Parent's Guide Press, a Los Angeles-based publisher of the Parent's Guide(TM) series, applauds the FTC's Marketing Violence to Children follow-up report to the September 2000 hearings on violence in the media.

Retailers and manufacturers of video games were found by the FTC to be substantially in compliance with the recommendations of the September 2000 hearings. Efforts by the IDSA (Interactive Digital Software Association) and IEMA (Interactive Electronic Merchants Association) have spearheaded the independent efforts of retailers and manufacturers to provide protection of children from advertisements or opportunities to purchase Mature video games.

Parent's Guide Press, an imprint of Mars Publishing, Inc., released its first three Parent's Guides in September 2000, A Parent's Guide to Computer Games (ISBN 1-931199-07-8), A Parent's Guide to PlayStation 2 Games (ISBN 1-931199-05-1) and A Parent's Guide to Nintendo Games (ISBN 1-931199-06-X). These books are all currently in their second editions and are widely available. Additionally, Spring 2002 will see the publication of A Parent's Guide to the X-Box (ISBN 1-931199-12-4) and A Parent's Guide to Nintendo's GameCube and GameBoy (ISBN 1-931199-13-2).

These books inform parents of the industry's standard ratings, how those ratings are developed and individual reviews of the latest games. In addition, the Parent's Guide Choice Awards are bestowed on titles which fit the criteria of excellence: educational, entertaining and non-violent. Winners include the Civilization series, The Sims (all from Electronic Arts - ERTS), The Corporate Machine (from Take 2 Interactive - TTWO) and Harvest Moon (from Nintendo).

More information can be found at the Parent's Guide Press website. www.pgpress.com

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