Failed parental control: how the PS2 Gamelock does not work

With all of the controversy over “M” rated games in North America and the infamous CERO Z stamp in Japan some parents are wondering how they can lock their systems like they block TV channels. The Xbox 360 does have a parental control system in the family settings menu where you can set up a passcode and block games by their ESRB rating. While the newer consoles are adding in these features nothing like this exists on the Playstation 2 and naturally someone has to capitalize on this. Blaze (the makers of the Xpander HDTV PS2 boot disc) is a little late on the scene with the Playstation 2: Parental Gamelock. Parents can boot up their PS2 with the device and set the age of their child. Once that’s done the Gamelock should block a five year old kid from playing Grand Theft Auto right? Wrong. The Gamelock requires the use of the PS2 memory card to work since there is no other way for the PS2 to remember the information saved from the Gamelock. If a kid wanted to sneak in a game of Hitman all he needs to do is pull out the memory card containing the data from the Gamelock. The work around is so simple that the Gamelock is rendered useless unless you want a false sense of security.