Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) recently endorsed the new rating summaries implemented by the ESRB. The summaries, available on the ESRB website, provide a paragraph-length description of game content to accompany the familiar short phrases like "Blood and Gore" and "Mild Peril".

During the Hot Coffee controversy, Clinton called for government regulation of video game content. More recently, following the Manhunt 2 rating change from "Adults Only" down to "Mature", both Clinton and Lieberman felt the ESRBs standards were inconsistent. Both senators called for a review of video game standards to enforce consistency and raise confidence in the rating standards.

However, the latest move by the ESRB to help inform consumers of video game content has won both acceptance and praise from both senators.

"This new supplement to the ratings is a real gift for parents as we head into this holiday season," said Senator Clinton. "Parents need all the information they can get to make more informed decisions about what’s appropriate for their children. These new rating summaries offer more helpful information than ever before to help parents to get involved and get informed."

Senator Lieberman also chimed in with his support of the new initiative. "The ESRB has now taken consumer education one step further with their new rating summaries, which provide a greater level of detail about game content to help parents be even more prepared to make informed game selections for their children," he said. "I applaud the ESRB for taking this proactive step to inform video game consumers."

Available immediately, the ESRB website now offers summaries for games released since July 1, 2008. Let’s just hope parents that were too busy to get involved with their child’s video games before aren’t too busy to read a paragraph or two now.