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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I agree that rating system is a great idea executed poorly. All sorts of tame stuff gets an 'M' or 'T' and doesn't deserve it. Honestly I think anything that no one would have cared about in the pre-ESRB days should get an 'E'. They give Street Fighter II a 'T' but NO ONE complained about their kids playing that game when it came out.
Actually, I remember overhearing a mom in a game store when Donkey Kong Country was new. She was asking a clerk about it. "Is this game okay? I don't want violent games where they beat each other up, like that Street Fighter." Sure, the ESRB was new (I believe Donkey Kong Country was the first Super NES game to have a rating, and that was K-A, the equivalent of E), so maybe she wasn't aware of the rating, but I thought it was pretty ridiculous that she would think that Donkey Kong was anything like that. I don't remember how old the kid was, but I remember thinking that he was certainly capable of handling the "brutality" of Street Fighter II. I suppose it's good that she asked, though, it shows that she's concerned (even if overly so).
From what I know of Manhunt, I think it ought to be AO. There are too many M-rated games that are tame and if I was a parent, I might let some of my teenage kids play some of them. But I'm less likely to be as willing to allow them to play Manhunt.
Shooters like Halo are rated M, aren't they? I could be wrong about Halo. But even so, there are likely games LIKE Halo that get an M. I don't think shooting mostly alien beings with fantastical sci-fi weapons should be in the same category as Manhunt. Even when you're shooting other humans, they're armored and it's not that gory.
Even M-rated games where you kill people realistically like in the Hitman games shouldn't be in the same category. If Hitman: Blood Money is an M, Manhunt is a step up. The difference is that Hitman encourages "clean" kills, and discourages unnecessary kills. In Manhunt, you're killing more people in gory fashion, using common items more often than in Hitman. Also, Manhunt deals with themes other than killing (like psychoticism).
The difference between M and AO is just one year, though, so I think the descriptors need to be better.
The ESRB should have video clips on their web site of examples of some of the "worst" stuff in each game. That would help a lot. Or at least a more detailed textual description.
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Boo. They should be rendered real-time like the original GCN version.
