Toys 'R' Us New Policy? Or is it Old Policy?

I went to browse Toys 'R' Us games in my local store.  They had many conspicuous signs about M-rated games can only be purchased behind the electronics counter.  I looked around and no M-rated demo boxes were on the shelves, either.  Toys 'R' Us already has a pop up reminder to check ID when a M-rated game is scanned.  What I believe the policy means is that you can't put non-demo boxes of M-rated games out nor can you purchase M-rated games at the regular registers.  Did my store go above and beyond the corporate policy?  If any readers noticed this in their town, I'd love to know.

The way it's implemented here literally prevents the over-17 buyer from browsing the M-rated games.  Does Toys 'R' Us know that the outside art for ESRB-rated games are supposed to be "E-rated," that is, non-offensive and ratings-neutral?  Now being the good investigative blogger, I called Toys 'R' Us customer service 800 number to check and see if it was a single store blaming it on corporate, or if it was actual corporate policy.  The customer service attendant said something along the lines that "...if the sign says it's policy, it's policy."  In other words, he or she was really uninformed about it.

I think the lack of browsing will kill a lot of teenage and older legitimate buyers.  That will reduce sales somewhat.  For me, it is too much of a bother for me to shop there, unless I'm buying Tetris or Hello, Kitty.  I'm not even a big fan of M-rated games, but some of my franchise favorites, like God of War, are all for "mature" audiences.  But if little 8-year-old Billy tells his naive mom that the new game, "Kill 'em 'til They're Dead and Kill 'em Again," is an okay game, she'll still buy it for him.

How does this apply to their hint guides and magazines?  They're often representative of the game in pictures and reviews.  Should we pull them, too?  It's a mighty slope, so let's start sliding.

On the other hand, it's a good thing for a store to implement what they want rather than have it mandated by crazy-ass law.