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How about enhancing the game engine with polygon graphics like http://www.doomsdayhq.com/ ...? I read the iPhone port has audio improvements. Can we get those for the original computer/PC port?

The problem is, any time you modify the original game content and decide to sell it stores, you have to get the game rerated by the BBFC and ESRB. It's often the cause as to why developers and publishers just provide updates on their website, rather than integrating the updates with the published discs.

It's funny that you say that, since the ESRB has had descriptors all along:

http://www.esrb.com/esrbratings_guide.asp#symbols

These descriptors (when appropriate) are included in the ratings box ON EVERY GAME, all you have to do is flip it over and LOOK. I'm not sure why yet another rating system for games is needed.

Ignorance, blame shifting and kneejerk criticism make me sad. The very second sentence on the front page of their website, accompanied by a fairly painfully obvious explanatory graphic:

ESRB ratings have two parts: rating symbols that suggest what age group the game is best for, and content descriptors that indicate elements in a game that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern.

The image in question (since I obviously can't embed it): Embedded rating example. The example in question has the flags "cartoon violence" and "mild lyrics," which maker it obvious that they go into significantly more detail than you're whining that they somehow don't do. In fact they rate five distinct kinds of violence, use of and reference to drugs as seperate concerns, then also use of and reference to tobacco, and use of and reference to alcohol, so that you can pretend the drugs you use in front of them aren't actually drugs. In fact, they even note that some games can add end-user content, which should stop nonsense like the hot coffee mod, if asshat parents like you would bother to read the manual. The system rates 32 distinct topics outside of their general rating, including five distinct of one and six distinct of the other things you chose to moan and wail about.

The one on the front has to be relatively small, so that the marketers can make the box pretty, so it will sell well. All you have to do is look at the back. Oooh, that's difficult.

Then again, it's not like I'd expect much in the way of research on the topic from the sort of parent who expects the machine to validate the content that their child will be playing, given that what you're doing is rejecting researching what your child does with their life. While you might want to blame Nintendo for not watching your kids, maybe you should consider doing some, what's it called again, parenting. I seriously hope you rethink this.

You're already complaining that a ratings system doesn't do enough, when in fact it does what you want; did it occur to you to check the protection mechanisms you're relying on to ward your offspring for you? All you had to do was load esrb.com, and you might have gained a clue. Or, y'know, looked at one of the ratings. Or asked a store clerk. Or hell, even used common sense. I mean, since theater movies don't allow you this kind of control, nor bookstores, nor magazine subscriptions, then shame on Nintendo for doing more than any other media channel except TV that you're not bothering to watch for your kid, right?

Seriously, shame on people who want entertainment companies to raise their kids for them. (Then again, you think violence is better for a child than the natural process that made them, so it's not like your priorities are straight in the first place.)

It's hard to have sympathy for the parents complaining how they get blindsided by media content when it's obvious that they haven't made the first attempt to even check what content is in the media. It's on the fucking box. The machine checks it for you. What more do you need, a robot to come with the game and nag you until you ratify the content explicitly?

What happened to parental responsibility?

Anyone curious about how many "Adults Only" games there really are? Nineteen. You can use the ESRB advanced search form to list games by rating or features.

Visit this weblink, friend, to dutifully apprise the ESRB of your "Complaint or Comment" about their appaling conduct on this matter. Or of course you could simply inform them that they SUCK ASS. ("SUCK ASS" inquiries would probably be best described as "Other" for question #1.)

No, it is rated Mature 17+. It carries the same requisite as an R rated movie. You should be 17 or older to play the game unless a parent or guardian allows you to play the game. Just as you should have to be accompanied by an adult to watch an R-rated movie under the age of 17. Really the game contains less than what you would see in an R rated movie. I can understand the social panic, but this game has been out for a year now. Movies don't generate this kind of buzz, because of deleted nude scenes on the DVD a year after their original release. That is really what this is about deleted content on a DVD.

Maybe if the rating were R more parents would understand.

No amount of violence will put a game there... but a single tit (or any other form of nudity) will force the game there.

From ESRB's ratings and descriptors guide:

Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

Emphasis mine.

Don't assume that violence won't put a game there. Rumors persist regarding game ratings being based both on degree and amount of content. While I don't agree about getting all up in arms about this issue, the sex minigame could simply have been a rather explicit last straw. The violence in the game didn't simply disappear or cease to be a factor when the sex game was unlocked.

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Dear Assembly Member Yee,

In reading my news for the day, I came across several articles referencing your "blasting" of the ESRB in regards to the rating it provided to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Official Press Release: http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a12/press /p122005060.htm).

To begin, I am twenty-four years old, with a 14-month old son. I am very much a part of the 'video-game generation', as I often use video games to unwind after a days worth of work and caring for my son. These games range from the previous mentioned Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and beyond.

In reading the press release, I felt that you had a few good points, and a few points that were off-base. It is true that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas contained the remnants of a coded "sex mini-game", depicting animated characters going through previous choreographed motions of various acts of sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse between (in the theme of the game), consenting adults. However, what you failed to mention was that in order for anyone to access this minigame, they have to go to the lengthy trouble of modifying the actual game code for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I have been working with computers, for both work and recreational purposes, for a decade, and I can safely say that because it requires the modification of the game code beyond the parameters that Rockstar North coded, this is not something that an individual will just run into during the course of playing the game. An individual has easier access to "soft-core pornography" on late night cable; actual pornography, and not two rendered, clothed computer models going through the motions.

That was a lengthy discourse as to the point you missed. I will now address a point that you did address. The press release, and prior press releases, indicates that you feel that games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Manhunt, and other M-rated games (which, for the recorded, is defined on the ESRB {http://www.esrb.com/esrbratings.asp} website as a game which may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language.). You are correct. Such games are not made for children. Not all games are made for children. Just as movies such as The Godfather (R), Apocalypse Now Redux (R), Scarface (R), and Saving Private Ryan (R) are classified by the MPAA (www.mpaa.org) under the Voluntary Movie Rating System as being not for children, these M-Rated games are also being classified under a voluntary rating system as not suitable for children.

I feel that voluntary rating systems are the key point here. Both motion pictures and video games carry a classification designed to inform the purchaser of the product as to what they will be experiencing in the normal course of viewing/playing. Video game producers such as Rockstar North are not forcing parents to buy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for their 12-year old child, just as Francis Ford Coppola never forced parents to take their 12-year old child to see Apocalypse Now (or Apocalypse Now Redux, released in 2001 as a directors cut). It is up to the parent to decide, based on their own purchases and experiences and research, whether or not a product is suitable for their underaged child. No one forces these parents to buy such games as Manhunt or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The events that happen in the normal course of gameplay are not hidden from the purchaser; they are often depicted on the back of the box and in TV, we

Actually, justification for the rating is on the box, usually on the back at the bottom of the ratings box, in the form of qualifiers like "Cartoon Violence," "Mild Language," or "Drug Use."
http://www.esrb.com/
IMO, the ESRB has a much better system than film or TV: the (extremely challenging) problem is teaching people about it. They can make the qualifiers more prominent, but it's hard enough trying to teach every mom who comes into Wal-Mart what a "T" means.

Since I'm 17, I'm not supposed to be able to buy GTA:SA.

"Mature" means rated for people 17 and up. So, you're fine to buy GTA.

The gaming industry should, as a whole, start regulating itself. Start forbidding retailers from sellings M rated games to minors.

The problem with having codes is that people don't know what they mean. In Newsweek this week they have a big article about TV, and appearently most parents think that "FV" stands for "Family Viewing" when it really means "Fantasy Violence". Ratings don't help if people can't understand them.

I think the current game rating system, while it's not always accurate (See DOA Volleyball) it's fairly comprehensive and doesn't take too much to figure out.

Grand Theft Auto Vice City
Mature (17+)
Blood and Gore
Strong Language
Strong Sexual Content
Violence

Rebuilding the system would only be beneficial if they cut to the chase an outlined exactly what types of objectionable content were involved.

They do

Not quite. The ESRB has a separate rating for adult games ("AO" or adults only).

Mature is somewhat comparable to "R" and a lot of "R" rated pictures receive accolades so it is fair to compare "M" rated games to mainstream cinema. I do agree that many M rated video games are unfortunately quite sophomoric - rather like R rated exploitation flicks. There are some good M rated games, however, like Half Life, MGS, and System Shock 2 that do not rely on boobies and crude humour.

See here for a breakdown of the ratings and what they mean in terms of content.

It's placing ratings on all games, similar to the ones used to rate movies.

If the laws are passed, you will need to show ID to rent or buy games with restricted ratings.

Now, honestly, isn't this redundant? The video games industry already has a rating scheme in place, the ESRB, and other such rating systems for PC games, etc. Why do we (or at least BC) need another rating system? Why not just enforce the existing one?

For more information, check out http://news.exci te.com/news/r/000717/16/tech-leisure-videogames-dc

J