Kids like to do what they’re not supposed to do. Call it rebelling or call it whatever, it happens. Kids get their hands on GTA IV, kids stay out later than they’re supposed to, sometimes kids get into your liquor cabinet when they’re not supposed to. I remember walking into my child’s daycare about two years ago and to my astonishment, a couple of 9-year-olds were playing GTA Vice City on the play area’s PS2. It happens.
With this latest study indicating that rating a game “Mature” makes them more desirable for under age kids(tell us something we don’t know…duh!), it looks like Toys R Us has decided to capitalize on that to promote their video games. Real pictures and lots of ranting, after the jump.
I was wandering around the game section of a local Toys R Us yesterday and I saw something that I had never seen before:
Amongst the games being displayed, mature rated games were labeled with a red band. Furthermore, if you wanted to buy them, you had to take the case to the video game clerk, or whatever they’re called, and ask for that person to retrieve it for you. Here’s the instructions on the back of the 50 cent game:
I don’t get it. Is it not enough to have the big “M” on the cover and the back of the game? Is it not enough to ask for ID to buy a Mature rated title? Why don’t they just put bags over the games like they’re porn and put them in a back room? Let’s make people even more uncomfortable… How stupid.
Furthermore, by putting the giant RED BAND on the cover, you’re instantly begging children to buy the game. I just don’t get it. Do you see this kind of stuff on R rated DVD’s for sale? Nope. Why, all of a sudden are video games the pariah here? Why don’t we put giant red bands on dumbass parents that allow their kids to play games that weren’t made for them.
Now, that’s an idea I could get behind. Giant red bands for bad parents with white lettering that says “Jackass”… Perfect.
Please let me know what you think about this below.
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Wow, that’s really idiotic.
Do they sell any games that aren’t rated M?
yes they do. Right next to the M rated games. I wish I had taken a wider shot…
lol that’s ridiculous they are going to have to stacks of kids bringing Gears 2 to the counter
I went over to Toys R Us just yesterday and I noticed that also. If anything, that better let those parents know NOT to buy those games for their kids. I think that was the point of the red bands.’
You know what? Since Toys R Us is, obviously, a toy store, should they even be selling M rated games in the first place? What self-respecting man would walk into a Toys R Us with the mindset of picking up an M rated game? Toys R Us is a children’s store – it should carry what is appropriate for children and M rated games ARE NOT.
It isn’t really intended for the kids. Its so the parent(s) know they are about to purchase a mature rated game. They were kept behind the register for a long time with no display boxes but that was hurting sales. TRU also checks I.D. and inputs a birthday into the register before proceeded with the purchase. And yes BlinkinCard toys r us should be allowed to sale mature rated games. Lots of ’self respecting’ men and women pick up games at toys r us.
Oh boy, can’t wait for when I have to walk through the beads just to pick up a simple game. Though that red band on anything that deserves a red band, is an awesome idea. Porn Mag, “13-17 year-old no ID required.” Sandwich, “edible. “Parents who seriously shouldn’t have kids, but obviously do, “douchebag of the day.”
When I was a kid it was pretty easy to get someone to buy us booze. It’d be even easier for a kid nowadays to get someone to buy them an M-rated game. This is just a challenge to them. They will overcome!
That’s disgusting but at the same time doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Ok, let me get this straight. I’m still 17 now, and for the past 7-8 years I’ve been playing “M” rated games (think Half Life, Half life 2, Unreal, Doom 3 etc.) These games were well available for me, I didn’t even have ask anyone to buy them for me. Now, all of a sudden, these games are taboo?
But HOLD ON A SEC, those games I bought were only for the PC, and the games I see in the pics above are for Xbox 360. Unless PC games were in a similar situation, could we be seeing a trend here?
Lono, I think the main reason why Toys R Us now puts those labels on M rated games is because the store doesn’t really sell anything else that’s rated 17+. They don’t sell R rated movies nor do they sell CD’s that have explicit lyrics.
When you think about it, the only items you can buy at Toys R Us that will contain cursing, ta ta’s (Afro Samurai), a real wii (GTA4 DLC), and plenty of blood are certain video games. I bet a group of parents made a huge beef about it to Toys R Us because they were too ignorant to read the label on the game that their “smart” kid bugged them to buy.
However, if they started putting those red labels on around the same time the study was published, then BAM ! Selling “strateegery” (quoting Bush).
lol, they’ve been doing this in the Toys R us in Dubai for years now only without a red band and “mature title” smacked on.
I only realised now how all the best games from the holiday season were mature rated.
Maybe it’s not the mature rating making people want them after all?
Toys r us has done this for a long time now. original XBOX DAYS
Aren’t *all* games, at least full price ones, behind the counter at TRU? That’s the way it is at mine, the only actual games on the floor are the discounted games in a dump bin. I don’t recall if there are any M games in there, but I don’t dig through it that much.
I guess I’m not seeing the problem. Adults obviously go to TRU to buy games–they’ve had some good deals there recently. Kids obviously go there to buy toys. This is one thing a retailer has voluntarily chosen to do to make it painfully obvious to the parent when little Jimmy comes with a game case “Can you buy this for me?” that the game might not be appropriate for little Jimmy.
The color red gets attention. The band being at the top makes it painfully difficult to miss. *shrug* Not seeing the outrage. Of course, I’m also an adult who hasn’t been carded for anything in a decade, and I’m involved with any games my boy plays and fully aware of the rating mechanism, so I don’t take this personally at all.
Oh, and I have seen those bands as of least last fall, iirc.
Wow, is this for every game or just for those in Toys R’ Us?? Cos, I sorta like the art on the game cases and would hate if there was this random red band on it with ‘Mature Title’ on it… >.>
And now these days all games are ‘Mature’!! What happened to the days when we would just get a simple game… Like… Rollercoaster Tyccon… which was E for Everyone… haha… I miss those days anyway… (Just saying) I used to think the highest rating was T for Teen when I was a little younger although I wouldn’t say i’m old at all… haha… Just thought I’d bring that up…
Honestly its the parents responsibility to watch what their kids play but I think there are some exceptions. Like my 10 year old cousin who is as mature as a 17 year old doesnt have problems getting mature games for holidays or birthday and he plays in front of his parents but then again like I said hes a bit more mature than say any other 10 year old. Then theres my 5 year old cousin who acts like a regular 5 year old that isnt aloud to play anything violent and can only play kids games even at my house. It depends on the kid and the parents. If a child is smart enough to know that guns kill people and not to play around with them I dont see a problem with letting my cousin play with me some call of duty. And if he knows that stealing cars and killing people and running them over is bad then I dont mind letting him drive around in GTA and have some fun. And isnt this what its all about? Fun. Yes some kids cant handle the violence and think they are Spiderman and climb on my roof(my other cousin). but thats no reason to punish the other kids. If a game is rated M for violence and language its the same as going to the theater and watching a movie with the same things.
I think the biggest issue here is that a great deal of parents out there haven’t gotten it through their heads that Video Games are more than just toys for children. They haven’t bothered to pay attention to the game ratings because they think they’re just expensive toys.
This is just another check in the box that video games aren’t considered part of the mainstream entertainment industry that they should be. Everyone knows about movie ratings, and parents don’t let their kids see R rated flicks unless they think they’re ready – but they’ll buy them GTAIV without a second thought.
I look forward to the day where our generation takes over and gaming takes its place in at the front of the entertainment industry.
The funny thing is bad parents are STILL going to but these games for their kids. Some parents just don’t care.
Havnt seen this in the UK yet, or maybe im not looking..
I don’t want to buy a game with an immovable red band on the top covering the artwork. That’s bull butter. I could care less if it was an easily removable sticker, but I personally like the artwork on my video games to be void of any distracting and unintended colors.
they probably meant it for parents, but for sure its the kids that are looking at them.
I would seriously hope that ONLY the display boxes have the red band of the Devil across the top, and after you goto the counter you get the normal box.
Anyone know?
maybe if develpors BOTHERED with games rated 7+ kids wouldn’t need to buy 18 rated games, two of the only good +7 games i’ve seen are ratchet and clank and LittleBigPlanet where as there’s tons of decent games that get overrated. It’s an unfair world where kids are treated like morons by the games industry becasue they’re tricked easily into buying games like Alpha Team: The Videogame.
I’m not so glad my cousin plays World at war yet at the same time i’m glad he has the commen sense to know what a fricken good video game is, if they didn’t want him to play it maybe microsoft should invest in a decent videogame for he’s age group.
This… This is really stupid. I mean come on! If stores start doing this to video games, they damn well better start doing it to R rated movies as well, otherwise they are going to get a lot of hate mail and lose a lot of customers.
I have been able to purchase M rated games since I was 9, and no one ever questioned me until I was 11. What happened that time was I was buying a game, rated m, both parents present. The cashier rang up the game, and then put it in a bag. I took it out to look at it, and she informed me I couldn’t touch it until I left the store with my family, because it was rated m. She had to take it away from me like 3 times before I managed to take it away and keep her rom noticing I had taken it. That event really annoyed me, I hate control freak cashiers and stores that are terrified of selling m rated games. If the parents don’t want theirkids to play m rated games, they need to do something about it themselves, not regulate their sales.
I dont see much of an issue with it, just as long as those red marks are for the display case only and the actual game doesn’t have it. While I dont believe games will drive normal children to commit any cimes I do work with adolescents that have mental illnesses and other behavior issues and they are certaintly impressionable. I often bring my 360 in on the weekends and do a battle of the bands with Rockband, and in the process the kids see that I’ve got GTA IV and Halo 3 and COD 4 and all the latest greatest shooters on my gamercard. I always have atleast one kid who asks me to bring in those games and if you were able to read about their history you wouldn’t want then anywhere near anything like that. Video games certaintly didn’t cause their issues but I could see the violent ones exacerbating the issues with some of these kids. Also there’s far worse things that you get carded for these days. Did you know that you can’t buy compressed air in a can without being carded in my state? You know, the stuff you use to blow dust off keyboards and other electronics? Can’t buy lighters, can’t buy some types of glue, and a host of other things. I do think the end result is that parents should step it up however I know I didn’t always listen to my parents and I’m kind of thankful that one day my future 13 year old wont beable to buy GTA VI without me approving of it.