A member of the European Parliament has called for the addition of a “red button” to video game consoles that parents could use to “disable their children’s video games” when they see something morally objectionable.

The idea, first proposed last month in a European Parliament report that was actually quite favorable towards games, has been pushed forward by Euro MP Glenis Willmott.

To quote Willmott:

Research shows video games are useful for educational and medical purposes – and they can be good fun. But not all of them have content which parents will be happy with. Online games, which are easy to download on to a PC or mobile phone, make parental control even harder.

Now, I hate to break it to Willmott, but this is a terribly silly idea. Not because games never ever have objectionable content that kids should never view, but because the idea is redundant. You see, video game consoles have had a “red button” of sorts since the very beginning:

It’s called the reset button.

Popularity: unranked [?]