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Best Buy to Toughen Policy on Adult Game Sales Youngsters who want to buy adult video games may have run up against a higher authority. Last week, Best Buy agreed to strengthen and publicize its efforts to keep minors from buying violent or sexually explicit video games after the company was pressured by the Christian Brothers Investment Services, which manages assets for Roman Catholic organizations. The store's policy threatens disciplinary action against clerks who fail to check the ages of shoppers who look as if they may be under 21. It also permits the use of mystery shoppers - spies, in other words - to check whether clerks are observing the rules. Best Buy agreed to post its policy on its Web site and on store signs after being threatened with a shareholder resolution asking for a report on how Best Buy complied with efforts to restrict the sale of explicit material. Also last week, the Illinois Senate approved the levying of fines against store owners who sell explicit games to minors. Sue Busch, Best Buy's directory of public relations, rejected the suggestion that the disclosure action was simply to appease a bloc of investors. "We wanted to make sure we were as open as possible so people could see how seriously we take their concerns," she said. Cathy Rowan, who co-filed the proposed shareholder resolution on behalf of Trinity Health, a Catholic health care provider, said that she was particularly concerned over the games Halo, Manhunt, Hitman and Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Auto where players are rewarded if they kill cops or rape prostitutes, she said. "Kids are going to play video games but are they being sold games that are really age inappropriate?" Nell Minnow, the editor of the Corporate Library, an independent research firm, said . "There's not a bright line distinction between what used to be social policy issues and straight shareholder-value concerns." SARA IVRY News Sourcehttp://www.nytimes.com
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