a big pity that it is so near ours!
Careful there Dizzy or you'll have the original internet meddling mother Carol Voodooman on your case, especially as she has so much free time on her hands with her latest dodgy business venture going tits up.
ScotsToryB said
p.s. Anytime, Dizzie...anytime :).
?
Erm, forgive me here, but shouldn't parents take more interest in the games their children purchase in the first place.
I do allow my son (14) to play some of the 16/18 rated games (Bioshock, Call of Duty, Dead Space) because the violence is not gratuitous and relevant to the storyline of the game, unlike Grand Theft Auto which is just gratuitous criminal violence.
I remember a TV interview some years ago with Ice T who said that when parents complain that rap music has a bad influence on their kids it says more about their parenting skills than it does about rap music - the same can be said of video games.
I enjoy the sucking on the various flavours of condom available today. My current favourite is butterscotch.
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