Ratings confusion

What the controversy surrounding GTA: San Andreas really highlights is confusion over all the ratings - of movies, music, and TV as well as videogames. USATODAY reports that "a cry has gone out" to fix the game ratings system, in fact all the ratings systems. "Even though TV programs, movies, music and video games all carry labels denoting age-appropriateness, parents groups and politicians say the systems aren't working" (USATODAY thoughtfully provides a page of ratings charts that's about as clear as it can be). Critics cited are the Parents Television Council and the National Institute on Media and the Family. David Walsh, head of the latter organization, told USATODAY that universal ratings need to revisited because of the media convergence we're experiencing - the ability to hop from music video to TV show to game all on one device. Patricia Vance, head of the game industry's Entertainment Software Rating Board, said the system's fine - San Andreas was an "isolated incident." It would be great to hear these experts discuss the pros and cons of a universal rating system, which undoubtedly would be complicated (here's 2001 testimony in the US Senate, about why it's "unworkable," by Douglas Lowenstein, head of the video and PC game industry's trade association). USATODAY cites a number of examples of commercial and nonprofit services that are tackling the convergence problem by putting reviews of multiple child-targeting media in one place (the article should've included California-based CommoneSenseMedia.org), but raising parents' awareness of these services is a costly challenge.