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ESRB Changes Oblivion's Rating to 'Mature'
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."
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?.....
virtual boobs only had 5 polygons and we had to walk to school up hill, both ways!
Let's crack Microsoft Word to make Clippy flash us on command. We can finally bring those fuckers down!
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.
Because, you know, you can't possibly confront young people with images of something they've sucked on 10 years ago.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
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.
The real Ralph Yarro posts as Anonymous Coward. Anyone else is an impostor.
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!
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
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".
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
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.
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.
Just to reiterate, the nude texture was included into the game because Oblivion's clothing and armor textures/meshes would not always look correct with a bra texture going straight through it. The bra mesh would also cause clipping and it would be rather clunky to retexture it with every armor. Rather than make some convoluted script that checks skin tone and modifies the existing texture, Bethsoft used a much simpler solution.
I think that the presence of nipples are the foremost concern for those who object to the "nudity" nipples are apparently the most offensive part of the mammary and must therefore never be shown to children of any age. But if we consider the role a nipple might play in the modelling of armor and clothing (although I will admit that I have no experience in this matter and will defer to the knowledge of anyone who does), such as providing a boundary for how far the neck of a peice of attire can go. The nipple play a part in determining where a seam might be placed on a blouse or an indentation on a tight fitting dress.
Unlike the Hot coffee mod, which was an intentional inclusion of graphic content, Oblivion's mesh and texture were created to make the game run more smoothly and quite possibly as a modder's resource. The "nipple" on the topless mesh is barely distinguishable from the rest of the breast, and Bethsoft goes to great lengths to make it's content appropriate for younger audiences. For example, in Daggerfall (and Arena?) the book series known as "The Real Barenziah" had very graphic sexual content, Which they removed from Morrowind (and Oblivion) and replaced with the phrase "this passage has been removed by order of the church" They also removed all nude daedra or provided more consevative versions of them for Morrowind. I don't think Bethsoft ever intended for the mesh and texture to be used for this purpose, and while Bethesda certainly expected nude content to become available, they should not be obliged to provide such content for ESRB screening purposes.