Legal Niches

Parental Controls: 360 > PS3

By pete_gallagher

PlayStation 3 parental controls are confusing and subpar when compared to the Xbox 360 writes an IGN columnist.

While the 360 uses ESRB and MPAA ratings to restrict videogames and movies (Ed: confirmed by looking on Xbox.com), the author writes that doing so on the PS3 is confusing, because Sony implemented a number system, 'Over on the PlayStation 3, you assign a number. What does the number mean? Who the hell knows.'

Well, while it is confusing, the PS3 manual features a chart that correlates numbers with ESRB ratings: parental control level 2 corresponds with the ESRB's Early Childhood (EC) rating, 3 with Everyone (E), 4 with Everyone +10 (E10+), 5 with Teen (T), 9 with Mature (M) and 10 with Adults Only (AO).

Limiting Blu-Ray disc playback is a little easier. From the manual: "When playing a BD with parental control settings, restrict playback based on the age you have set."

The author agrees that this is rather straight forward, 'For Blu-ray discs, you can set a number anywhere between 0 and what seems to effectively equate to infinity. It sounds like you can just treat this as someone's age, which at least sort of makes sense, but that doesn't apply to games.'

Regular DVD restriction is a little more confusing. Says the IGN author, 'DVDs have had this same confusing system for a while now, where you can choose a number between 1 and 8, but on its games front, Sony has gone with a system that spans from 1 to 11.'

We would have to agree that having two different numbering systems is a bit confusing. In both cases however, the lower the number, the tighter the restrictions.

GP: Having little reason to enact parental controls, this was all relatively new territory. Obviously the IGN editor did not take the time to read the manual, but this is common among consumers.

Did Sony make their parental controls too difficult for the average person to understand?

Any parents out there have similar problems or confusion limiting PS3 content?

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on January 12, 2010 (boomark / email).