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Columns > MomGamer > #98: Parental Controls on the PS3 and PSP
Sony's newest machine has joined the rest in giving us more power to control the gaming in our households.  Sony's Playstation 3 has joined the rest of this generation's gaming hardware to give users some better options to help them manage the content that is played in their household. In the case of the PS3, there are some issues with it but with the help of this guide you should be able to make the most of them. This isn't a first for Sony. There are also controls in the PS2 (see here for our guide on how to deal with them). There are a lot of PS2's still out there, and they are a really attractive deal right now as well. Those settings do have a major flaw - the controls only applied to movies. Not games. With the PS3, we've got a few more options. You're going to have to think about how you want to do this. First thing you need to consider is that the controls for games played offline, they are set for the entire system. Not for the individual user. Think about all the members of your family. If you have a large gap in age between your children you're going to have to figure out how to manage that. If you lock the whole thing down to the level of the younger one, you can still go in and enter the PIN number to allow the oldest access to his games. But you have to do that for each game session. Or, alternatively, you can give that older child the PIN number. That gives him access to the whole shebang, though. Just be aware that with the PS3, there will be a great deal of M-rated content. You'll have to figure that out based on your house rules and how much leeway you want to give that older child. The biggest flaw with this system is that it is so easy to get around. And the instructions to do it are included in the manuals in the box and are all over the internet. I do not know of a way to prevent the settings to be changed this at this time. However, you can tell if it's been done by simply trying to use something that shouldn't be allowed based on the settings you set up. Even if all they did was change the number so they can get access to it behind your back you'll be able to tell that they did it because the code will be changed and it won't work for you. Trying the settings out periodically is the only way to catch this. That said, having it in place is still better than not. Especially if you have younger kids in the house. Here's the lowdown on what you can and can't control, and how to set it up. Local settings Start by turning the system on without a disk in it. From the main menu, choose "Security Settings" in the System menu, and then set the individual entries:
Playstation Network settings The online system for the Playstation has it's own set of controls. They can be set during the creation of the child's sub-account on the system.
PSP Settings Since the PSP is so tightly integrated with the PS3 experience, they've also got some Parental Controls on this unit as well. The menu works just like the PS3's, and the settings are in the same place. There are settings for Games, UMD movies, and the system browser very similar to the above. It also uses the same password setup, but you set it independently of the PS3's. This is a start for Sony, and I hope more options become available and are better secured as time goes on. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them on our message boards. Here are a couple helpful links: Sony's Online PS3 Manual Security Settings Sony's Playstation Network Parental Controls
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