Well, smack me on the ass and call me Judy, UK retailers are selling 18+ videogames to minors, reports the UK's Trading Standards Institute.

With the violent videogame debate continuing to rage and talks of how over-18 games are corrupting our children, Trading Standards have been conducting research to find out exactly how bad the problem is on the web. Stopping kids buying games from stores is difficult enough, but on the net, well it's near impossible isn't it?

The BBC reported this morning that 86 per cent of youngsters who were recruited by Welsh trading standards were able to purchase 18 rated games online from auction websites.

The investigation was conducted with six local authorities-enlisted volunteers aged between 12 and 16, who then tried to buy 18-rated video games online, with postal orders.

"This survey shows how easily children can gain access to age-restricted, violent video games," said Lee Jones, acting head of trading standards at Bridgend County Borough Council.

"Traders selling goods over the internet have a responsibility to make sure they have methods in place to avoid breaking the law by making under-age sales", he added.

You buy Grand Theft Auto IV, you play it for a few months and you put it on eBay to let people bid on it. There's no way that you can tell who's buying it. We've said it once and we'll say it again. You're never going to stop minors buying videogames, especially when there's trading sites like eBay and Amazon, the responsibility lies with the parents.

With threats of up to six months in jail for those traders who get caught, you can be rest assured that many major online traders will at least put measure in place to minimise the problem.

Source :: BBC