Justin Calvert Associate Editor	Now Playing: Pro Evolution Soccer 2 (PS2), MotoGP 2 (Xbox), WarioWare Inc. Mega MicroGame$ (GBA), Starsky & Hutch (PS2), Tactics Ogre (GBA)

When Good Game Emporiums Go Bad

Here in the UK, games now carry a Pan European Game Information (PEGI) age rating that was introduced simultaneously in 16 European countries in April. The PEGI system has superseded the voluntary age ratings system that the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) already had in place in the UK, and although one or two of the symbols used to indicate specific types of content are potentially confusing, the actual age ratings that appear on the front covers of most new games really couldn't be any clearer. Which is why, after writing numerous news pieces on the subject of age ratings for games and the ways in which they are or aren't being enforced, it's incredibly frustrating to see the new PEGI system being ignored by parents and shopkeepers alike almost every time I visit my local games emporium.

This game is fun for the whole family.

Last weekend I went out to buy myself a Game Boy Player so the whole family could get in on a piece of the WarioWare action that I've apparently been keeping all to myself in recent weeks. I'm extremely pleased with my purchase, but in the space of the 15 minutes or so that it took me to scour the whole shop for any old games my collection might be lacking, I more or less made a decision that I wouldn't be shopping in the that store again if I could help it. Not because the store was jam-packed with kids trading Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, and not because the quality of the second-hand PlayStation games on offer has reached an all-time low recently, and not even because one of the guys behind the counter appears to know very little about games but is always ready to dish out poor advice on potential purchases to parents and the like. Nope, the reason I won't be shopping in that particular store again is that kids as young as 12 or 13 seemed able to buy games clearly developed for adults over the counter like they were lollipops.

Vice City carries a Mature rating for a reason.

Moments later, though, any illusions I might have had that the new PEGI system is really succeeding were shattered when I saw a boy no older than 13--accompanied by his father--looking to trade in his copy of the 18-rated Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. And then next in line was a boy of roughly the same age, whose mother quite clearly had no idea about games and practically announced the fact to the guys behind the counter before buying her darling son a copy of the 18-rated Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. I actually felt like maybe I should say something to the parents of both of the kids or to the guy behind the counter, but, when it came down to it, I wasn't sure who I should be talking to, who I should blame, and whether the kids in question would allow me to leave the store alive if I did. The moment passed, and I was left wondering why, when store owners down the street spend entire weekends turning away kids attempting to purchase alcohol, cigarettes, and adult movies, the same rules rarely seem to apply to games. It's games, after all, that are all too often blamed for kids playing with guns rather than with friends.

As does MK: Deadly Alliance.

I don't personally believe that games turn school kids into mass murderers or carjackers, and I'm sure that it sounds like I'm overreacting. It's just that having written about the subject previously, I'm aware of how much time organizations such as ELSPA and the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (IFSE) have spent attempting to ensure that games are played only by the audiences they were developed for. I think that it's primarily up to parents to monitor their children's gaming habits and to check the ratings of any games they're purchasing as presents, but, should this first line of defense fail, I see no reason why the employees of games stores shouldn't be punished for selling unsuitable games to minors. There will, of course, be kids whose parents choose to ignore the age ratings, but in the case of the mother who was quite unwittingly purchasing a violent game for her son, I feel that the assistant readily accepting her money should have pointed out the age rating on the game and recommended a suitable alternative, or perhaps even have refused to sell it to her. Sure, there's a chance the shop could lose a customer, but for every irresponsible parent who leaves to buy a game elsewhere, I'm sure that two or three more would become loyal customers, safe in the knowledge that they weren't going to be allowed to buy inappropriate games for their kids.