Japan Revamps Game Rating System

Next Generation reports on a controversial new game rating system recently rolled out in Japan. From the article: "The Z mark, which designates the most violent games, was the blocking issue for months while the new rating was in preparation. Game makers were hesitant to submit their new titles to the CESA rating check because they did not want to be the first to get this Z mark. Many titles were held back, including EA's The Godfather. Some shops have even declared they don't want to have Z rated titles on their shelves. On May 25, the CESA made its own list of Z rated titles already released on the market."

Comments

We're talking big chains, not little otaku shops.

[Valdrax]

That kind of stuff is only available in the basements of otaku-catering stores. I was not pleasantly suprised to find out that was what was in the basement of most anime / game stores in Akihabara when I visited there. Despite what you may have heard, porn gamers are not commonly available in Japan. You have to go looking for them.

The shops that are likely to not want Z rated titles are big name electronics stores like Yamada Denki, an equivalent of Best Buy which wouldn't have carried porn anyway.

From TFA

[Anonymous Coward]

Here are the first games that have been Z-rated in Japan:

Driver 3
Max Payne
Killer 7
GTA Double Pack
GTA Vice City
The Getaway
GTA III
Berserk
The Getaway Black Monday
Simple 2000 series One Chambara
Simple 2000 series One Champuru

Reactions to the rating make it seem like its the equivalent of the American "AO" rating:

A (black): for everybody
B (green): for 12 years and up
C (blue): for 15 years and up
D (green): for 17 years and up
Z (Red)" for 18 years and up

Which is very good news for American and European game developers (as long as they don't want to release in Japan). Oh, and for Nintendo, I think (I wonder if they are responsible for it, as they were in the US). Bad news for Capcom though:

The Z mark, which designates the most violent games, was the blocking issue for months while the new rating was in preparation. Game makers were hesitant to submit their new titles to the CESA rating check because they did not want to be the first to get this Z mark.

Many titles were held back, including EA's The Godfather. Some shops have even declared they don't want to have Z rated titles on their shelves. On May 25, the CESA made its own list of Z rated titles already released on the market. While many makers (mostly foreign companies) have decided not to go with publishing potentially Z-rated titles in Japan, Capcom has confirmed it will go with GTA San Andreas in Japan at the end of the year.