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Kids finding it harder to buy M-rated games
It's a sad day for those of us who think that a future world entirely populated by desensitized adults trained from birth to be killing machines would be totally sweet. A Federal Trade Commission "undercover shopper" study has found that retailers turned down kids trying to buy M-rated games 80 percent of the time, up 58 percent from the year prior and up from a surprising 16 percent in 2000.Though the findings are impressive, we don't think retailers should spend too much energy patting themselves on the back. If we saw a 43-year-old FTC agent in a backwards cap and Stone Cold 3:16 T-shirt insisting his name was "Dakota," we probably wouldn't sell M-rated games to him either.
Proposed law seeks more FTC oversight of carriers
Proposed legislation currently making its way around the hallowed halls of Congress would put an end to the common carrier exemption, a shifty little clause of the FTC Act that essentially bails telecom carriers out from under Federal Trade Commission jurisdiction. In lay terms, that means carriers can engage in all manner of anticompetitive behavior and deceptive advertising and there's really not a heck of a lot the FTC can do about it. Carriers are currently reviewing the bill -- they're not really commenting on it in depth at this point -- but something tells us that by the time they get to the last spellbinding page, they're going to have an objection or two that necessitates the disposal of some lobby money. Then again, this isn't the first time congressmen have attempted to nix the common carrier exemption (an action the FTC fully supports, naturally), so there's certainly no guarantee it'll make it through to law this time, either.
DS LCD screen makers investigated for price fixing
When video game makers fix prices for consumers, it's considered the normal state of business. When LCD makers fix prices for game makers, they get raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission. So it goes.AFP has the report on the investigation on screen-makers Sharp and Hitachi, which have long been suspected of organizing a bid-rigging cartel to limit price competition for portable screens. Between them, the two companies provide all the LCD screens used in the Nintendo DS, though Nintendo couldn't confirm that they were the ones that complained to the commission. No one else involved, included the commission itself, had much comment on the actual investigation, but if it bears any fruit you'll be sure to read about it here.[Via Engadget]
Jack Thompson files BioShock ad complaint with FTC
Attorney Jack Thompson has sent a complaint letter to the Federal Trade Commission for BioShock advertisements aired during Friday night's WWE Smackdown. GamePolitics has the full complaint from Thompson, a portion of it states: "Take-Two... is aggressively marketing its newest Mature-rated video game to kids under 17 years of age... On this Friday's night's 8 pm Eastern time airing of WWE's wrestling program "Smackdown," there were repeated ads for Take-Two/Rockstar Game's Mature-rated, incredibly violent BioShock ... This rampant fraudulent trade practice is precisely what 'Big Tobacco' did with its 'Joe Camel' and other teen-targeting ads, while at the same time lying to Congress that it was not marketing its adult product to kids."Hey, we had no idea Rockstar had anything to do with BioShock ... oh wait, that's right, they didn't. The FTC has already stated they think the industry is doing a relatively fine job handling itself; however, the FTC does say the movie and video game industry are both guilty of marketing R and M rated content during shows with inappropriate demographics. That's all good and fine of course, but we're just way too busy bathing in the irony of a FTC violence complaint being brought upon the airing of BioShock ads during an episode of WWE Smackdown.%Gallery-3725%
How did various media outlets report the FTC gaming report?
Here's some light weekend reading about politics, the media and gaming. Earlier this week the U.S. Federal Trade Commission released a report about the gaming industry. The real fun for industry folk was seeing how all the various media outlets would report the news and what their headlines would be. Below is the list, shamelessly ripped-off from Dennis McCauley over at GamePolitics, of various media outlets and their take on the report: FTC says content curbs fall short - L.A. Times Report says the young buy violent games and movies - NY Times FTC: self-regulation of violent content working - Beta News Children still see ads for violent content - Advertising Age FTC scolds marketers about violent content - AdWeek FTC: violence still marketed to youths - Hollywood Reporter Report: Violence still aimed at kids - Variety FTC violence marketing report show general compliance - Broadcasting & Cable FTC Report: Violence Still a Problem in Marketing - TV Week FTC: game industry self-policing improving - GameSpot FTC: M-rated games still marketed to minors - Next Generation FTC: games are better regulated than music, movies - Ars Technica FTC report: mixed reviews on industry's ability to self-regulate - Joystiq FTC: game industry stricter than movies, music - Kotaku FTC report praises, spanks video game industry - GamePolitics As McCauley asks in his headline accompanying the list above, "Were these media outlets reading the same report?" The various headlines make us think of the classic question: If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to see it, does it make a sound? Some say yes, some say no, some say it explodes into various pieces, some say the Earth Mother picked it back up, some say there is no tree. The various headlines and the stores with them is a good read on the diversity of voice in the media -- especially when it comes to gaming.
FTC report: mixed reviews on industry's ability to self-regulate
The Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. has released a new report praising the games industry for making "significant progress" in decreasing both the sale of mature-rated games to minors and the advertising of mature titles alongside teen-marketed television shows, while criticizing them for failing to maintain similar marketing standards with internet advertising.Other interesting statistics and observations: In the five years between 2001 and 2006, sales of M-rated titles to minors have dropped 36% (from 78% to 42%). No other industry was reported to have such a significant decline and only the sale of R-rated movie ticket to minors is lower (39% in 2006, an increase of 3% over 2003). Of the parents surveyed, 87% are aware of the ESRB, 70% utilize it and 75% of those familiar with the content descriptors use them. Current ESRB regulations do not allow game publishers to advertise M-rated games on sites where 45% or more of the audience is under 17. The FTC report said that they are "not adequately enforcing even this limited standard." Our query, which is not adequately explained in the report's press release, is how the FTC is able to discern the demographic of a website (other than maybe content and grammar usage), and which is it following? Only MySpace and YouTube are specifically cited here. And, to be quite honest, if the FTC were able to effectively discern the demographics found on a site like YouTube, they could sell that data-mining algorithm and make quadrillions in profit. The FTC report also chastises the ESRB for failing to put content descriptors on the front of the box. Said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras overall, "Self-regulation, long a critical underpinning of U.S. advertising, is weakened if industry markets products in ways inconsistent with their ratings and parental advisories ... This latest FTC report shows improvement, but also indicates that the entertainment industry has more work to do."[Via Game Politics]
Sony BMG album mar your PC? Here's $150
Although it seems like Sony BMG has been paying for its devious inclusions on certain records for quite some time, it looks like the joint venture will now be coughing even more dollars to compensate those affected. US regulators have now said that the company "agreed to reimburse consumers up to $150 for damage to their computers from CDs with hidden anti-piracy software," which comes on top of allowing customers the ability to exchange the album if they so desire. Moreover, Sony BMG must now "provide an uninstall tool and patches to repair the security vulnerabilities on consumers' computers" for another two years, and if its hand hadn't been slapped enough, it can no longer "collect information for marketing purposes" nor "install software without consumer consent." Great, we're elated that someone up there understands that this DRM gauntlet isn't the way to go, so why are we still fighting the agenda in so many other areas?
Apple takes $84 million charge, defends Steve Jobs in options scandal
While Apple's surely enjoying the perks of having a monumental amount of iPods unwrapped just days ago, everything's not exactly kosher in Cupertino. Aside from the mysterious mouse the firm just patented, the company is facing another bevy of off-the-wall lawsuits, all while trying to fish its CEO out of potentially hot water. After the Securities and Exchange Commission found that ole Steve was granted 7.5 million stock options without the proper authorization of Apple's board of directors in 2001, there was widespread speculation that Mr. One More Thing may suffer the same fate as Apple's former CFO Fred Anderson, who resigned after a similar debacle in 2004. It seems, however, that things just might work out okay after all, as Apple finally filed its required forms with SEC, recognizing a "total additional non-cash, stock-based compensation expense of $84 million after tax, including $4 million and $7 million in fiscal years 2006 and 2005, respectively." Aside from taking the lofty charge, the company also stated that while Jobs was "aware of the favorable grant date recommendations, he did not financially benefit from these grants or appreciate the accounting implications." So all those out there holding your breath to see if Macworld would ever be the same if this went south, it looks like we'll be seeing jeans and a black shirt all over again in just a few weeks.
SK Telecom fined for incompatible music-playing handsets
While Verizon had its own go 'round with the law about crippling Bluetooth functionality on its phones, now South Korea's SK Telecom is facing a stiff fine of its own due to antitrust violations. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) tagged the telecommunications giant with a $356,070 fine after taking issue with programming installed on handsets that only allowed users to play back music purchased through the firm's "Melon" music service. Interestingly, the report claims that "MP3 files obtained legally through different online sources cannot work on SK Telecom licensed phones, forcing MP3 file users to purchase only MP3 files from Melon," which leads us to believe that MP3 -- at least in this instance -- refers to any digital audio file. Nevertheless, the company now has 60 days to correct the problem and allow users to rock out to whatever tunes they so desire, so those affected by this snafu should be good to go come February.[Via Techdirt]
Learning from Sony's viral blog mistake
"From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP."These were the last words of Sony's viral-blog-gone-bad. The site is now suspiciously empty, showing how empty that apology/promise really was. Advertising Age did an interesting write-up on the whole ordeal, making note that the FTC is now taking steps to ensure that companies disclose the true nature of any viral communications they produce. The article has four things to learn from Sony's mistakes, and I found the following to be most important: "The consumer is smarter than you think, alternative marketing tactics must be genuine, authentic and in today's world, transparent." As Penny Arcade smartly noted, "The reality is that no agency can create viral marketing, this is the sole domain of the consumer."Sony has to stop thinking we're idiots, and start treating us as educated consumers that know what we want. The homebrew community is a testament to that statement. Sony: listen to the gamers, read some PSP Fanboy and Joystiq, and figure out what we want.[Via AdJab]
FTC: Viral ties must be disclosed
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies must disclose ties in word-of-mouth marketing campaigns. These fake grass-roots efforts -- dubbed "astroturfing" by critics -- hire people to endorse products as themselves, rather than as company representatives.The FTC didn't announce any specific action or fines against this type of misleading marketing, although it may investigate campaigns on a case-by-case basis. The Washington Post covers the story.Gamers see these sorts of campaigns all the time, from fake commentors who are actually paid marketers to the recent fake-PSP-fan weblog. While this kind of hidden corporate sponsorship makes us distrustful, we think better of companies, like Ubisoft, that disclose ties to its affiliates like the Frag Dolls. We most like the Major Nelson-type relationships, where a weblog spokesperson and a company are obviously linked.
Qualcomm competitors cry foul in Korea
We all know that Qualcomm likes to play up its market dominance everywhere possible -- and we also know they've taken some heat for it in Europe -- so it comes as little surprise to us that would-be CDMA competitors in the South Korean market are raising a fit. Texas Instruments and Broadcom have appealed to South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, alleging unfair practices by Qualcomm in bundling its CDMA chipsets with application processors. Presumably, the argument is that manufacturers should be allowed to mix and match chipsets without taking a hit on cost and without losing their relationships with suppliers, and since Qualcomm lays claim to portions of virtually every wireless standard -- not just IS-95 and CDMA2000 proper -- the implications of this are fairly far-reaching. Qualcomm's Korean offices have been raided by investigators in the past on similar allegations so we're not terribly confident this tussle will change their attitude, but we can dare to dream.
FTC sues to keep your phone records safe
Were you aware that your phone records are available to just about anyone willing to fork over $100 beans in exchange for a month’s worth of activity? Yeah, in what has become a booming Internet business aimed primary at Private Dicks, your phone records (including lists of incoming and outgoing calls) are being made available via dozens of web-based brokers who openly advertise their ability to obtain your data with the help of company insiders or via a little deception -- in violation of law. See, the 1996 Telecommunication Act which deregulated the phone and media industries, also states that consumers’ phone records are private property and can only be publicly disclosed with our approval. As such, the FTC has now taken action and like Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon before them, are going after these bastages in a variety of sting operations and costly litigation meant to oust and ultimately shut ‘em down. The five sites targetted by the FTC in their lawsuit include 77 Investigations, Accusearch, Check Em Out, Information Search, and Integrity Security & Investigations Services with the latter accused of selling personal financial info and credit card deets to boot. Sure, these US-based companies will just reopen off-shore but still, we’ve got your back on this one FTC.
