Topic: ESRB Acknowledges Game Leak Issue, Taking Preventative Measures

[Nick DiMola]

Companies now able to embargo information submitted to the ESRB.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=16188

 In the past, a simple perusal of the ESRB ratings database could reveal a slew of previously unknown game information. Countless Virtual Console titles have been rated before their eventual release, cueing fans to their existence before publishers had made any official announcement. The same can be said of some new releases as well, including the recently leaked Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. As of today though, publishers can submit titles to the ESRB for review while maintaining complete privacy.    

Prior to today, companies could not place any sort of embargo on the information submitted to the ESRB. The title and rating were made public upon the ESRB's completion of review. Now, if a company wishes to keep the information private all they must do is attach an embargo date and the rating will stay private until the requested day.    

While this may not entirely eliminate the possibility of leaked information from the ESRB website, it is likely to slow the leaks to a trickle.

[Nick DiMola]

Awwww mannnnnnn

[Enner]

I think this is a fair compromise so companies can give ample time for their age rating and still have secrecy control over their products.

[Slade]

At least we found about Earthbound before this.

[NWR_insanolord]

At least we found about Earthbound before this.

That's an interesting point, since this sounds like it's optional and not automatically on everything, will Nintendo use this ability on VC games? With the leaked press releases taken away, this could mean we're completely in the dark (well, not completely, we still have the foreign ratings systems, at least for now. The OLFC or whatever it is has gotten a lot of things right around release).