The UK’s Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) have just announced a new “traffic light” system to rate video games and offer up for consideration for the UK government before it finishes consulting on video games on November 20, 2008. This new system uses colors and numbers to help parents and guardians instantly decide if a game is appropriate for their children.

This proposed rating system is also inspired by Dr. Tanya Byron, a child psychologist the British Government asked to study children who play video games and use the internet and write a report on. Dr. Byron found parents had trouble understanding the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating system. The PEGI system was first established in 2003 and now is the predominant video game rating system in Europe.

Normally I’d be rolling my eyes at the need for a color coded rating system like this, but then I went to look at the PEGI site…

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) hosted a panel discussion at the BAFTA venue in London earlier this week (October 9, 2008) during which a series of church and charity leaders discussed the ways in which video games can be a “force for good in today’s society.”

Mike Royal, the national director of the Lighthouse Group (a charity that specializes in helping young people who have been, or are at risk of being excluded from the school system), noted that games are useful in educating children about “boundaries” and the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

Martin Houghton-Brown, The Children’s Society’s deputy director of new business, explains that children in the United Kingdom now see gaming as a…

According to the European Commission survey, Ireland is now banning violent video games.

The reason for banning violent games, according to the EU’s study of the implementation of Pan European Game Information ratings, is that many of the EU nations are not enforcing the age limits on the games identified by PEGI.

The only game currently known to be banned in Ireland is…

The UK is all set to revamp the videogame rating system according to the recommendations made by Dr. Tanya Byron, who is heading a review into the ill effects of games and the internet in the U.K. Byron told Next-Gen that the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has assured her that the government will adopt her recommendations in full.

Byron also talked about the appreciation her report has drawn from British parents but her suggestions might be…

Dr. Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist, who is heading an independent review into the ill effects of games and internet on kids, published a report on Thursday (March 27, 2008). In the report titled “Safer Children in a Digital World” she has made several recommendations regarding children’s safety in cyberspace and ways to keep them away from adult content.

She has recommended greater cohesion between the UK government, game industry and parents, and also prescribed a greater role for the British Board of Film Classification in assigning ratings to the game. She wants BBFC to assign rating to all games 12 and above…