The British Board of Film Classification has announced the launch of a new website,
Parents BBFC, geared at helping parents make decisions about which films and video games are suitable for their children.
The new website will provide detailed information about the content of kids' films and all BBFC-classified video games, and explain why they received the ratings they did.
(The BBFC does not currently rate all games released in the UK, since some more family-oriented games use the European-wide voluntary PEGI rating instead, but family titles are increasingly using the system.)
BBFC director David Cooke noted that not all parents are as technologically literate as their children, making content and ratings information particularly relevant to video games. Additionally, Cooke noted that the site contains information about all rated games, not just children's titles, "because we know that parents come under a lot of pressure to buy the latest big-selling title."
The film classification board already provides a consumer advice sentence about film content shown on posters, advertising and packaging, but Cooke admits it lacks enough detail to inform parents.
"This website will take the guess work out of the family outing to the cinema and open up the world of video games for those who don’t know their PSP from their Wii,” he said.
