I am an adult gamer. I am a HUGE fan of the God of War series and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing through the adventures of Solid Snake, Carl Johnson, Niko Belic and Agent 47. On occasion, nothing can relieve stress more than pumping round after round into any and all that stand in your way. But, being a 30-year-old gamer, I know that when I shut off my PlayStation its back to reality. That is exactly why the ESRB rating system is in place. As a former manager of an EB Games store, I know for a fact that there are many, many young players out there who have unbridled access to M rated games. These young minds can be a little less capable of distinguishing the difference between GTA and the school yard. Its an unfortunate truth about the culture of gaming today. Distributors and retailers must be more conscious about who they are marketing to when advertising M rated games.

I saw a Best Buy commercial for COD: Modern Warfare 2 the other day which made me shake my head. The two sales associates in the commercial repeatedly make comments to the effect that this is "the best game ever", and "you HAVE to buy Modern Warfare 2." These two irresponsible goofs go on and on about how there is so much action it'll blow your mind, and its wall-to-wall adventure. On some stations, this commercial will play 4 or 5 times an hour! What are younger gamers supposed to think when the Best Buy commercial tells them that they HAVE to get this game even though the ESRB rating places it out of their reach.

I'm not complaining about parents who buy M rated games for their kids. Every parent should decide for themselves what is and is not appropriate for thier kids. I don't think it is appropriate for advertising for these games to be so widely integrated if they are going to force the idea that your life is incomplete without this game. I have met many younger gamers through my old job that firmly had the idea that all the "best" games were the M rated games. These young players never thought about the Mario series, Lego Star Wars, Rayman, Rockband or any number of great, family friendly IPs. Just because it is rated M does not make it a great game. I would just like to see the advertising for M rated games show a little more responsibility, and be a little more careful who they are targeting. I understand the need for aggressive marketing, as it helps maximize profits, especially for high profile games. But young gamers need to be made to feel like they are not missing out until they are old enough to know different.