With all the recent video games including blood, guts, violence, drugs and sexual inuendo as a regular part of their games, it becomes very important that parents have a hold of what their kids get their hands on. With this in mind, the Nintendo Wii has a built in feature that can take a bit of that work off the hands of parents everywhere. The parental controls in the Nintendo Wii are quite easy to work, and can make a huge difference in what your kids can and can not play.
Today’s video games have a rating system called the ESRB, and the Nintendo Wii uses that system to implement the parental controls. This system rates games based on age, and is very similar to movie ratings. These ratings are built into the Nintendo Wii system and the parental settings.
Here is how to use the Nintendo Wii parental controls:
1. Go to the Wii Menu. Usually it will pop up when you turn on the game, but if it does not then press “home” on the Wii remote. Go to Wii options from the home menu.
2. Next, you will want to go to the Nintendo Wii Settings menu. Pan over to the right to the “Wii settings 2″ menu. You will see the option titled “Parental Controls” when you open that menu.
3. Select “Yes” and enter a four digit pin or code. This will be the password that your child will not know. This pin is very important and should be kept secret so that only you know it.
4. Select a question for security in case the pin is forgotten. Then enter “game settings and Pin” menu.
5. At this point you can pick the highest rating allowed for the Nintendo Wii. Select the highest rating and click Ok. Then confirm and your ESRB ratings are set.
If your child attempts to play a video game that is rated above what you chose, they will first have to put in the pin for the game to play. This keeps them from playing games that you did not know they got their hands on. This is a common way for kids to try to get around Mom and Dad not allowing them to buy mature games. They will borrow the games from friends, etc. This will prevent that from working.
