this is a right opinion.

TRUTH IS : 

esrb rated M

Pegi rated 18+

truth is a thing

personal opinions is another 

no!

sorry.

i'll explain:

parents have all tools to let their children to surf only trusted sites.

parents in shops has only esrb/pegi rating.

and they have right to know BEFORE what kind of games their children are going to play at demo stations. 

as you can see from actual demo youtube links i posted there is no warning  ...

I thought you were blaming Sony for this not the parents or the store?

 and any semi-tech savy kid will know every way around it, parental controls only go so far, proxies go farther. 

Before some people start going all Jack Thompson on us do we even know if the demo has the same rating as the actual game?

Also I think the people who said to blame the shop if the demo actually is rated Mature (or whatever the equivalent ratings are in other countries) are correct. I mean do we blame Sony (or Microsoft or Nintendo for that matter) if a shop is selling Mature rated games to minors?

I understand and agree with one thing the OP said: the parents have a right to know before their kid plays a demo what the ratings are.  I worked in a game shop years ago and we never left 'M' rated games in as demos so that kids wouldn't play them.  Parents don't appreciate their kids coming into your store and screwing hookers in GTA without them knowing about it in advance.

But the bottom line is, unless Sony put the NG demo in there themselves, it is the shop's fault.  They have the demo loaded on the PS3 for play in their shop, and they could remove it if they wanted to.  At least they could post a notice of what the rating for the game they are demoing is so parents would know.  Whenever stuff like this comes up people on these types of boards jump all over parents for not parenting, yet here we have parents not having the information to parent with.  So no fault with Sony, no fault with Tecmo, but definitely fault with the store.

 quote all.

I think that there is a vulnus in rules.

and this vulnus comes from a wrong cultural attitude.

I think that as Gamers we must start to pretend respect of ratings by developers,dealers, and retailers all.

 if not

we'll always be attacked by media as category for violent games.

this case specific is about Sony demo stations and Mediaworld shops. 

but we can apply this to all developers and retailers. 

one good news!

Mediaworld answered my email:

they apologize and assure that will remove 18+ games from free play and will check in future ratings of games before put them in free play.




one bad news:

no answer by pegi about no warning in ninja gaiden sigma demo
(as you can see proved by youtube video i posted)

Reality check time. Very few people actually pay attention to rating systems period. This is why companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are reluctant to allow adult rated games on their respective consoles. They are well aware that the general public is pretty damn stupid. These companies would get blamed for a mature game even if they placed a glowing red not for kids sign on the cover.

This is not simply a matter of a bad game rating system either. The same can be said of movies, books, and magazines. Kids can actually go out and buy movies that exceed their age. Hell they can just turn on the cable and find uncensored violence and pornography. Nobody polices print at all. Have you ever seen a ratings stamp on a novel. Have you read some of the magazines on the shelves.

I have worked in grocery retail. In my state it is unlawful for a grocery store to sell alcohol on Sundays. That has been the law for decades. So every person who is of legal age should easily be aware that they cannot be alcohol on that particular day. There are signs all over the liquor sections stating that you cannot purchase these products on that day. This is damn near universal. Any store that carries alcohol that is not a specialty store will have these signs up. What did the employees end up doing on Sunday night well drag four carts full of alcohol back to the shelf. People still put them in the carts and tried to buy them.

This is exactly what happens with violent games. People do not take these ratings seriously. The customer does not take it seriously, the staff does not take them seriously, and the media just ignores the issue. We seem to place ratings on things to make ourselves feel better. Not that we actually intend to use them. Since we obviously do not.

The company is not at fault, and Sony is not at fault. Now if someone is at fault we are all at fault, and to the original poster thank you for taking the time to remedy the immediate situation. That is the best you can do raise awareness since most people tend to be oblivious. Talk to the store manager and make them aware of why it is inappropriate.

I hate to think that our only option at this point is to start fining people, and handing out jail time. However that seems to be the only way ratings will get taken seriously. When people can afford to be oblivious to something they tend to be.

The terrible reality is that the console manufacturers seem to be the only ones setting any standards to keep adult games out of the hands of children. They recently stone walled Manhunt 2 by their own ratings cap. They cannot afford to discontinue mature games from their consoles. Adults need games too, and deserve the right to be able to buy them.

Stores like Toys R Us focus on kids, why do they sell 18+ games. They are linking kids to mature games. A computer store like mediamarkt can sell these games, because they mainly have an older audiance.

That's why I think some people think those mature games are bad. I suggest not to support these stores. It's better for mature games and industry. Eventually I hope developers don't care about 18+ rating. Downloading your games with an account linked to your age.