Games with wrong ESRB ratings

[mobiusclimber]

What gets me is that whole Hot Coffee thing with GTA got the game reclassified with an undeserved AO. Look at God of War. It ALSO has minigames where you can have sex with topless women, but this is actually PART OF THE GAME, not some hidden code that's impossible to access. How do the God of War games escape from getting an AO rating when GTA didn't? It's basically just an example of punishment rather than actually rating content. (I also have to wonder if anyone at the ESRB understands unused code and how much of it is in all games that are published. I know news stations don't understand that given their coverage of the Hot Coffee incident.)

[phreakindee]

Wasn't Elder Scrolls Oblivion changed to an "M" rating after the content was found?

Yup, indeed it was changed to M from T.

ESRB Re-ratings

[PapaStu]

The Guy Game.

If it got reprinted, I'm fairly sure it would need a AO rating. It's rumored to have a 17 year old show her self in the game.

It's not a rumor, It's true (she was 17 at the time of filming, 18 by the time it released and had used a fake id yada yada yada). There are a bunch of threads talking about that game and its drama. The people behind the game are long out of business now and there is no chance of it getting re-released, so why bring it up?

[Famidrive-16]

I still find it funny that Donkey Konga 2 got a T.

[bcks007]

It's not a rumor, It's true (she was 17 at the time of filming, 18 by the time it released and had used a fake id yada yada yada). There are a bunch of threads talking about that game and its drama. The people behind the game are long out of business now and there is no chance of it getting re-released, so why bring it up?

Doesn't game quest direct do reprints? What would stop them from reprinting this? Would they need to change the rating then? Would they get sued?, would all copy's be pulled if this happened?

[calistarwind]

I worked for Gamestop when Elder Scrolls came out and they quickly sent us stickers to cover the "T" with an "M" and matching new descriptors for the content. The ones that got missed still rung up as M rated but it really threw the parents off.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I worked for Gamestop when Elder Scrolls came out and they quickly sent us stickers to cover the "T" with an "M" and matching new descriptors for the content. The ones that got missed still rung up as M rated but it really threw the parents off.

My Call of Juarez had a re-stickered ESRB as well...I thought it was odd. I looked under the sticker and they forgot to print the ESRB rating on the front of the box. This was later resolved, I think, but I thought it was interesting that GameStop had to re-sticker it.

[Tallise]

I think it boils down to whatever the company thinks they can get away with. Publishers of games like DoA with half naked adorable large breasted girls are automatically going to concider an M rating. If they don't people with way too much time on their hands will complain and protest. Their game is viewed in a very sexually suggestive manner. However if you look at a more serious adult game where nudity is portrayed as a more mature subject, or it is in general a game a younger child wouldn't be attracted to in the first place, such as Gods of war, they could probably get away with more using a lower rating like T if they really tried. Lower ratings open up their audience as teens can easily purchase their product aswell as adults, and teens have a much more diverse social group than adults and are much more likely to give free advertising to all their friends; companies know this. Though a scandal might also give free advertising, in the end they have to pay for all the trouble..
Sooo I guess what I'm trying to put together is lower rating could equal a larger audience with the right type of marketing. I'm sure some companies would be willing to try and bend rules based on this theory.

[j_factor]

I always thought it was weird that Syphon Filter is rated T, but Syphon Filter 2 and 3 are both rated M. All three are the same as far as violent content goes.

Doesn't game quest direct do reprints? What would stop them from reprinting this? Would they need to change the rating then? Would they get sued?, would all copy's be pulled if this happened?

All copies of The Guy Game were pulled when the 17 year old girl was discovered. It would not be possible to legally reprint the game, unless they removed the one underage girl. I don't see how the rating has anything to do with anything, as the content itself isn't any different just because the girl was 17 instead of 18. The point is that she couldn't legally give consent to her image being used in the game.

[chrisbid]

i have a question about the ESRB...

do they actually take time to sit down and play through the game to see all the content? or do they simply look at packaging, screenshots, marketing, and gameplay video to determine the rating?

with the number of video games that are published each year, i think it would be difficult to go through every single release with a fine-tooth comb to catch small things that would affect a games rating.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

i have a question about the ESRB...

do they actually take time to sit down and play through the game to see all the content? or do they simply look at packaging, screenshots, marketing, and gameplay video to determine the rating?

with the number of video games that are published each year, i think it would be difficult to go through every single release with a fine-tooth comb to catch small things that would affect a games rating.

Companies submit a package to the ESRB for each game. They have to fill out a huge checklist of items and are required to disclose any content related to the ESRB descriptors. Videos and screenshots are also delivered as part of the package. They don't play through the whole game.

It's possible to "fool" the ESRB, but it's not beneficial to do so.

[phreakindee]

Companies submit a package to the ESRB for each game. They have to fill out a huge checklist of items and are required to disclose any content related to the ESRB descriptors. Videos and screenshots are also delivered as part of the package. They don't play through the whole game.

It's possible to "fool" the ESRB, but it's not beneficial to do so.

It's probably better to just ignore the ESRB altogether if you wanted to try and pull one over on them. Like Running With Scissors did with the Postal Fudge Pack. That collection of games wasn't even rated by the ESRB, but then, it wasn't really sold in stores either. The one I got has no ratings on it anywhere, and it was out in 2008. ESRB is completely voluntary. It's just that hardly any store will carry non-rated product. Strangely enough, places like Wal-Mart did up until the late 90's. I have several games bought from there, mostly budget titles, with no ESRB ratings or rating of any kind at all!

[chrisbid]

Companies submit a package to the ESRB for each game. They have to fill out a huge checklist of items and are required to disclose any content related to the ESRB descriptors. Videos and screenshots are also delivered as part of the package. They don't play through the whole game.

It's possible to "fool" the ESRB, but it's not beneficial to do so.

i dont think it is much of a problem to do so either. M or T ratings do not seem to hurt game sales the same way an R rating hurts a movie.

to go off on a tangent, do retailers scan IDs for R rated DVDs the same way they scan IDs for M rated video games?

[Shadow Kisuragi]

to go off on a tangent, do retailers scan IDs for R rated DVDs the same way they scan IDs for M rated video games?

Wal-mart's registers will automatically halt the first time a product requires proof of age, including R-rated DVDs, M-rated video games, cigarettes, alcohol, aspirin, and firearms. Whether the cashier requests the ID or just skips it is another story.

[chrisbid]

i guess scan was the wrong word

way back in the day, when i was a cashier at a grocery store, scanning an ID would only scan the ID number... something that isnt very useful on its own. we simply had to key in the customers date of birth.

so i meant check id. there hasnt been a media blitz of stores checking IDs for r rated movies, and i havent been a minor for 15 years, so i dont know how things work these days

[PapaStu]

to go off on a tangent, do retailers scan IDs for R rated DVDs the same way they scan IDs for M rated video games?

Target requires an ID to buy all M Rated games (here in California). They can't force it through. They actually swipe it through the system as well and its not just a visual check.

[chrisbid]

Target requires an ID to buy all M Rated games (here in California). They can't force it through. They actually swipe it through the system as well and its not just a visual check.

right, but do they do the same with R rated movies?

[dbiersdorf]

The Guy Game.

If it got reprinted, I'm fairly sure it would need a AO rating. It's rumored to have a 17 year old show her self in the game.

Re-releasing it would be distributing child porn. So fat chance there.

[Graham Mitchell]

Two games which were big targets of criticism during the initial congressional debates about violent games in 1993 were night trap and mortal kombat. Both of these games had their ratings revised as a result of the hearing.

Night trap was released before sega started providing their own ratings. The original cardboard packaging for the sega cd version had an almost invisible snippet of text in the corner of the front cover that said: "WARNING: this game is intended for mature audiences" or something to that effect. When the game got some political heat, it was taken out of print, but was later reissued for 32x cd and 3do with a mature rating. I found this inappropriately high as the game depicts no nudity or seriously graphic violence. The only time a girl is assaulted is in the infamous bathroom scene, which depicts a little blood going through a plastic tube. That's it. Opponents of the game stated that the scene implied rape or something, but I wasn't left with that impression at all. I always felt the game was silly and campy, like a crappy 50s or 60s dracula mivie you'd catch on late night television, and deserving of a teen rating at best. I suspect it was bestowed with that rating for political reasons.

Mortal kombat, on the other hand, did depict some heavy violence and gore. I always found the violence in that game a bit silly, myself; too ridiculous to be really disturbing. Apparently sega agreed as the game gear and genesis versions were given an ma-13 rating on release. about a year later, after the start of all the political hullaballoo, mortal kombat was released for sega cd. The game, as I remember it, was darn near identical to the sega cd version with the exception of load times and improvements in the audio. Yet, the game's rating was upgraded to ma-17. Whether that's a more appropriate rating for the game is debatable, but it serves as anotherexample of a game's ratings being changed after release.

[NayusDante]

Oblivion, in my book, should have been left as a T. So there's zombies with flesh rotting off, big deal. Michael Jackson's Thriller video has more gore. And besides, I got carded when I bought the Oblivion guide!

Some of the 90s LucasArts games had some rating oddities. The Dig got a KA, but there's a good deal of profanity and even a scene where someone's arm is cut off with an alien jaw-bone. Rebel Assault 2, I believe went from KA to T, not sure why. My RA2 box says KA, but in orange print.