VIDEO-GAME RATING ADDED NEW 'E10+' CATEGORY BRIDGES PRETEEN GAP.

Byline: Candice Choi Staff Writer

Parents got some added power Wednesday in choosing the video games their kids play: a fresh rating that could also free up game makers to reach broader audiences.

The new ``E10+'' rating bridges the gap between games rated ``E'' for everyone, which children sometimes outgrow, and ``T'' for teens, which are too violent for some parents' tastes.

The new category was prompted by the vast number of games that fall into a gray area between the two ratings, said Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

``The gap between a 6-year-old and a 13-year-old is huge,'' she said. ``Kids reach a developmental milestone around 9 or 10. They're able to better differentiate between what's fantasy and reality.''

Existing games will not be re-evaluated, but a number of titles slated for release are set to bear the new rating, including Nintendo's ``Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat'' and Buena Vista's ``Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.'' Previously, those games would have been stamped with a ``T,'' a rating that might have turned parents away.

``This is going to allow us to market to a much broader audience,'' said Angela Emery, spokeswoman for Buena Vista Games, a Disney subsidiary.

The ``E10+'' rating will free Disney to market the game within its theme parks and on its TV channel, likely allowing it to garner greater sales, she said.

``E'' games currently account for 54 percent of all video games, while those bearing a ``T'' rating make up 33 percent, according to ESRB. Top- selling games are often rated ``E,'' Vance said. ``But I don't know if there's a correlation there or not.''

The new ``E10+'' rating will likely affect more games that would otherwise be stamped ``T,'' Vance said. Such examples include ``Shrek'' and ``Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.''

For parents, the new category provides further guidance in an industry constantly evolving in technology and content.

Calabasas resident Melodie Cordasco said the current system helps weed out some games, but that she still has to examine the box to get a clearer understanding of its content.

She's found that some ``T'' games are appropriate for her 8-year-old son, Michael.

``If it has blood and guts, she won't let me play it,'' said Michael, who was picking out video games with his mother at Blockbuster.

``If it's a murderer running around strangling people, that's a little too much even for me,'' said Michael Black, a Sherman Oaks resident who gets games for himself and his 13-year-old nephew.

Though he doesn't screen games based on their ratings alone, Black said it helps steer him from games that might be too disturbing.

``Some of the stuff out there is really dark,'' he said.

Many of the best-selling sports, racing and adventure games will continue to be stamped with the ``E'' rating, but those games containing extreme crashes and fighting games with superheroes will now likely get an ``E10+'' rating, according to the ESRB.

The ESRB rating system was established in 1994 to provide parents and consumers with information on the content of video games. The system was most recently updated in 2003, when the ESRB made the ratings more prominent on boxes and added more detailed content descriptors to the various categories.

Candice Choi, [phone]

candice.choi(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: Entertainment Software Rating Board; Associated Press

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