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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently released the results of its latest nationwide undercover shop of electronic and video game stores, revealing just how easy it is for kids under 18 to buy Mature-rated games.

In short, it isn't.

In fact, the undercover operation saw a decrease in the number of M-Rated (Mature 18+) video games sold to unaccompanied minors (between ages 13 and 16) across the board in 2005, with retailers denying under-aged game purchases about 60% of the time on average. In 2000, kids were denied only 15% of the time.

The investigation, conducted between October 2005 and January 2006, involved 406 stores selling videogames in 43 states. Three hundred and six of the stores were national retailers, while the other 100 were local and regional sellers. The local and regional sellers, the "Mom & Pop" operations, weren't as stringent about saying no, denying the teens only 37% of the time while the large, national outlets found it much easier to deny such purchases at 65% of the time.