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ESRB Changes Oblivion's Rating to 'Mature' 282

Posted by Zonk from the country-governed-by-infants dept.
kukyfrope writes "Perhaps reacting based on the debacle that was the 'Hot Coffee' scandal, the ESRB today changed the rating on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion from Teen to Mature. From the article: 'The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or 'skin' that, if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters,' said the ESRB in a release."
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ESRB Changes Oblivion's Rating to 'Mature' More

ESRB Changes Oblivion's Rating to 'Mature'

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  • So this out yet? (Score:5, Funny)

    by ZiakII ( 829432 ) * on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:50PM (#15257099)
    if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters,' said the ESRB in a release.

    So is this out yet?.....

    • Re:So this out yet? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:53PM (#15257130)
      allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters

      The change in rating is to prevent younger players getting scared by all those women with their heads missing.
    • I believe it was out ages ago--and promptly replaced by more detailed 3rd party skins.

    • Re:So this out yet? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:54PM (#15257732) Homepage
      Yeah, I tried it a while back... so there's some pixelated tits, but they do absolutely nothing. There's no way to use them in any erotic context. It was about as arousing as an article about breast cancer with illustrations. With the game mostly in 1st person or from behind in 3rd person, you barely see them. If this is "Mature", then the nude skins + kissing in the Sims should make it rated XXX.

    • Europeans watch with mouths agape (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The problem that Americans have with nudity is pretty much incomprehensible to Europeans. We laugh when we hear about it, but actually it's pretty sad.

      The greatest nation on Earth is also one of the most primitive and most inhibited cultures in existence. And as it's a core inhibition within the religious fundamentalism of the government, the cultural barbarianism gets institutionalized, and isn't going away.

      Things like this remain around until the current generation of standard bearers die off. The inev
      • Please, Your Majesty, I know that I, like many other Americans, have behaved like a total buffoon. But we Americans are England's children. I know we don't call as often as we should and we aren't as well- behaved as our goody two-shoes brother, Canada -- who, by the way, has never had a girlfriend -- I'm just sayin'! But, please, find it in your jewel-encrusted heart to forgive me. And on another note, in 30 years when European women are forced to cover from head to toe those glimpses of an American hott
    • Yes right here [gamespy.com]. I'm using it right now and I just find it makes the game more realistic. When I remove someones shirt they should not have some stupid leather bra under as I believe in the past no one ever used bras. Anyways, enjoy.

    • Re:So this out yet? (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      In other news, the Disney Magazine is no longer to be sold to minors in stores, due to new information showing that it's possible to buy a copy of Hustler, cut out all the tits, and glue them on to Mickey's face.

  • mmmm (Score:4, Funny)

    by GmAz ( 916505 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:52PM (#15257121) Journal
    MMMMMMM...polygon'd boobies!!!

  • When I was your age (Score:5, Funny)

    by Burlap ( 615181 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:56PM (#15257160)
    virtual boobs only had 5 polygons and we had to walk to school up hill, both ways!

  • Any game? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Eudial ( 590661 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:56PM (#15257165)
    Uh, you could technically mod any PC game into toplessness. Therefore all PC games should be Mature? Do I smell a console conspiracy?

    • Re:Any game? (Score:5, Funny)

      by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:59PM (#15257205)
      Let's crack Microsoft Word to make Clippy flash us on command. We can finally bring those fuckers down!
    • In all seriousness, I think that Oblivion should have been rated mature in the first place, but this is for bogus reasons. If it's not in the vanilla unmodded game why the fuck are they rating for it? ESRB, do you have an answer for me? It's also interesting to note that the ESRB usually overrates games, i.e. Halo and Halo 2 getting M ratings. All of the blood there is blue or fluorescent orange, and there's less than Oblivion.

    • Re:Any game? (Score:3, Informative)

      by esper ( 11644 )
      You could technically mod nudity into any PC game, yes, but, in this case, the original topless female mesh was already present in the game as distributed, it was simply not usable until a mod enabled it (by pulling the resource out of an archive and placing it into a separate file, overriding the normal female upper body mesh).
      • Though, technically, one could use a texture for say an elbow or a knee as a breast. The texture came from the game --> M or AO rating. Probably only a matter of time until someone starts using it to sabotage the competition's game sales this way.
    • I hate to break it to you, but FROGGER was completely nude. And don't get me started about Donkey Kong!

      It's shocking, I tell you.

    • Re:Any game? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by x_codingmonkey_x ( 839141 )

      Uh, you could technically mod any PC game into toplessness. Therefore all PC games should be Mature? Do I smell a console conspiracy?

      Personally I don't really see what the big deal with toplessness and/or nudity is. It's a nudity is a perfectly nature aspect of human life. Now, going around and hacking people and seeing peoples heads impaled on sticks, isn't.

      I'm pretty shocked to hear the Oblivion was rated Teen (13+) before, and now that there is a way to show breasts it all the sudden becomes Mature

  • so all mod content... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gerbalblaste ( 882682 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:56PM (#15257169) Journal
    If i make a mod for Oblivion allowing the player to engage in sexual intercourse would that mean the ESRB would have to rank Oblivion AO?

    Basing the rating of a game upon the available third party content seems very stupid to me. I'm sure i'm in the majority of slashdotter who think that changing the rating of a game because of mods is stupid.

    this does not bode well for the future of video game ratings.

    • Re:so all mod content... (Score:5, Informative)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:13PM (#15257356) Journal
      Did you even read the entire summary?

      The "art file or 'skin'" was already present in the game, locked out or otherwise.

      The third party tool gave you access to what was already there... exactly like GTA & their hot coffee disaster.

      What the ESRB is trying to tell game makers is that they need to stop including postentially sexual content on the game discs, even if it's "locked out".
      • What if I create a mod for a different game (A T rated game) that swaps a skin texture from one character (say, a shirtless guy) to another (a female character) and creates the effect of a "topless character"? Should the game then get an M higher rating? It's only using content that was already in there, although not normally accessable to players? "Potentally sexual content" could be nearly anything!

      • Re:so all mod content... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:34PM (#15257538)
        What if I make a third party mod that "unlocks" the "hidden" nudity that comes when you layer thousands of images on top of each other, and for each pixel position selects 1 of the thousands of images to show though. It'd be simple to take pre-existing algorithms and get xxx pictures outta that.

        Now, my mod is simply taking stuff that's already on the disc and displaying it. It's just doing so in a way that the developers didn't intend. 18+ rating for everything!

        There's got to be a line drawn, and it should be drawn by saying that if you can access the content without the use of third party tools/mods/whatever, then it should count for the rating. If you have to hack the system in order to modify the game in order to gain access to content, then it shouldn't count against the rating. Once you allow content unlocked by a third-party modification to the game to count for ratings purposes, you've started down a slippery slope.
      • If your kid can unlock the art file, it is time to get a fucking clue and realize that your kid is more then capable of downloading more pr0n then you can possibly imagine. Further, these are just tits. This is not a sex mod. This is a human fucking body. I know the human body is evil and all, but grow the fuck up. Human females have tits. OMFG!!!11!!! Your mom has tits under her shirt and bra. That is right, even your mom has a little round circle of pink or brown skin with a raised pump. Guess wh

        • Woohoo! (Score:3, Funny)

          by idonthack ( 883680 )
          That said, some times we are so fucking uptight that if you shoved a lump a coal up the average American's ass, in two weeks you would have a diamond.
          I'm rich!!!
        • In some parts of the US it's not uncommon for women to nurse their babies in public. There is occationally public outcry about that too. Honestly, it does not harm children to see breasts. babies see breasts several times a day! It probably do more harm to children to criminalize *innocent* partial nudity.

          As for some 14 year old seeing some pixelated topless woman after intentionally hacking a game. I don't really care, and I'm not convinced parents would make a big deal of it. The kind of stuff they show o

      • It's still a mod (Score:3, Informative)

        by Moraelin ( 679338 )
        Regardless of how those textures got there, the semantics of it are sorta like this:

        1. There's the game as you bought it, and it doesn't show any nipples.

        2. You download a mod which, regardless of HOW, replaces the bra texture with a skin and nipple texture.

        Exactly what difference does it make where that texture was? If the mod was 100k larger to include its own textures, would that have prohibited anyone from downloading it? Well, no. Would an extra 100k have made the parent pay more attention to what litt

  • Nudity is fine (Score:4, Funny)

    by foundme ( 897346 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @04:59PM (#15257197) Homepage
    It's the marriage with an Orc [slashdot.org] that summons a Mature rating.
  • There are several comments here wondering what's so different in this case, and rather than spam reply to all I'd just put my thoughts here.

    The difference here is that the 3D model of the nude avatar is actually included on the disc. It's the same crap as Hot Coffee - it was created by the developer and shipped on the disc, but nothing was pointing to it. So a modder can go in and point to it.

    Not saying I agree with this at all, just pointing out that this isn't your typical "nude patch" where someone cre

    • Re:The difference between this and The Sims 2 is.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:26PM (#15257470)
      That's not quite how it works. I haven't played the game, but this is what I've gathered from reading the author of the mod's comments.

      Most games handle clothing by making it directly part of the character model. Oblivion models character bodies and clothing seperately. Although this approach increases the complexity of the graphics, it allows more reuse of art assests. With this approach, you can mix and match body types and clothing without having to redo the artwork for the different combos. This patch simply removes the clothing layer.

      Also, according to the mod author's comments, the topless women don't quite look right. The models were designed to look right wearing clothing, not bare.
      • My understanding of it was that they accomplished it by replacing the default female torso texture with some other undressed torso texture that was supposedly hidden. Seeing as how they admit that the nipples don't look quite right, is there any chance that they simply replaced the femal torso textures with the male torso textures? Not too many games have males that wear bras, so it would cause nipples to be displayed. And, if the wrong texture was being applied to the model, that could explain the misha

  • Finally. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Cheapy ( 809643 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:01PM (#15257222)
    I love the game, but there is no way it should ever have been Teen. The necromancer and vampire lairs can be very graphic (If you've seen Memorial Cave, you know what I'm talking about.), way too graphic for a little kid. Decomposing bodies with a noose around their neck hanging from the ceiling? And a 'kicked out' chair underneath them? More decomposed bodies stuck to the wall with spears (Incidently, the only spears in the game, other than the skulls.)

    Way too graphic.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go buy one of the last 'T'-labeled games, and sell it for a profit later on.

    • Re:Finally. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tom ( 822 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:07PM (#15257300) Homepage Journal
      way too graphic for a little kid. Decomposing bodies with a noose around their neck hanging from the ceiling?

      Oh, there's nothing wrong with decomposing bodies, according to the ESRB. But look, one of them has the tits hanging out. And you can almost see the nipple! OMG! Think of the chiiildren!
      • Even better. A tit is hanging out in a normaly inacessible texture file. If anyone here ever saw a naked body texture file, they know it actually look like Silence of the Lambs' flesh dress. Nothing even sexual about it.

    • Re:Finally. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Azarael ( 896715 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:29PM (#15257493) Homepage
      There are certainly some aspects of the game that aren't suitable for younger audiences, which is the case with a lot of games. What really bothers me is that it wasn't any of the violence that prompted the rating, but something stupid like this. No wonder people don't have much faith in the ratings system.

      • Re:Finally. (Score:3, Informative)

        by chrisbtoo ( 41029 )
        FTFS: The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating[...]

        You think that was just a cover-up (no pun intended)?

        • I don't know about that, but the developers have a good idea of what is included in a game. I don't know if it's the devs not saying or the ESRB not asking (or not looking hard enough). I kind of suspect that the rating change has more to do with the 'skin' than the gore. I'll admit though that some areas of Oblivion are on par with the violence depicted in other M games I own, but it's still not the corpses on meat hooks from Quake 4 or large numbers of body parts lying around in D3.

    • Re:Finally. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Cutriss ( 262920 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:32PM (#15257510) Homepage
      Please resolve these conflicting statements:

      I love the game, but there is no way it should ever have been Teen.

      The necromancer and vampire lairs can be very graphic (If you've seen Memorial Cave, you know what I'm talking about.), way too graphic for a little kid.

    • You ever play Diablo? Not the sequel, just good old Diablo. Once you make it down to hell you have the butcher's room and several other places that are full of impaled bodies.

      And, of course, on the nudity front, there's the succubi (and related boobie demon bitches) that have naked tits, and that scream like they're getting anally violated and fall down with their asses up in the air when you kill them.

      ESRB rating: Teen.

    • Just goes to show how screwed up the puritanical US view (at least of those in power) on media is. It's ok for a youngster to see graphic violence, but god help 'em if they see tits! (And frankly, those are some of the poorest 3d representations of tits I can recall seeing.)

      Sex and attraction to physical attributes of people is natural (it's part of human survival). At least amongst thinking people, violence is NOT required for human survival. But yet, it's cool to watch someone get their ass kicked, bu

  • Unfair distinctions (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Vallimar ( 323618 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:01PM (#15257229) Homepage
    Why is the ESRB now adjusting a games rating based on post-release modifications? Have you seen what topless Oblivion is like? You have to be pretty desperate to get off on those lumpy misshapen breasts.

    And, since they have started this crusade, why hasn't the Sims 2 been pulled and modded Adults Only yet? That has far more explicit mods and in-your-face sexuality. Hell, the only way to get ahead in that game is to have sex, and that only gets a Teen rating still?

    If the ESRB is going to keep pulling this, all game makers should just slap Adults Only labels on their games and let the parents figure out which ones are safe for their kids, like they are supposed to be doing in the first place.

    • Re:Unfair distinctions (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Overly Critical Guy ( 663429 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @08:38PM (#15258867)
      Yes, it's interesting isn't it? More interesting is that The Sims 2 has nude bodies in it, they're just pixellated, and you can turn it off with a third-party mod...which is the exact same reason Oblivion is now being marked "M."

      The ESRB is officially punishing game companies for what users do to the game. "Hot Coffee" was never normally accessible in GTA; therefore, they can't be rated for it because a user has to specifically unlock it themselves. The same with this, and it's even more silly because the only reason the nude textures are included is because Bethesda needs a nude body texture to display clothes on top of. It was just for their clothing system, for crying out loud, not some malicious erotic intent. I guess if there weren't any nipples, the ESRB wouldn't care?

      Fucking idiots.
  • The surprising thing is how the ratings of both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Oblivion only changed with third party users made patches to enable them.

    In my mind, this is no different from the Bra and Panties Oblivion mod I've seen floating around (which changes the undergarments from boring brown to something lacy) - not Oblivion's fault as it wasn't meant to be seen when they shipped it.

    The violence - OK, I'll deal with that, but notice that the rating change only happened when somebody went "OMG - t
    • Although I agree with you about the hysteria over sex/nudity being uncalled for, I have to disagree about this being the same as a purely-third-party mod. Hot Coffee supposedly just unlocked content which was included in the game by the publisher, just in a disabled form. The original Oblivion topless mod was taking a topless mesh which Bethesda had included in the game and made it available for play (and, incidentally, first became available before anyone had figured out how to create third-party meshes)
      • I'll mostly agree with you, but in either case, it takes a third party to activate the hidden content.

        Odds are, this in the long run can be a good thing: if a game developer includes the "inappropriate" content - whether or not it is hidden - they run the risk of getting a bad rating.
  • From the article..."as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or 'skin' that, if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters"

    I think the problem is that the content in question is actually included in the game itself, though locked out. I'm not exactly sure what the developers were thinking, including those skins. After the whole Hot Coffee fiasco, you think they'd have learned.

  • Breasts! OMG! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:02PM (#15257237) Homepage Journal
    Because, you know, you can't possibly confront young people with images of something they've sucked on 10 years ago.

  • Check out the nude patch in action! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Durrill ( 908003 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:04PM (#15257259)
    I saw a video of this nude patch a few months ago, check it out here [gametrailers.com].
  • I have been told by reliable sources that the ESRB rating board in fact contains nudity, and that it can be unlocked simply by undressing the board members. I must therefore recommend that this story be rated M, and that /. prevent minors from reading it.

  • False claims (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ralph Yarro ( 704772 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:06PM (#15257283) Homepage
    the PC version will carry an additional content descriptor for Nudity

    If the nudity isn't available in the basic game but needs a third party hack, isn't it false advertising to claim "nudity" on the box? I'd expect a refund if I bought this and found no nudity included.

    • Re:False claims (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Wylfing ( 144940 ) <brian@@@wylfing...net> on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:56PM (#15257749) Homepage Journal
      If the nudity isn't available in the basic game but needs a third party hack, isn't it false advertising to claim "nudity" on the box? I'd expect a refund if I bought this and found no nudity included.

      You just don't understand the new thinking, is all. See, we need to be "protected" not simply against what things are but also against what things can be made to do. And, frankly, it is the fault of godless monsters like Bethesda for putting tools into people's hands that are capable of creating nude images, and they should be labeled as the pornmongers they are.

      Seriously, it won't be long until game makers lock down code so that modding is impossible. There will never be another Counter-Strike for fear that someone will make a whorehouse map.

  • It will be interesting to see if Bethesda decides to pull the current version from the shelves and release a toned-down version to match the original rating, or if they're content with the Mature rating.

    It will also be interesting to see how retailers respond; whether they'll pull "mis-rated" copes from the shelves. This isn't like GTA where the game went from M to AO, which most retailers won't carry.

  • Game Physics (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Brent Spiner ( 919505 )
    I bet it has less to do with blood and more to do with game physics. In Morrowind if you attacked something it pretty much just bled and died, there didn't seem to be much of a problem with that. Now when you kill something and wack it's body with your +2 club of Enfeebling it will flail about in a most humorous manner.

    So in other words the stationary boobies aren't the problem, it's the jiggly ones.

  • Great idea... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Thad Boyd ( 880932 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:19PM (#15257415) Homepage
    Because the best way to demonstrate the strength of your ratings system is to REPEATEDLY CHANGE RATINGS AFTER ASSIGNING THEM.
    • How would you fix it, then?

      Seems easy with a movie, 'cos all you have to do is sit in front of it for 2 hours and watch - but with a game, you have to play it for god knows how long, be sufficiently good at it to be able to play through everything, and be aware of 3rd-party mods that don't appear until after the game's release.

      Maybe the ratings boards need to be able to demand all the assets from a game, and be able to slap a hefty fine on the developers for failing to disclose information. Maybe, to help w
      • I read that the ESRB rates games by watching game footage, not by actually playing it. That does explain why they never found out about the secret nude Mc. PacMan level... ;-)

  • Hot Mead? (Score:5, Funny)

    by shoptroll ( 544006 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:27PM (#15257472)
    Anyone up for labeling this scandal "Hot Mead"?
  • The Oblivion female character is done as a nude model with a seperate bra added when not wearing any other top. This was done because different outfits cover different areas of skin - for instance, the chainmail top has a narrow slit between the breasts which revails a small amount of skin which is covered by the middle of the bra when topless. Plus, doing it that way makes it easier for mods to add things like backless dresses etc that don't go well with the bra.

    The only nude mod I've seen so far simply

    • Re:Oblivion nudity (Score:4, Informative)

      by Covin ( 234817 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @07:51PM (#15258592) Journal
      The parent is correct, the underlying skin of 'female upper body, nude' was only included to allow additional clothing to look correct when it exposed portions of what the bra was covering.

      The nude female skin included in the file isn't even female. The proportions are quite distinctly male as evidenced by the placement of the nipples being way too far appart and thus rendering them on the side of the breasts rather than the front when it is placed over the female upper body mesh in the mod. The mesh file of the supposed nude still distincly shows the folds of the bra (rendered normally as a folded up, dirty off-white cloth going around the upper body) giving the topless characters lumpy shadows where the bra was.

      In other words, this was not a 'hidden' nudity thing. The males can be rendered without shirts and clothing made with exposure of various parts of the upper body. The female was made the same way, and since the nipples would never be shown, it didn't matter that they used the male skin 'skin' for it as well.

  • This sick filth must stop! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Channard ( 693317 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:45PM (#15257643) Journal
    Why, only yesterday I was sickened to find that by cutting out and supergluing the centrefolds from 'Playboy' onto my television, I was able to turn the supposedly child-friendly film 'Bambi' into a cornucopia of filth. I have written to the head of Disney to complain and will be protesting outside my local Best Buy to demand this sick spectacle be taken off store shelves.

  • The Lusty Argonian Maid (Score:4, Informative)

    by Vo0k ( 760020 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @05:50PM (#15257689) Journal
    A book, present both in Oblivion and in Morrowind. Contents follow:

    The Lusty Argonian Maid

    by Crassius Curio

    Act IV, Scene III, continued

    Lifts-Her-Tail: Certainly not, kind sir! I am here but to clean your chambers.

    Crantius Colto: Is that all you have come here for, little one? My chambers?

    Lifts-Her-Tail: I have no idea what it is you imply, master. I am but a poor Argonian maid.

    Crantius Colto: So you are, my dumpling. And a good one at that. Such strong legs and shapely tail.

    Lifts-Her-Tail: You embarrass me, sir!

    Crantius Colto: Fear not. You are safe here with me.

    Lifts-Her-Tail: I must finish my cleaning, sir. The mistress will have my head if I do not!

    Crantius Colto: Cleaning, eh? I have something for you. Here, polish my spear.

    Lifts-Her-Tail: But it is huge! It could take me all night!

    Crantius Colto: Plenty of time, my sweet. Plenty of time.

    END OF ACT IV, SCENE III

    ---
    (and make friends to the alchemist in Skingrad, she'll ask you an interesting question...)
    • The same character was in Morrowind... there was an early quest to find her husband, who turned out to have been killed by Nix Hounds IIRC. Apparently she doesn't believe in the whole "till death do us part" thing. :D
  • This gives new meaning to the term "skin". Or is it old meaning? :-)
  • I can't help wondering whether the ESRB has noticed yet that there's an NPC (with fully-voiced dialogue!) who asks whether you know what the local penalties are for necrophilia, then nervously attempts to pass it off as idle curiousity.
  • Modders make 3rd. party hacks for plenty of PC games that result in naked characters. This has occured in FPS games for quite some time, and many other games. I guess ALL PC games should just be rated "M" because of this?
  • Show your support for 'M' rated titles. Buy a copy!

    My generation grew up on video games, starting with Space Invaders and the 2600. We're adults now, and, simply said, kid-safe content isn't as captivating for some genres as content that would get an R or NC-17 rating at the theaters.
    Show your support, buy a copy of this title.
  • Content ratings make sense if they are based on the accessible content of the game-as-provided, and I guess there is some sense to including "locked out" content, though if you start rating based on what "what content could be experienced if you hack the game yourself and/or install additional third-party software that modifies the content", everything that comes out is going to be rated AO in a few years.
  • I just bought the game. Now I have to take it back. I would *never* buy a game that was for "Mature" audiences. ... Seriously, let them rate it the equivalent of "XXX" -- It's simply a guide for when Jr. carries the box up to Mom in Best Buy and says, "Mommy! Mommy! I really want this game!" -- She can make a judgement of her own. Most stores carry all ESRB rating levels aside from "AO". $50 saved again, thanks to over-reaction!

  • Accountability in Gamin (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Goblez ( 928516 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @08:15PM (#15258736)

    So I'm addicted to Oblivion, at least an hour a day of late. It's a great game, and one of the aspects that builds on this is that there is a sense of Accountability in the game. If you outright kill someone, things change. If you steal, people get pissed at you. If you punch someone, they go rounds with you. Isn't it more important when rating a game that it enforces proper consequences upon the player?

    This is in addition to how ridiciulous it is that you can Mod it, therefore it's MA. Guess what, I can render porn in another well known program, called Windows, so I want it rated MA too (MA for what I say when it crashes).

    --
    Goblez

  • Ooh yeah (Score:3, Funny)

    by Spacejock ( 727523 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2006 @10:09PM (#15259349)
    allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters

    Now there's a candidate for rephrasing if ever I heard one.

  • Barbie Dolls are now Adult Only!! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DeadboltX ( 751907 ) on Thursday May 04, 2006 @03:27AM (#15260491)
    Barbie dolls are now Adult Only toys, to be sold only in adult sex shops due to the fact that they have built-in nudity, and by modifying the doll (taking the clothes off) you can reveal said nudity which is not only unrealistic but exagerated for the purpose of sexual attraction (bigger tits)

  • Dear ERSB... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bahumat ( 213955 ) on Thursday May 04, 2006 @10:22AM (#15262132) Homepage Journal
    Dear ERSB: A modder adding nudity to the game? This is the software equivalent of a kid picking up a pen and comic book and drawing breasts and a mustache on Wonder Woman.

    The Teen rating was appropriate. The Mature rating based off of third party modifications is not.

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