Just as with movies, today's video games range from cuddly and cute to grim and ghastly. For many years, shoppers had to rely on the cover photos on the box, and word of mouth, when determining whether a game was right for them or their family.

So in 1994, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) was established. They're a non-profit, self-regulatory organization, and their focus is on providing ratings for video games, along with game-specific info about what made the game qualify for its rating. They do this by means of a generic rating code, as well as a specific content descriptor, for every video game or computer game out there. The gaming industry has adopted their standard, and these ratings are prominently displayed on the cases of every game sold in the U.S.

Knowing the ratings

Now, by knowing your tastes — or the maturity level of your kids, if that's why you're checking out ratings — you can get pretty far by knowing the basic ratings, which we've summarized below:

• EC - Early Childhood, for ages 3 and older
• E - Everyone, for ages 6 and older
• E10+ - Everyone 10+ for ages 10 and older
• T - Teen, for ages 13 and older
• M - Mature, for ages 17 and older
• AO - Adults Only, for ages 18 and older

But those only go so far, and the general rating descriptions that accompany them are pretty vague: for example, T is defined as "may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language" (www.esrb.org, November 19, 2007).

Beyond the basic ratings

Although many games share the same rating, the reasons they might earn that rating can vary wildly, and those details can affect whether you buy a game or not. For example, you might let a child watch a PG-13 movie about World War II, but not let the same child watch a PG-13 movie that centered around crude humor and sexual innuendo. Similarly, you might choose to buy a Teen-rated game that had the main character battling invading aliens, but not a Teen-rated game that involved shooting humans.

You can get a lot of info on what the gameplay may actually involve by talking to other gamers or parents of gamers, and by checking out game reviews online. But we also recommend that you look at the rating details on each specific game, and then consider your own or your family's tastes to make a decision.

Here are some more specific examples. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW 2008 are all rated T for Teen. But their content is very different. Legend of Zelda, a game designed with cartoon styling, follows the adventures of a heroic young elf as he tries to save his princess and his kingdom from peril. It gets the Teen rating because it contains "animated blood" and "fantasy violence." Guitar Hero III, a wildly popular game that has players playing a guitar controller, is rated Teen due to the lyrics in the songs and "mild suggestive themes." WWE Smackdown Va. RAW 2008 earns its rating for "alcohol reference, blood, mild language, suggestive themes, violence." As you can see, there's quite a range within this rating alone.

This should give you a sense of why it's useful to understand the basic ratings, and how helpful it can be to check out the specific content descriptors. By the way, it's very easy to search the ESRB website for a particular game's rating details, or even sort by game rating. We hope that this information will make it even easier to find the right games for you or your family.