The truth in game ratings.

Last month, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback declared he would seek the 2008 Republican Nomination for President of the United States.

Today, Brownback took a very public step to prove the American public how "good" and "great" he is. The Senator announced that he was re-introducing the Truth in Video Game Rating Act (S.3935), a measure he first submitted last September. If made law, the act would require the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to play the final build of a game from beginning to end before it gives said game a rating.

"Video game reviewers should be required to review the entire content of a game to ensure the accuracy of the rating," Brownback said in a statement. "The current video game ratings system is not as accurate as it could be because reviewers do not see the full content of games and do not even play the games they rate." The Truth in Video Game Rating Act would also commission a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study to "determine the efficacy of the...ESRB ratings system."

Currently, the ESRB reviews video of the "most extreme instances, across all relevant categories including but not limited to violence, language, sex, controlled substances and gambling" in each game it rates. Following the infamous hidden-sex-minigame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas scandal of 2005, publishers must now also submit "pertinent content that is not playable, but will exist in the game code on the final game disc."

Since then, the ESRB's system has proven fallible--or infallible, depending on one's viewpoint. In May 2006, the board rescinded the T for Teen rating of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion after it discovered graphically violent content at the denouement of the Dark Brotherhood questline. Despite being rated M for Mature, Oblivion went on to sell nearly 1.4 million copies in the US as of December 2006, generating just short of $80 million.* It has also won numerous accolades, including GameSpot's Role-Playing Game of the Year.

Normally, I'd say "Keep your filthy paws off my video games". However, while I don't think legislating ratings is the way to go, I like the idea behind the bill. To get the most accurate rating possible, the rating entity should play the most complete version of the game. Hot Coffee screwed gamers good. It brought to light easter eggs that while fun, are damaging to the moral majority. Of course, this all depends on how up front the developer will be in releasing all hidden content to the rating's board. Someone had to go looking for Hot Coffee. That took months. Months that would delay a game from getting to the shelves. Thanks, Rockstar.