At least the bad economy led to one good thing: A media watch-dog group in my state that targets video games closed down. They feel they need to waste their time telling parents the obvious: M video games disturbing content!
Apparently before they closed down their latest list of "Game to watch out for" contained Silent Hill: Homecoming because of the option to do a mercy killing on your mom or watch her get ripped to shreds in a torture machine. Gruesome and horrible, yes, oh! but what's this? AN M RATING! Meaning if you buy this for a little kid YOU'RE A FREAKING MORON! I tried one of the games for the PS2, got too freaked out, and never played another one again. I was 17 at the time and thus able to use my own judgment to realize this series wasn't for me. I mean, come on! What's the difference between that scene and what goes on in a Saw movie!
We've had ratings on games for awhile now so, IMHO, I think all that needs to change is knowing how to target the female gamers without insulting them.