Nintendo: A Year In Review Part 2
A Year in Review Part 2: A Year of Controversy
February of 2007 included some curious news. Rockstar Games, infamous Grand Theft Auto developers (and, incidentally, famous for shady business practices) announced that Manhunt 2 would be released for Wii (as well as for PS2).
Image from Arstechnica.com
Manhunt 1 was a controversial game in its bleak depiction of violence. But it didn't sell well. Rockstar, though, never shy about pushing the envelope, wanted to reload with the Wii's motion controlled innovation.
The mainstream gaming media, of course, celebrated this move as proof that the Wii would be getting "Mature" titles. Actual Wii fans, though, weren't celebrating: there was murmuring that the negative publicity would be bad for Wii, which was gaining steam as the ultimate family machine. Plus, many Wii fans recognized that there is nothing especially "kiddie" about Wii Sports, just as there isn't anything particularly "adult" about games that feature violence.
July seemed to be here before we know it, and so did Manhunt 2's original release date. One small problem, however: both Nintendo and Sony refused to publish a game that recieved an "AO" rating by the ESRB.
This is where the issue gets confusing for this blogger. The ESRB judged the game to be AO. That means it should not be sold to anyone under 18. Nintendo and Sony, private corporations, have policies against allowing games with this rating on their systems. The ESRB simply did its job (as it was Nintendo and Sony's policies that actually prevented the original release), yet the gaming media claimed the opposite: The ESRB DIDN'T do its job!
Well…. what's the ESRB for, then? It's an organization designed to render opinion, and it rendered one.
In any case, Rockstar went back to the drawing board (perhaps what they planned on all along?), and a Halloween night release was planned. Despite getting completely banned in the UK, a revised version was reclassified as "M" (17 or older), which of course is allowable per Nintendo and Sony's corporate rules.
The game was released, and despite rather apologetic reviews from certain corners of the media that promoted the game, the general consensus was that the game was an "OK stealth game," but nothing exceptional. Despite the controversy, the game sold terribly.
In the aftermath, I think we need to ask ourselves hard questions. But not the usual stuff you see on the major gaming websites. Why is it that whenever anyone or anything has anything that isn't 100% positive to say about videogames and their impact on society, we freak out? As if the industry's perfect! This blogger is a moderate in the game violence debate. No, I don't believe the government should regulate. But I DO think the industry should be very careful, and ask themselves what direction they want to head in.
Read IGN.com's take on the situation.
December 28th, 2007 at 6:37 am
The reason I think the ESRB failed is because they have an illogical rating system that has one culturally accepted rating for 17 year olds and one taboo rating for 18 year olds.
If a game has mature themes like sex and violence then rate it as such. We don’t need two ratings for that.
I mostly just get upset about the hypocrisy. Why is Hostel released in theaters with an R rating and then an “Unrated” version is sold on DVD in my local Target? It is a torture movie with strong sexual content!
So to summarize, just make one mature rating. Don’t sell it to kids. Let parents decide. Make sure anyone of age to smoke and go to war can purchase it freely.