New ESRB mobile app delivers ratings information via box photos

Good news, kids! The next time you're in a store and you ask your mom or dad to buy that random fantasy RPG, all they need to do is take a picture of it with their phone to find out it has alien sex, breast jiggle, or pot smokers.

The ESRB launched an iPhone app last year in a bid to make point-of-purchase searches of content ratings more commonplace among consumers. The app originally required users to type in the name of the game. Now, all that's needed is a picture of the game's box.

"With our new mobile app, all you have to do is snap a photo to access the rating summary right from the store, where this information is usually needed most," said ESRB president Patricia Vance in a statement. The new app is available for iPhone and Android.

Of course, the game's rating is already plastered on the front and back of the box, but what the app offers is access to the rating board's extensive database of summaries, which tell you all about whether or not in-game decapitations have blood, how much flatulence there is, and whether or not any of the female characters have "provocative" outfits.

The world just got a bit safer.

Dec 14, 2010