Euro Parliament Wants "Red Button" For Shutting Down Games 167
GamePolitics writes "The European Parliament has actually requested that red, panic-style buttons be set up for use by parents whose children play online games. The buttons would allow the parents to quickly shut the game down should something inappropriate occur. Wouldn't the old-school on-off switch work just as well?"
To be fair, the report isn't entirely crazy; it says games "can also be used for educational and medical purposes," and acknowledges that the "presence of violence in video games does not automatically lead to violent behaviour."
Let's teach kids to make hardware mods early (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously.
1. phillips head screwdriver (to open case)
2. wire cutter (to cut leads to switch)
3. wire nut (to short circuit around switch)
4. profit?
The really clever kids will find a way to install a software patch that makes any game say "Show us your tits!" every time the button is pressed.
When I was a kid, my parents had a 'red button' called a leather belt. It was much harder to hack.
Re:Let's teach kids to make hardware mods early (Score:5, Funny)
When I was a kid, my parents had a 'red button' called a leather belt. It was much harder to hack.
Harder to hack, my arse! When this happened to me, I used to modify the client (my bottom) by increasing the resistance (extra underpants) and return a spoofed result to the server.
Re: (Score:2)
When this happened to me, I used to modify the client (my bottom) by increasing the resistance (extra underpants) and return a spoofed result to the server.
I don't remember whether it was my oldest daughter or oldest son who said, quite possibly, the dumbest thing I've ever heard: "Dad, that spanking didn't hurt a bit!"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
You got to keep on your underpants! Wuss.
I would have needed to get cheek implants if I wanted any extra padding.
<obligatory>"Hi. I'm Jack Valenti, and these are my cheeks!"</obligatory>
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Let's teach kids to make hardware mods early (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
That said, I only got the belt once in my life... Several times I deserved it as a teenager, but I could probably have kicked my dad's ass by then.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I think the monitor has this covered. (Score:3, Insightful)
Or to be an ISO 9001-complaint "video game maker" you have to code in some kind of red button? In Soviet Europe, the switch kills you.
Simply the act of pushing your kid out of the way and commandeering the mouse to click said button pretty much takes care of the situation. From there, a little parenting and you are all set. Clicking on the button at that point seems a little silly. You could just close the application. In fact, the button always existed...it's part of the OS GUI API.
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds a bit useless (Score:5, Insightful)
So if you could rig this up to the equivalent of "Alt-F4" then you can avoid that.
As for why it's useless, if your child is not ready to see "stuff", and they see "stuff", and then you press the panic button, they won't _unsee_ stuff. In fact, they would probably remember it for a very long time.
If your child is not ready, just don't let them play such games, and perhaps you should work harder at getting them ready.
You don't send soldiers to battle untrained and unarmed.
Brainwash/domesticate your kids before the world does it for you (they want your kids to buy/believe their stuff without thinking too much or even at all).
Yes you may think brainwashing is wrong. But it's usually better to train them "fire = bad", and hopefully they survive long enough to figure out the complexities and subtleties.
Re:Sounds a bit useless (Score:4, Funny)
This reminds me of when I was playing Red alert 1 with my cousin, when we were teens.
His mum got pissed off and hit the power switch.
Then the UPS kicked in. It really lessened the impact she was going for.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Unless she hit the power switch on the "power strip" and not the computer, I'm not sure why the UPS would kick in.
This of course points the way toward the already installed "red button" on most computers:
- The power button on the computer. :) ).
- The power button on the power-strip (unless there is a UPS
- The power button on the monitor (less effective, since the speakers will keep blaring).
Re:Sounds a bit useless (Score:5, Insightful)
Why let a little common-sense get in the way of a perfectly good law that lets parents blame everyone else but themselves for bad parenting decisions?
I'm now a father and although he's only nine months old I'll probably do the same as my parents did: determine the suitability of the game based on the maturity of my son and let him play the GTA/Carmageddon equivalents before he hits the age rating if he can take it as it's meant - a game in a virtual world that has different rules to the real-world.
Also, what's the betting that this is mainly a "for the sake of the children, hide the tiny, brief flashes of flesh" idea (which you're less likely to know about) rather than a "for the sake of the children, stop the massed bloodshed" idea (which generally tends to be obvious from the format of the game).
Re:Sounds a bit useless (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably not actually, since this is a proposal for a piece of misguided European legislation, rather than misguided US legislation.
The EU has many many faults, but thankfully over-regulating the human nipple isn't often one of them.
Re: (Score:2)
Good point - I can't see the French (amongst others) complaining about "ze occasional nipple"! British people seem to be getting worse these days, although I guess they're getting more paranoid about violence and how seeing violence == doing violence with no regard for the thought that not every one who monkey sees then monkey does. I was just looking at the UK (being a Brit) and seeing the general "think of the children" mantra/brainwashing spreading from the US.
Re: (Score:2)
A few problems with what? My idea of not sticking to the age ratings or the problems with a "big red button" idea? For the second one, you've repeated the GP nicely. For the first one:
1) And if I know about it and know that my child is suitably mature to handle it then what's the problem? Just because some bureaucracy slaps an 18 rating on it doesn't mean that a) all 18 year olds are mature and sensible enough to see/use it and b) all people under 18 years old aren't mature and sensible enough
2) Again, see
Re: (Score:2)
You don't send soldiers to battle untrained and unarmed.
Hey, the Soviets did that all the time!!
Something about winning wars by drowning the enemy in the blood of their soldiers...
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds useless, but to answer the question - using the power switch could cause file system corruption.
Not if you use the powerswitch on the monitor/television which would generate the desired effect too. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
Not if you use the powerswitch on the monitor/television which would generate the desired effect too. ;-)
Good luck hitting the power switch to anything on a GP2X, Nintendo DS, PSP, Pandora, Acer Aspire one, or other battery-powered device with its own screen.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If its a "handheld" that you "need to shield your child from" take it from your child's hands.
If they are big enough to hold onto the device, you are obviously mistaken that they need to be shielded from it.
If you CAN hold onto the device long enough to hit the power button, then you might be correct, but will now have to "discuss it" with your child.
2 girls, 1 cup, 9 years old (Score:2)
If they are big enough to hold onto the device, you are obviously mistaken that they need to be shielded from it.
I don't follow this part of your reasoning. A nine-year-old can hold onto a PSP. A nine-year-old can watch the trailer for the scat film Hungry Bitches [wikipedia.org] on a PSP. But wouldn't you want to shield a nine-year-old from what has come to be called "2 Girls 1 Cup"?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Bluntly, most adults can remove something from the possession of a nine-year-old, either through brute force (rip it out of their hands), intimidation (threaten them with grounding), or reasoning (I'm your parent, you have to trust me to know what's righ
OT: regarding your sig... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
All the better. If the kid would have listened in the first place their console wouldn't be a brick.
After months and months of good behavior and begging, maybe they get a new console. You can bet the next time you tell them to turn it off, if they have half a brain, they'll listen
Re: (Score:2)
As for why it's useless, if your child is not ready to see "stuff", and they see "stuff", and then you press the panic button, they won't _unsee_ stuff. In fact, they would probably remember it for a very long time.
That's why pressing the button will also send a charge of electricity through the electrodes implanted in the child's brain.
Re: (Score:2)
True, most filesystems these days don't become corrupt if you just pull the plug, but that doesn't mean they won't lose your data. Most filesystems these days by default only journal filesystem metadata, they don't journal your data. Pull the plug half-way through re-writing a file and your data is garbage whether you're using NTFS, ext3 (with default settings) or FAT16.
The data that was just written (Score:2)
It's only the data that was just (going to be) written that you'll lose. It's an entirely different problem than FS corruption, which means that the whole structure is f'd up and you don't know which block belongs to what file.
Re: (Score:2)
"It's only the data that was just (going to be) written that you'll lose."
And if that 'data that was just (going to be) written' is a multi-gigabyte file that IE was downloading overnight, then 'only' is not a very good description of the problem.
Back when I only had 512k broadband I left my PC downloading a 2+GB game installer for a free trial, the power went out after it had completed but before I had closed down IE (which I was using because the game developer's site didn't work with Firefox), and NTFS s
Re: (Score:2)
Losing a large file that can trivially be downloaded again is far from a grim scenario. Losing bookmarks is worse, but not by a whole lot.
Re: (Score:2)
Losing the /just/ the most recent bookmarks is to be expected, unless you have a battery-backed RAM cache, which is what all high-end RAID controllers feature nowadays.
As for FAT, well, that's what you get for you using 1970's technology.
Use SQLite already (Score:2)
AFAIK, Linux has no support for putting application level transactions into the journal, and thus no application uses it. So the only possibility is to add an entire journalling layer to the application
No problem. SQLite is ported to just about every popular multitasking platform.
Red Button Doesn't Seem To Be Literal (Score:5, Informative)
From the EU Parliament Press release [europa.eu]:
Furthermore in the actual draft report [europa.eu], the word "button" never appears. As such, the red button doesn't seem to be a literal red button, rather a figurative term used in the press release as a euphemism for parental controls. I'm not sure how this is any different from how the current-gen consoles implement parental controls though.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Those of us who are worried about our kids' online gaming, and who also happen to be colorblind, are glad to hear it.
Re: (Score:2)
I think current controls usually use Rating levels to control access.
It sounds like the proposed law wants to allow parents to also either restrict specific titles, or to add time based access controls (no gaming after kids get home from school until they are done with homework and get parent to "unlock" console?)
crappy summary of a bad summary (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, so this /. article links to an article that already is a bad summary of this press release [europa.eu], which sounds a little more enlightened:
To help parents choose, MEPs would like to see more public awareness of the content of video games, parental control options and instruments such as the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) age rating system.
Sounds to me like they're doing the exact right thing: Making parents responsible and asking game companies to give them options.
Now the actual "red button" part reads like this in the press release:
the report proposes fitting consoles, computers or other game devices with a "red button" to give parents the chance to disable a game or control access at certain times.
That does not sound like an emergency "off" switch to me. It sounds more like a timer thing, where a parent can tell the computer "no online games for my son after 22:00". Unfortunately, I couldn't find a source beyond the press release, so what exactly they have in mind remains a mystery. It does sound a lot less exciting than TFA makes it to be. Selective quoting, anyone?
Re: (Score:2)
Any solution that allows games to be sold and places the responsibility to monitor them on parents is a good solution for game-players. (After all, how often will these buttons actually be used?)
Sure, game-players might prefer a solution that magically makes the public stop thinking that violent and sexually explicit games are a problem. Good luck with that.
Games are supposed to be educational (Score:5, Funny)
To be fair, the report isn't entirely crazy; it says games "can also be used for educational and medical purposes,"
I do agree that sex and violent games are meant to be educational.
Like last time I caught my cousin attempt to flirt with a CG girl in hope to have cyber sex. I pressed the magic red-button and gave him a few bucks, told him to go out and do a real girls like a real man.
The other time I caught him shooting polygonal guys on streets with lots of bullets and first-aid boxes scattering around. Needless to say, I pressed the magic red-button again and gave him a shotgun, told him to hit the street and shoot real people like a real man.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
So that's what girls buy My Little Pony games for?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
More trouble than its worth (Score:2, Funny)
On/Off Switch and Parenting (Score:3, Insightful)
Provided that the power switch is visible and easily accessible to parents, then yes. And hey, it doesn't even need to be red -- I think the "red button" idea is metaphorical.
But, think about it. Like many people on Slashdot, I'm an advocate of responsible parenting: know what your children are doing (within bounds of privacy, dependent on the child's maturity), set reasonable boundaries, and take opportunities to discuss things with your children (i.e., make things learning experiences where possible). Is it such a bad idea, if a parent sees a child exposed to inappropriate media (whether it be music, television, or video games, always taking into account the age and maturity of the child), to hit the power switch? What better time to have a discussion with your child?
I mean, you could try to have a discussion hours later. Or, you could turn off the inappropriate movie / video game / whatever, and have a discussion about, e.g., reality vs. fiction. If you, as a parent, are convinced that the child understands the implications of whatever media they were viewing, and that they are mature enough to view it / play with it, then turn it back on. Worst case, your child is pouty about having to go back to their last save point.
Sure as hell beats being one of those parents who doesn't understand why the government didn't stop them from purchasing GTA IV for their six-year-old.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Like many people on Slashdot, I'm an advocate of responsible parenting: know what your children are doing (within bounds of privacy, dependent on the child's maturity), set reasonable boundaries, and take opportunities to discuss things with your children (i.e., make things learning experiences where possible).
Okay smart guy, how is a politician like me going to get re-elected on the nanny vote with a message like that, hmm??? Newsflash: personal responsibility only sells at the polls if you're talking responsibility of people who aren't voting for you! Yeah, you obviously didn't think that one through, did you? That's why I'm a senator and you aint!
(I know I don't need to point this out, but this was a joke)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Despite being a tongue-in-cheek joke, your comment says so very much.
I'd love to enter politics, because I feel like I could make a difference, and because I would love to help solve some of the problems faced by the people in my country. That being said, I know that my voicemail would be filled w
Re: (Score:2)
Is it such a bad idea, if a parent sees a child exposed to inappropriate media [...] to hit the power switch? What better time to have a discussion with your child? [...] Worst case, your child is pouty about having to go back to their last save point.
You don't even need to hit the power switch: just tell your child to pause it and come have a talk.
There's no five-second rule when it comes to inappropriate media. Once they've seen it, you may as well leave the screen on.
Re: (Score:2)
And to think, for YEARS, all my game consoles have been on all the time! Running up my electricity bills!
This "power button" idea is ripe and ready for environmental conservation.
Use a spoon. (Score:3, Insightful)
and an icepick (Score:2)
Don't forget to puncture the eardrums while you're digging out the eyes. Wouldn't want the little tykes hearing something that may harm them when they're running around blind, now would we?
When I was about 8 (Score:5, Insightful)
Of COURSE, at this juncture, my mother entered the room. I don't remember the exact look on her face, as such, but attempting to recall it now, I envision Munch's "the Scream (
She told me to turn off the game, or I would be grounded, and would have no more access to the computer. That's it. No magic button was required. Her finger did not even have to touch some mundane "on/off switch". I took one last glance at the cardboard-pixel boobs dancing haltingly across my screen and decided that, whatever this was exactly, it wasn't worth the infinite punishments my mother seemed prepared to apply.
Considering that day now, I don't see much need for some sort of "red button". Setting aside the fact that various consoles and televisions already have remotes with buttons serving the mandated purpose, I lay before you this objection: parents already have (very nearly) absolute power over their children. Button or no button, you can stop them from participating in any leisure activity that you feel is inappropriate with little more than a threat and a stern tone of voice. You certainly have the power to take away any consoles or computers which might allow them to defy your violence/profanity/digital-titty embargo.
A button makes it easier, less personal, more secret. It also puts an additional burden on the video game industry, to the glee of family values groups everywhere. It is not a necessarily solution. It is at best a crutch used to control your offspring, and at worst a lie used to manipulate them.
Should you ever see your children looking at something that you don't think they should see, then tell them that they can either stop, or lose some privileges.
red button for the EU (Score:2)
Leave it to Slashdot... (Score:5, Informative)
Leave it to Slashdot sensationalism to spin an EU report which is generally very positive towards gaming as some kind of evil plot...
Read the Reuters article in the summary for more info on what this was actually about:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE51A60H20090211 [reuters.com]
Unlikely to be useful (Score:2)
That's unlikely to happen as they use Internet as a baby sitter.
Thus in the end, the panic button will cost money and resources with very little usefulness.
a thought... (Score:2, Insightful)
Try parenting!
Check the PG rating, it's even on the package in EU, read up on the game?.
think about it, what would make your kid hate you more,
not letting them buying the game,
or letting them buy the game, and then take it away after a few minutes?
I love it (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As we know, the only way a child can get their hands on a game is when their parents buy it for them. Children never borrow inappropriate games from their friends to play when their parents aren't looking.
If you aren't looking, you can't use any means of filtering what your child sees. That is, other than raising them to understand and respect the reasonable boundaries that you set. Sorry if that just sounds like more magical non-parent mumbo jumbo to you.
As the saying goes "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems".
"Red Button" - I like it; but we need more (Score:4, Insightful)
So many other things could also do with a panic button to shut things down "should something inappropriate occur"; the list is endless, but we could start with:
- The international banking system, (too late)
- The North Korean politburo
- The Australian parliament
- The Canadian parliament and,
- The European parliament!
The idiot box (Score:2)
The reason "just using the off switch" won't work for this, is because the end-goal is to create the "right" that parents can plunk their children down in front of the digital idiot box, just as they used to do with the analogue idiot box, and have it mind their children.
This is the reason behind the filtering in Australia. It isn't really about making children "safer" but about making the parents life easier.
Just as "adult" programs are proscribed to certain times and broadcasters heavily punished for any
Think of the Parents! (Score:2)
I see this being more useful for the kid to keep his parents from seeing what he's doing...
Who knows how many accidents have occured while trying to turn off a monitor, mute audio, and zip up a fly simultainously, as Mom walks in.
Blood EVERYWHERE.
The other button (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
A broken one which is stuck in the pressed state would be fine also.
It's time to hit that panic button (Score:3, Insightful)
You know, it's time to hit whatever button will cause this unnecessary overreaction to halt.
The most harmful thing for kids is having controlling adults around them who can't prioritize actual dangers. The kids already know all the bad words and most likely they know more bad words than you.
If you want to keep your kids from hearing bad words, keep them isolated from their peers.
Why stop there? (Score:2)
Beat them when they play a violent game.
Beat them when they play cowboys and indians (dirty racists).
Beat them when they listen to rap music (gun and drug culture).
Beat them when they watch music television (lewd imagery and soft sexual content).
Beat them when they watch the news (war, rape, murder, animal cruelty, fraud, theft, and binge drinking).
Beat them when they get up in the morning, just in case.
Seriously, this is one fucked up piece of news.
Excellent (Score:2)
From the posts I've seen, I think we have finally gone beyond the 1990's and have acknowledged the fact that video games are just video games.
Seriously, 18 year old's can vote. We've grown up with Doom and GTA, this unchecked aggression will not stand man!
Bender got it right this time... (Score:5, Funny)
Stop being stupid. (Score:2)
OK parents, how about you stop being stupid and actually take responsibility for raising your kids?
My son's eight and he loves video games. He's got his own DS, and he's even been trying out an MMORPG (Fusion Fall [fusionfall.com] by the Cartoon Network).
We don't let him play excessively (even though I have a tendency to want to play video games excessively), we don't let him play unsupervised (all computers are in public areas, he won't have a computer in his room until he goes off to university), and we teach him about t
Not *all* bad... (Score:2)
I'm not saying I'm excited about parents being able to kill their kids' gaming experiences, but the idea of a Big Red Button that turns off your PC might sell well on ThinkGeek etc. I could see myself using it at quitting time, flipping open the clear protective cover, hovering my hand over it as I count "3... 2... 1"...
My Parents Had a Universal "Off" Button (Score:2)
Only one datapoint, but still (Score:2)
Here's the solution (Score:2)
Press here. [turnofftheinternet.com]
Universal Remote (Score:5, Insightful)
They could employ the same system that the Xbox employs. Add an IR receiver.
I already have a button which turns off my Xbox 360 in one button press. It's on my Logitch Harmony. When I press "Off" it turns off my hometheater, including my 360.
If they want a quick "OMG boobs!" button then they just need a universal remote. Program it to the XBox's IR "Off" command and bam! Problem solved.
If people start swearing I could just press the "mute" button and it'll mute my receiver.
I guess the EU wants to legislate the ownership or at least education for parents to purchase a Universal Remote. PC games? Add an IR receiver. Again, mute is easy enough in windows. My keyboard has a mute button so there must be a hook. Also minimizing to desktop is a hotkey so that should be pretty easy to setup to an IR command as well.
No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:2)
You're over-thinking the problem. Your setup sounds nice, but all that's required --and a feature that's already implemented-- is just plain moseying over to the power switch and extending a finger at it. Any finger will do! ;-)
Re:No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:5, Insightful)
I've got a better one. Tell your child to stop playing the game. If a parent can see what their child is doing in order to press a red button, then they can just as easily tell their child what not to do.
Relying on physical means to control your child's behaviour only sends the message that physical means are the only means to control their behaviour and if they can avoid or counter the physical means, they can behave as they wish. Are the people who proposed this bill afraid of their own children? Is physical control what they rely on?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:5, Interesting)
You walk over and unplug it, and take it away for a week or three.
That way, they quickly learn that undesired cooperation on the short term can result in a greater net gain in the long run.
You can back up your demands with physical action, but you probably shouldn't start by putting a pickaxe through the PS3.
Re: (Score:2)
They also learn to scheme behind your back when you are not watching, or shoot your face like that halo addict kid did.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
They also learn to scheme behind your back when you are not watching
At a certain age, they're going to scheme behind your back anyway.
That fact, though, does not obviate the need for "wardens" (as opposed to the "inmates") to run the asylum.
Re: (Score:2)
mom? is that you?
Seriously - my mom did exactly that - she'd not only pull the plug, she would remove it and hide it. Until I was about 12 I had a strict 1 hour a day computer or TV limit (I got to choose which). If I was on any longer than my allotted time (I got a 5 minute warning), mom would either remove the rabbit ears (TV), take the console (Atari 2600, Intellivision) or pull the plug and hide it (computer) and I would lose all privileges for that device for a week. I learned fast that there was n
Re:No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:5, Interesting)
Mine did the same thing back in the late 80's BBS era. Her trick was to take the phone off the hook in her bedroom and lock the door to keep me from staying up all night.
My trick was to ride my bike to the public library, get a book on telephony, and install a cutoff switch for her extension in the bathroom on the other side of the wall. ;)
Re:No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:4, Insightful)
Er, no.
Someone doing what you say doesn't depend on physical means, it depends on respect.
Plenty of parents exert lots of control over their high school students - even though there's no physical advantage.
Otherwise I'd never be able to get the 6'4" kid I live with to do anything, cause I'm pretty sure I can't take him in a fight.
Re:No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:4, Insightful)
That said, I know I'm going to be cursed with triplet girls when it's my time... Lol.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know; when I was in high school, the major reasons I would do what my parents said were, rather than respect, a combination of irrational fear and rational desire to continue to be fed. (but my case was quite atypical)
Re: (Score:2)
Otherwise I'd never be able to get the 6'4" kid I live with to do anything, cause I'm pretty sure I can't take him in a fight.
Christopher Titus [youtube.com] talking about fighting his father:
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, when my child is misbehaving the console itself goes bye-bye. It gets hidden beyond reach and doesn't come back again for some time (days or weeks at a time). He has learned very quickly that mom and dad mean business when it comes to listening to what they say.
Re: (Score:2)
Relying on physical means to control your child's behaviour only sends the message that physical means are the only means to control their behaviour and if they can avoid or counter the physical means, they can behave as they wish. Are the people who proposed this bill afraid of their own children? Is physical control what they rely on?
Maybe the EU parliament members are too young to have read Clockwork Orange or even bothered to see the movie.
Re: (Score:2)
I've got a better one. Tell your child to stop playing the game. If a parent can see what their child is doing in order to press a red button, then they can just as easily tell their child what not to do. Relying on physical means to control your child's behaviour only sends the message that physical means are the only means to control their behaviour and if they can avoid or counter the physical means, they can behave as they wish. Are the people who proposed this bill afraid of their own children? Is physical control what they rely on?
So, when he says "no", you'd just going to say "no" again, and threaten to hold your breath until he complies?
Ultimately, all authority is backed by physical force. The child would be better off to learn that early.
I suppose you're one of those goobers who thinks discipline is letting the kid do whatever he wants whenever he wants.
Re: (Score:2)
I feel that this poster [slashdot.org] further up gave a good answer.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Universal Remote (Score:5, Funny)
"They could employ the same system that the Xbox employs. Add an IR receiver."
A lot of people with an XBox 360 don't even have to go that far, because Microsoft have once again proved that they're ahead of curve, and have already equipped their system with a special facility that displays a red circle on the screen to indicate that all gaming has been suspended for an indefinite period. This lock-out mechanism so secure that the only way to resume gaming is by sending the machine back to Microsoft, where a specially trained technician will the reset the cunningly hidden Naughty Person flag, and then send it back after a suitable period has elapsed to teach people that being naughty has consequences.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Universal Remote (Score:4, Funny)
How does turning off the machine get me instant boobs? I think you have that backwards!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
How does turning off the machine get me instant boobs? I think you have that backwards!
Indeed, the other way around is what some would call a Priority Interrupt [catb.org].
Re:Universal Remote (Score:5, Insightful)
I already have a button which turns off my Xbox 360 in one button press. It's on my Logitch Harmony. When I press "Off" it turns off my hometheater, including my 360.
If they want a quick "OMG boobs!" button then they just need a universal remote. Program it to the XBox's IR "Off" command and bam! Problem solved.
Too complicated. They need a device that is completely universal, works with all gaming consoles and computers now and in the future out-of-the-box, requires no programming, doesn't need batteries, and can be used without thinking at a moment's notice to disable the child-damaging violent games.
What they need is a shotgun. Nothing else sends a clearer signal to your impressionable children that violence is wrong than a shotgun blast to their gaming console.
Here is your button (Score:4, Funny)
For online pc games, a solution exists [85qm.de].
Re: (Score:2)
Just set windows to auto shut down on power button press.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)