BBFC Launches Ratings Site for Parents

The British Board of Film Classification has just launched Parents BBFC, a website that shows visitors videogame and movie ratings as determined by the organization.

"This website will take the guesswork out of the family outing to the cinema and open up the world of videogames for those who don't know their PSP from their Wii," said BBFC director David Cooke.

The BBFC is not a government agency, but rather an independent organization that classifies media. However, it is also charged by the Secretary of State with the task of rating video recordings "offered for sale or hire commercially in the U.K." and can therefore censor material.

The new website, located at www.pbbfc.co.uk, offers search and drop-down menus for movies, DVD releases and videogames.

Titles are rated from preschool to age 18 and over, with five sections in between. Rating explanations are provided on a per-title basis.

So far the site still appears to be used heavily for movies, as none of the top 10 site searches are for videogames.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz

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Let's hope the people who don't know their PSP from their Wii are able to find and navigate a website with the url http://www.pbbfc.co.uk.

Hmm, the video games section is shockingly short and only a single page on a site otherwise dedicated to films and videos...and it seems to say videogames and films and rated the same way, and in no way says how the "interactive element" has any bearing on it good or bad (no examples!) - despite Manhunt 2's ban (not mentioned! they don't censor after all, right? just provide ratings! >:-( ) - I find this brief description of the process and ratings of games worryingly bad.

But I suppose it's better then nothing for the industry associations board of censors, a very very small step forward, and I hope it improves since the site seems incomplete (missing "15" and "18" at the very least).