Ed emailed me a link to this article because he knew I had complained about the violence and language in games that I loved but wished I could turn off the mature content, at certain times. I don’t mind if David plays war or shooting games as long as the violence is not too graphic and the language not too harsh. Gears of War is still, today, my favorite co-op game and one of my favorite console games in general. I had the most fun playing coop with David. GOW had an option to turn down the violence. The chainsaw kills didn’t squirt all that blood, for example. Most other parents are not as liberal as I am in what they allow their kids to watch and play.

I am very pleased to hear that GOW 2 may offer parental controls to their M-rated game. First of all, it can’t be that hard to add this feature. Second, it doesn’t effect those that prefer the more mature content. I’m glad that Epic and Microsoft are not underestimating the number of potential customers that would give a gritty game like GOW a chance if it had a more family friendly rating, or the number of kids that play games that are targeted for older kids.