Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/12/02/esrb_game_rating_iphone_app/
ESRB unloads US game ratings iPhone app
Game database of dirty parts
Posted in Networks, 2nd December 2009 17:24 GMT
Want to know if Ace Hooker Blood Bath Baby Shaker III is the right game for an eight-year-old nephew while you're making a mad dash to the mall?
US video-game regulatory folks may help prevent the Christmas-morning riot act reading for your oblivious gift-giving with a new iPhone app.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), the organization charged with assigning age and content ratings for video games in the US, has an free app that serves up game rating summaries straight into your Jobsonian mobile.
ESRB ratings are normally plastered on the cover of every video games sold in the US, but it's not always clear what specific content was deemed objectionable for tots.
The new ESRB app provides detailed rating information for games the organization has rated since July 1, 2008 via a text search of the game's title. The org reckons that covers over 18,000 titles.
It's a fairly basic app - but actually quite useful for what it does. And while most parents probably don't buy enough games for their kids on a regular basis to justify giving the app a prominent position on the front page of their iPhones, there are certainly worse ways to blow 0.2MB of space on the device.
For some inexplicable reason, however, the app only works on the iPhone and 2nd generation iPod Touch. Gen-one iPod owners will just have discover animal sex scenes the old fashioned way.
Snag the app here via the iTunes store. ®