PSVratings Provides Crucial Data for NIMF's 10th Annual Video Game Report Card.

WASHINGTON -- Today, at a news conference hosted by the National Institute on Family and the Media (NIMF), David G. Kinney, Founder, CEO and President of PSVratings, was on hand to discuss his company's proprietary PSVratings media content analysis methodology, which was used to provide comprehensive data for this year's 10th annual Video Game Report Card. As a critical information resource for the NIMF study, PSVratings' analysis of 37 video games helped provide important insights into the interactive gaming industry with a focus on issues related to the welfare of children and teens.

In recognizing NIMF's role in proactively creating awareness of these key issues, PSVratings' Kinney stated: "We commend Dr. David Walsh and the NIMF for their hard work and dedication in drawing attention to the flaws in the current video game ratings approach. Parents might be surprised if they knew the real content of many of the games they happily purchase for their children. And with this being the holiday shopping season, this is the prime time of year to alert them."

In acknowledging Mr. Kinney's contribution, Dr. David Walsh, President of the NIMF, stated: "We're very pleased to have had access to PSVratings' uniquely objective and comprehensive data sets for this year's report card. With such a precise accounting of content, we were able to provide greater granularity to our analysis to reveal how exceptionally violent and degrading some of these games can be. We feel strongly that parents deserve to know more so they can choose better, and they're certainly not getting this level of information from the game manufacturers themselves."

Utilizing its proprietary technology, PSVratings, soon to be renamed Media Data Corporation, provided the NIMF with detailed content summaries quantifying the occurrences of profanity, sex, and violence in 37 game titles released from 1992 through 2004. PSVratings summaries are represented by a globally recognizable traffic light icon which telegraphs the level of questionable content in an easy-to-use format. Established in 1998, PSVratings relies entirely on information captured by a large staff of trained data specialists. Details of the content analysis include all instances and contexts in which profanity, nudity, sexual innuendo, sexual acts, violence, alcohol abuse, tobacco and illegal drug use occur. As such, the PSVrating system yields the most comprehensive media content analysis currently available anywhere.

"Parents need to know that the current ratings promulgated by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) are based on the subjective opinions of only three individuals who may not even play the game," Mr. Kinney added. Objective PSVratings are available to anyone absolutely free at www.familymediaguide.com. Our Family Media Guide consumer brand represents a unique resource where anyone can determine the exact content of thousands of movies, DVDs, video games, and TV programming to make better choices regarding their entertainment media purchases. We empower all consumers to decide for themselves, in a non-censored environment, what is appropriate based on their own personal standards of suitability."

About PSVratings

The PSVratings system operates on an extensive database-driven technology which utilizes approximately 4,000 rules and algorithms governing millions of potential rule combinations. An independent board of educators, child psychologists and psychiatrists, all of whom are parents, assigns ratings to each of the rules, thus creating the PSVratings Standard. Auditors are trained to recognize the rules (not the ratings) and record instances of Profanity, Sex and Violence in various media, including films, DVDs, video games and TV programming. The data then goes through three independent stages of validation. Proprietary technology then analyzes the data and generates the PSVrating; thus ensuring objectivity. The PSV ratings auditing system is superior to existing industry association-based review approaches which assign ratings based upon the subjective opinions of a select group of individuals employed by their respective industries.