Parents are concerned about the increasing popularity of video games with their children and the effects that these video games can have on their children with good reason. Besides hearing about which video games their children want, parents do not have enough informative information about the video games their children are playing.

With video games being so popular among children of all ages, it is unfortunate that parents do not hear about negative effects of particular video games until some sort of controversial issue hits the media. One such controversial issue that parents were totally unaware of involved Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas when a programmer discovered in depth nude sex scenes actually hidden in the video game.

This happened two years ago when a the software apparently downloaded these scenes by mistake. Ultimately, this issue resulted in a class action lawsuit where the Take Two Interactive Software Incorporated were forced to pay one-million dollars in consumer refunds, but this was after the damage had already occurred.

This year this very same software company developed a video game called, Manhunt 2, which was actually banned in Britain due what regulators called, "bleakness and callousness of tone." This video game is about a sociopath who goes on a homicidal rampage. What kind of sick individuals creates a video game with this type of story line? Thankfully, the regulators of the United States has given it the Adults Only rating, which just happens to be a rating that the majority of retailers refuse to sell.

Of course, it did not take long for Take Two Interactive Software Incorporated company to blur out the excessively violent scenes so that the video game could receive a much more acceptable rating, which was Mature. However, hackers were still able to find ways to restore the excessively violent graphic depictions, which was much to the surprise of parents. There have even been some large chain department stores that chosen to refuse to carry this video game on their shelves simply because they feel it is inappropriate for their customers.

The video game industry has tried to respond to the concerns of parents about the effects of violent video games children by offering more family-friendly video games, trying to teach parents about the ratings system, and by giving parents more tools to help them regulate the gaming activities of their children. Just last week the Microsoft Corporation announced a brand new feature on the Xbox-360 video gaming system that would allow parent the ability to limit the amount of time that their children would spend playing video games.

This is a help, but I do not feel that it is exactly what parents are searching for. Parents want to feel comfortable about the video games their children are playing and not have to worry about hidden material within video games. Parents really want the regulations and standards on video games to become much more stricter, so that they can feel more confident when purchasing video games for their children to play.