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The Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family has just released its annual video game report card in Washington. The group criticized games in which players shoot rival gang members, watch bare-breasted women and recreate the assassination of President Kennedy. It singled out popular games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The Institute and two sympathetic lawmakers, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and Minnesota congresswoman Betty McCollum, are urging the industry to educate parents better about ratings and asking retailers not to sell such games to younger teenagers.

Institute president David Walsh unveiled a new public service TV ad, which features a young boy talking excitedly about playing a favorite game.

Walsh cited a survey his organization conducted last month, a secret shopper sting operation in which half of underage boys (but only 8 percent of girls) who tried were allowed to buy M-rated games.

The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, a trade group that represents game retailers, says it's premature to criticize stores.

Doug Lowenstein, president of Entertainment Software Association, said all the games on the institute's objectionable list are rated M, which he said shows the industry is doing its job.