Thursday, September 13, 2007
Pliers And Nuts Don't Mix (In An M-Rated Game)
So Rockstar made some changes to Manhunt 2 in order to make the game appropriate for 17-year-olds, and not just 18-year-olds. As reported by IGN: "When we first wrote about Manhunt 2, we referenced a particularly nasty death sequence, in which Danny could use a pair of pliers to literally rip the testicles off a hunter. That murder has been completed [sic] removed from the updated build of the game. Not a big deal for us, as it only amounts to one kill out of dozens."You know, almost every time I play a game I think, "Wow, you know what would REALLY improve this game? If you could rip off some guy's nuts with a pair of pliers!"
Halo. Zelda. Dance Dance Revolution. Tetris. These games could all use some graphic castration-with-blunt-tools sequences! It's a frickin' gold mine, here, and the ESRB is just being a bunch of meanies about it!
Seriously though: All of us game developers make jokes around the office of what sort of horrendous content we should put into whatever game we're working on. The more tired you are, the funnier the jokes become. And hey, I appreciate a little bit of morbid / black humor as much as the next guy. But at what point did the this thing go from being a bad joke to a "good idea" in the minds of Rockstar developers? Possibly the same point that doing soft-core sex mini-games in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas seemed like a good idea. After one too many beers, I'd guess. Or hits on the ol' crack pipe they undoubtedly pass around over there.
And the really sad thing is, it's probably going to sell at least an order of magnitude more copies than some far more deserving indie titles, like Depths of Peril (which has been a little like crack here at Rampant Games, I'm afraid...)
(Vaguely) related violence performed with fingernail clippers:
* Manhunt 2 Banned In U.K., Rated A.O. in U.S.
* Why Are There So Many Violent Videogames?
* Oblivion: The Flower-Picking Simulator
* Free Adventure Game: Emily Enough
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Labels: Mainstream Games, Politics
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 5:00 AM (Permalink)
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I have to wonder if Rockstar is going to using the MPAA-handling techniques on the ESRB.
For a long time, the best way to get the rating you wanted out of the MPAA was to put something really gratuitous in your movie.
The MPAA would give you a higher rating on the first pass. Then you remove the scene, and they lower the rating, and you end up with what you wanted anyway.
For a long time, the best way to get the rating you wanted out of the MPAA was to put something really gratuitous in your movie.
The MPAA would give you a higher rating on the first pass. Then you remove the scene, and they lower the rating, and you end up with what you wanted anyway.
The fact that they are releasing the game in time for Halloween is certainly... suspicious. And then there's the strange feeling that they've been milking the whole "AO" rating controversy for all its worth.
So maybe it was all part of their cunning plan.
I still won't be touching this game with a ten foot pole.
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So maybe it was all part of their cunning plan.
I still won't be touching this game with a ten foot pole.
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