Our CGA partner Stomped has scored a great new interview with Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, just days before the presidential election. Since it was announced he would be running on the ticket with Al Gore, Senator Lieberman has been getting a lot of attention from the video game industry becuase of his position on ratings and violence in games. The Q&A at Stomped is quick, but covers the main issues. Here's a clip:

Stomped: Earlier this year you and a number of other U.S. senators sent out a letter to several large retailers asking them to no longer sell "M" rated video games or at least keep them from being sold to children. Both Sears and Wards stopped the practice and now KMart has said it will begin "carding" people who buy "M" rated games. Why do you feel this kind of practice is necessary, even with the rating system and the fact that studies show that 9 out of 10 games are bought by people over 18 years of age?

Lieberman: For the ESRB's rating system to be effective, it must be enforced. The recent FTC report on the marketing of violence to children, however, showed most retailers outlets are not meeting that responsibility. In fact, a sting operation found that underage teens were successful in buying M-rated games 85 percent of the time. To correct this problem, we are asking retail and rental outlets to simply abide by the same common-sense standard that the nation's movie theater owners have followed for years ? if a game is not appropriate to children, it should not be sold to children, at least not without their parents' supervision.

Lieberman Interview at Stomped

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