The 20 city tour starts in New York at the DigitalLife consumer technology conference starting today, Oct 12th. Microsoft has partnered with both Best Buy and the Boys and Girls Club of America to help deliver the message of safe gaming to parents and care givers across the USA.
Microsoft's 'Safety is no Game. Is your Family Set?" campaign will offer hands-on training and education for families on video games, the ESRB ratings and how to use the Family Settings on the Xbox 360 to restrict content for children. The Xbox 360's parental control system features password protection to control not only what level of ESRB rated games a child can play but also what movies the child can watch, restricted access to Xbox Live online Gaming and what a child can do with the Xbox Live Vision Camera. Windows Vista will also feature similar family friendly controls when it launches early 2007.
A survey of parents and care givers found that 78% are concerned about the content in in video games and movies their children watch. Of those people, all wanted more control over what their children were exposed too and more than 52% said they would be very interested in a gaming system with some type of content parental control feature.
Besides the Microsoft tour bus with hands-on training, The Boys and Girls Club of America will help spread the safe gaming message. Each Boys and Girls Club of America location nationwide will have on hand educational materials and trained staff for parents to talk to so they can be more informed about games and how their children can play safe. Best Buy will also have educational materials and trained staff their stores nationwide to educate families who are buying systems for their children this holiday season.
