ESRB Toughening Up on Advertising Guidelines

The ESRB is continuing to crack down on publishers and developers who aren't complying with Advertising Review Council guidelines when marketing their videogames. 3D Realms is the latest in a string of developers, publishers and retailers to receive warnings from the ESRB regarding violations, and has been given 10 days to comply-or else the ESRB will impose penalties. The ESRB alleges that 3D Realms' advertising has used out-dated ratings icons and has not contained appropriate content descriptors. Scott Miller of 3D Realms has accused the ESRB of acting like a "school yard bully."

The ESRB is the industry body that assigns ratings and enforces advertising guidelines for the interactive entertainment software industry, and lately they've been getting serious about ensuring videogame advertising content is appropriate and accurately reflects the ratings they've assigned to the product. See more coverage on this issue at GamesIndustry.biz .