US Senators call for ESRB review

In the wake of the Manhunt 2 rating furor, several US Senators have called for a review of the ESRB's ratings process.

According to Game Politics, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) sent the letter to ESRB president Patricia Vance yesterday.

All four Senators have been critics of the videogame industry in the past, with Lieberman generally credited with pressuring the industry to create the ratings system after Congressional hearings in the mid-1990's.

Brownback has legislation pending in the Senate which would mandate that the ESRB play games to their entirety before assigning a rating.

The letter made reference to the BBFC ban on Manhunt 2 in which it found that the game contained "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone." It also noted that the BBFC refused to rate a revised Manhunt 2 in October 2007.

The Senators expressed concern over the Nintendoâs Wii version of the game, suggesting that the Wii's motion-sensitive controller "permits children to act out each of the many graphic torture scenes and murders."

"In sum, we ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of 'ultra-violent' videogames and advances in game controllers," the letter stated.