The interesting thing for me is that most sportgames are rated E despite the fact that they include quite a lot of violence (I always wince whenever I watch those big bastards tackling each other in madden...not that I would ever play it though)

But it's still good to see that the evil violent M games are in a minority

[...] Source: ESRB Releases Rating Breakdown for 2007 Bookmark it: [...]

@ Terrible Tom

In the same post you call me foolish and right. How is that possible?

hahah yeah... that whole increase/decrease thing.

Id somebody wants to get popularity, its 'look how we have decreased crime!' then in the next sentence ' we will ban vidya games to stop rising crime rates!'

its utterly crazy too. I also hate how because the majority of games are E (suitable for everyone) people assume thats 60% = kids games.

No... think of a documentary on tv .. it may get a U rating, but i can show you a hell of a lot of documentarys that kids wouldnt have the slightest bit of interest in, as they are made for adults.

So of that 60% E, all it means is that 60% of all games are suitable for ages 4+ .. it doesnt mean say ages 4-10. there is no upper cap , and i wish naieve ppl would stop intepreting it that way!

For another example.. brain training... ages 3+.. does that mean that its for 3 year olds.... err no.. i know alot of adults that find it difficult!

@Chada

More of less correct Chadski. While M rated games got all the press, most games on the market, especially on the ds, were not M rated. and as a result, lots of games in the "not m rated" catagory sold, but didn't get alot reportage.

After the whole fox news thing, I suspect TV news will be a little smarter about it next time. Maybe.

No AO rated games last year?

I know that the "adult industry" doesn't monitor games produced and sold online, and the overwhelming majority don't go through the ESRB, as many indie games don't. But it would still be interesting to know how many actual games were produced and sold that really would deserve and receive an AO rating.

After all, I don't object to games of that quality. I just object to the treatment such games receive, both in and out of the retail sector.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

I would love to make an AO rated game,

But it is because of the political climate of games and the fact that an AO rating is a Dead Market means that I can't or ever should make an AO rated game if intended for market sales to earn that HARD WORK and EFFORT to make the game in the first place

Do these politicians who want Manhunt 2 to be rated back to an AO rating ever consider the Developers who worked so hard on a game for them to try their best to get a game out onto the commercial market???

No...

Perhaps these naysayers need to understand the ESRB and have a look at the Majority of the games that they rate before they decide to bash the ESRB or the Games Industry on FOXNews

When you are on an agenda, facts don't matter. The PTC, Leland Yee, Fox News, and others, will continue their trolling no matter what.

I have emailed the ESRB about the AO and EC ratings not showing up on some of the charts. They informaed me that those two ratings do not make a significant enough contribution to the overall total to fit on the chart.

If you look at 2006's pie chart, both were included but both had less than 1% of the total.

I would not be surprised if there were no AO final ratings assigned last year. Nor would I be surprised to find that less than 10 games were rated EC.

AO games are not marketable and EC games are better served on LeapFrog and V-Smile consoles rather than the mainstream video game consoles.

@ JBently

That is not an entirely accurate comparison.

Console Manufacturers = Theatre Chains.

PC = Art House Theatres (in general)

All three major consoles will not allow AO rated games. Most major theatre chains will not show NC-17 movies.

PC has not rating requirements. AO games are valid on this market. Most art house theatres will show NC-17 movies.

Retailers are the changing point. Most major retail chains will nto sell either NC-17 or AO. (the fact that they will sell NC_17 equivilant if it is "unrated" is another story.)

Some local or smaller chains will sell both ratings.

AO games are not limited to just digital distribution or online orders. Some stores will carry them. Just as NC-17 movies are not limited to digital distribution. There are retailers run by people who have a brain. They realize that since they sell the latest Playboy movie, there is no reason not to sell AO rated games.

I am sure we would see more NC-17 movies if more major theatre chains would give them screen time. We would see more AO rated games if console manufacturers would allow them.

If that were to happen, a lot of retail chains would all the sudden change their policies to allow the games as well.

Granted, your point about distribution being difficult is viable, just not the extent that you have said. The retail policy of no AO games, is not universal. Just not the majority.

It's like how back in the 70's Deepthroat was at hundreds of movie theaters across the country with tons of people going to see it including celebrities. In the early 80's games were the same way with titles like Custer's Revenge, Beat 'em Up, Bachelor Party, and Leisure Suit Larry were sold for major consoles (Atari for the first 3, home computers for the last one). The next big controversy was a game for the mac that had a VGA graphic 'strip-tease' in the early 90's. Up to that point, with the exception of the continuing saga of Leisure Suit Larry 'adult' rated games had all but vanished from the map. Even still the only AO games that you can find are either Bishojo out of Japan, or download only games that are supposed to simulate porn like sex.

Personally, I couldn't care either way about AO or not AO, except I don't like the double standard that games must follow in comparisons to films. For example, Brokeback Mountain had a scene with Ann Hathaway topless on screen while having sex with one of the gay cowboys, and no one seemed to mind that at all. However, people got hysterical about there being a rather artsy montage of Cmdr. Shepard getting it on with an Asari (both for the scene the consort and the one with Liara) that including only the bare minimum of bare butt and could be easily shown on prime time television.

Either games should be treated equally with films, or films should be graded as harshly as games.

It's important to remember that every system has dozens, or even hundreds of E-rated shovelware titles every year. I'd be interested to see a ratings breakdown of "actual" A-class games from the major developers, without all the Barbie and Dora the Explorer "games" that nobody buys or plays.

At least this poor attempt at a regulation entity is actually better than any other. But just because it is a little bit better than the others doesn't mean we shouldn't change it for the better.

What does the Mature ratings drop say? Are they becoming more lax in terms of judgment or are game developers releasing less mature content?

It's a forum version of Zen ;)

@ Johan

You're turning into Pandralisk!

I didn't think there that many 10+ games, but maybe that's because my eyes naturally glaze right past them when I'm browsing for a new title.

[...] ESRB Releases Rating Breakdown for 2007 Statistics showing the actual distribution of game ratings over 2007. Note that games appropriate for all age levels still dominate the market, despite what gets the media attention. (tags: games ratings esrb statistics media) [...]