
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994                   TAG: 9401090005
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS                                LENGTH: Medium

RATINGS STUDIED FOR VIDEO GAMES

Video game creators, under pressure from Congress, approached an industry meeting Saturday with new ideas and questions for devising a ratings system that will help parents decide what games aren't for children.

The Software Publishers Association, the group sponsoring the meeting, prepared 30 pages of issues for computer game designers to consider, including how ratings would be administered and enforced.

The 3DO Co., which licenses a system design to several manufacturers and dozens of game creators, announced a four-level rating system it will use starting in March and said it will press others to adopt ratings.

"We have always believed it was important to have some form of guidance information that would be the same way you have disclosure information on food packaging that would help consumers," said Rick Tompane, a 3DO vice president.

Sega Corp. of America, the No. 1 seller of video games, began putting ratings on its games last summer.

The broader effort comes after a Senate hearing last month in which lawmakers, led by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., threatened to legislate a rating system if the industry didn't come up with a satisfactory one voluntarily.

Games such as "Mortal Kombat" and "Night Trap," picturing violent acts or sexual themes, have angered members of the Senate and others.

A bill introduced by Lieberman and Kohl would give the industry a year to come up with its own system.

The Software Publishers Association, which represents 1,100 software companies, believes it could take several months for a consensus to be reached, a spokesman said.

"Expecting it within a few weeks is not realistic," spokesman Dave McClure said.

The meeting was designed partly to demonstrate that the industry is intent on complying with senators' request.

Besides settling on the ratings themselves, companies must decide who will review and rate the games, how long they will be allowed to take, how they will be paid and how game designers will equitably split that cost.

by CNB