Use YouTube.com to review the games your kids are playing

Grand Theft Auto IV was released this week and, as always happens when a version of GTA comes out, there has been a lot of discussion about video game violence and sexual content.

Without going into detail GTA is a game that features guns, civilians, cops, cars, prostitutes and an environment that allows you to act in any way you please. As you can imagine, most teen game players choose to use the game as a simulation for testing their skills at abiding the law.

While I am all for creative freedom, I think that these games should be at least monitored by parents. I am not one of those guys who believes that kids shoot up schools because they play video games, but I think that the games make for good practice and help develop violent imaginations. Essentially I think that companies wouldn't play millions of dollars to have their products advertised on billboards in the games if the games had no influence on those that play them.

Monitoring these games can be difficult though. Parents often are at a disadvantage because they don't know how to work the controls, they may not even know how to turn the system on. Kids are not that anxious to play a game around their parents that allows you to kill prostitutes rather than pay them for their services.

While kids usually don't play these games around their parents, there is a way to see everything that a video game has to offer. Head on over to YouTube. Doing a simple search for the game title will typically lead to dozens of screen recordings. Add the word "review" to your search and you will find well constructed reviews to help you see what the game is all about.

Most consoles now have parental control that allows parents to set the system up so that it won't play rated M games (M=mature). The decision on whether kids should play these games or not is up to the parents, but parents should be able to make informed decisions.

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