Don’t be alarmed, but video game and movie downloads will soon carry age ratings in the UK. The Cousins, worried that such downloads are completely unregulated and unlabeled, will apply the new ratings to video-on-demand and other network services. The ratings will be handled by the British Board of Film Classification, the same organization that banned Manhunt 2 last year. The scheme is voluntary, and so far companies like Disney and Fox have signed up, perhaps to avoid having to deal with legally mandated ratings.

You know, when I was a young lad, my parents let me play the most violent games and watch the most violent movies. Blood and gore, wanton destruction, a veritable cornucopia of evil. Heaven forbid a female character in a movie or whatever striped down to her bra, then all bets were off and I would be thrown into a separate room and the door locked until the naughty parts finished. An exaggeration, sure, but an illustration of upside-down American values.