I was motivated to take action when I found out that there was embedded illicit sexual content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board was unaware of the embedded content. I called on the FTC to investigate the source of the content and, as a result, the company issued a recall of the game. When I am president, I will work to protect children from inappropriate video game content.

John Edwards: While parents must ultimately decide what video games their children play, a lot of the responsibility for restricting marketing should be placed on software manufacturers. The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a good example of industry responsibility, and I support its ratings program, guidelines for responsible advertising practices, and outreach to game manufacturers and retailers. I also support leading video console manufacturers’ use of parental controls.

But we have more work to do. An investigation by the Federal Trade Commission found that, since 2000, the likelihood of a child under age 17 being able to purchase an M-rated game (intended for people 17 or older) has been cut in half, falling from 85 percent to 42 percent. That number is much too high, and the FTC has also reported continued problems with the marketing of these games, especially on the Internet. If the industry does not continue to make progress in keeping video games with intense violence and adult content away from children, we will need to consider further steps to ensure that parents’ decisions about their children’s exposure to these games are not being undermined by retailers, advertisers and manufacturers.

Barack Obama: We need to give parents the tools and information they need to make choices about what programs their children are watching or what video games they are playing. As we move towards a digital environment, there is a golden opportunity for the industry to do this on their own—to use the latest in technology to give parents more information and more choice. For example, this technology could make it possible for parents to create their own family tier just by programming their television to block certain channels, block certain genres of programming like dramas, or block television at certain times of the day. The same can be said of video games, especially as we’re moving into an era when they can be downloaded as easily as today’s movies and television shows.

I would call upon the video game industry to give parents better information about programs and video games by improving the voluntary rating system we currently have. Broadcasters and video game producers should take it upon themselves to improve this system to include easier to find and easier to understand descriptions of exactly what kind of content is included. But if the industry fails to act, then my administration would.

And even if the industry does do some responsible self-policing, there’s still a role for the federal government to play. We need to understand the impact of these new media better. That’s why I supported federal funding to study the impact of video games on children’s cognitive development.

Bill Richardson: I would consider this legislation, but I truly believe that we should make sure parents are educated about the inappropriate content of many video games. We have to get parents -- all parents -- more involved in the education of our nation’s students. Legislation and teachers cannot do it alone, no matter how good they are. Parental involvement is more important to a child’s success than any test or book.

As president, I will issue an executive order that provides all federal employees with eight hours per year of paid, one-to-one time with their children. And I will encourage businesses and the rest of the public sector to do the same.

Mitt Romney: I want to restore values so children are protected from a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion. I've proposed that we enforce our obscenity laws again and that we get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence and that we go after those retailers.

Source: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/news/specials/question2 

That's right! We have to keep that dangerous rock n' ro- er, I mean those dangerous videogames from harming our children!

hillary clinton is evil

Mitt Romney seems the worst. Everybody else seems to be saying 'lets not let kids get violent or obscene video games' whereas he seems to be saying 'Scum! Filth! I will hunt down anybody that sells these games and gut them like a fish! Mwahahaha!'

I love how every console can have parental, content blocking controls, yet every candidate and most parents are to apathetic, anti-video game, or just to uninformed to know.

Now whats funny about this is the ESRB's ratings are more descriptive than any industry rating boards. They never mention movies which has fairly useless rating in general PG-13 stretches pretty far... a lot further than a T rating on a game.

LOL. I like the contrast there between Romney and the Democrats.

Any quotes from the other 11 candidates?

no, those are the only candidates posted

Unless their hand is forced, the industry won't really do anything further then they already are. From their point of view, they want kids buying games that they might be too young for, just leads to more profits for them.

I, however have no sympathy for parents who blindly buy their kids games and then bitch later about the violent or sexual content in them. The ESRB ratings are as simple to understand as movie ratings and I don't see nearly as much complaining from parental groups about violent/sexual content in movies(no facts to back this up, just my impression).

Hillary Clinton sucks, no one vote for her if shes the Democratic candidate, I know I won't. Not only is she against video games but she's a socialist too.