Porn Game Publisher Takes Issue with ESRB, Big Three

...Bone Train?

Wat.

=========================================================================== Jack Thompson is vanquished!!!

As for lowering the M17+ to M15+, I would be highly against it because this is the problem with Australia. We should have in America an ESRB rating of both MT15+ and M17+ to make sure that videogame companies can come as close as they can without going into the 18+ bracket. Also it is not the ESRB's fault for the AO18+ delema, it is more of the fault of the American Retailers refusing to sell an AO18+ game, that leads to the BIG3 not wanting a AO game on their consoles and that is why the ESRB is in the situration that they have no control over.

I think that Hentai games are only sold in specilized Anime stores with a strong Otaku audience. And they have their own 18 rating lable that says strongly.. "ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR KIDS!!! Also there are online sites that cater to the market. Sadly Porn is more offencive than violence, and also I like fictional digital Anime porn than real porn, but that is just me.

Pornographic video games strike as kind of odd at least when the characters are digitally created. I have the same kind of "huh?" reaction to hentai.

Regular porn you're seeing REAL women, I don't know, something odd about getting excited by digital creations. But I guess that's neither here nor there.

I would love to see the creation of a MT (Mature Teen) rating of 15+. There's so many games that could go into that category that right now are getting labelled as M.

Take Diablo III for example. Clearly that's going to get an M rating. But should it? I mean, yes it's violent, but it's wholly unrealistic. There is absolutely nothing REAL about the setting. I think that makes a huge difference.

COD4 on the other hand? Probably should get M. Between the language and the realistic depiction of warfare, it just seems somehow more mature to me.

Same thing with a game like Halo. Probably good with a 15+ sticker since its so completely unrealistic.

What I fear, is the anti-game lobby taking this idea and running with it. They will ignore, just like they do now, the fact that there is a clear, obvious, simple RATING system and just say:

"See! The game company admits it! More realistic games are BAD for kids! They should be banned!"

Nevermind that the whole point behind the rating system is that we don't want 8 year olds playing 15+ or M games.

The game is actually really good, but I think they are full of shit when talking about 'creating' an adult games market- localized hentai and visual novel games, american porn game companies, virtual strip poker makers, etc- its already here

I'm personally not a fan of the ESRB.  Yes it is better than government regulation but it still gives too much power to a single body that has a risk of favoring some companies/genres over others.  They say they don't but that doesn't mean that the risk still isn't there.  You listen to them say it isn't their job as much as you want but that will never change reality and will only make you easily bought and sold.  It would be best if we went back to each company having a rating system.  Thats not really whats being discussed here though.

I think that porn games should be cut some slack.  My gaming consoles DVD player can play porn, I can go on the Wii and use it's browser to look at porn(some claim I can't but I've tested it dammit... 2 girls 1 cup if you need to know...), or I can use my DVD to play kids movies or I can use the Wii browser to view family friendly websites.  I don't get it.  For some reason games manufacturers say "Nope, can't have porn on these systems... unless it is a DVD."  Why not allow access to AO rated games?  It would increase sales and if parents got upset about it just let them know the only way their children can get these pornographic games are if THEY BUY THEM.  So yea, if the parents buy their children porn they have a legitimate argument that they(as in the parents) have made this machine capable to play a pornographic game.

But Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have the right to allow certain games on their consoles and stores have the right to not allow certain games on their store shelves.  That being said these companies also have the right to be the hypocrits they are.  Say they don't want their machines to be viewed as porn machines, but they already have the capabilities to be perceived that way.  Stores don't want to be viewed as if they are peddling porn, even though FYE has a porn section, best buy and walmart sell unrated DVDs.

That is general spirit business in an industry as big as this one's though.  They know the general public is just dumb enough to buy into their bogus claims.  These companies retain a semi-family friendly image and use it to promote their sales to the same people they are openly misleading.  The reality of the situation is that they push their products to be for EVERYONE yet they leave out those intersted in pornographic games.  You can claim that there are only a select few interested in adult games but that claim has no foundation.  You can claim that there are a large group of people interested in adult games and looking at DVD sales you'd have a damn good arguement.

But these companies aren't entirely to blame.  You also have to look at the dumb, intolerant and hateful general public.  If you've been alive for at least a decade you know that the media can twist a story, blow it out proportion and cause the public to go into a frenzy.  Look at what happened durring Columbine.  Any reasonable human being would have realized that those two kids were insane and obviously were parented poorly.  (Who lets their kids have all those weapons and either not realize it or not keep it locked up properly.)  But no, the media gets involved and the public is completely convinced that it was music and games.

Who is to blame in this particular situation?  Big Three and the intolerant general public, then retailers and esrb can share a little bit of the blame but not really...

I keep thinking of how much better the world would be if everyone questioned things more frequently, decided to allow others to do what they want and not get upset.  Then the public wouldn't have to be mislead and those who wanted to enjoy pornographic games could do so without the public getting their panties in a bundle over them doing it on a console.  As much as I'd love for people to enjoy liberty and be tolerant we all know that will never happen.

I don't get the issue he has with retailers or the ESRB, actually. 

Retailers - True, I admit the "Unrated" loophole has gotten certain types of movies on the shelves of stores where they would have never gotten just 10 years ago.  (that's probably something they should work on)  But they never allow outright porn movies in Best Buy or Walmart.  So I don't know why this guy expects to get his games on the video game shelves next to Cooking Mama and Fallout 3.  Yet, I have no doubt that a store that sells porn would also carry porno games.  The retailers really aren't an issue here, as he could get it into stores where his base would be looking for them.

ESRB - The ESRB restricts how games are advertised, but doesn't restrict advertisements completely.  Furthermore, it doesn't tell retailer or the Big Three how to handle games.  They just provide the ratings.  If you get an AO, then the ESRB's role is done.  And most porn games don't even bother submitting to the ESRB.  It is voluntary, after all.  True, not having a rating is the same as getting an AO when it comes to retailers.  But as I've already said, most of the big retailers don't carry porn, anyway.  You have to go to stores dedicated to porn, and I'll bet they don't care about ratings, either.

Big 3 - This is the only place where I see any injustice, but I also admit that it is their choice.  On one hand, games are for a diverse set of consumers, some (many) of which would enjoy a porno game.  On the other, they ARE their systems, and if they don't want certain types of content associated with them, then that's their right.  The PS, the XBox, and the Wii aren't just consoles, they're brands.  They're not treated as simple as a DVD player or a VCR.  They represent the company, and as such those companies don't want certain levels of negative PR coming their way because of the games being published for them.  And game developers agree to a certain level of content to earn the right to publish on those systems.

For now, you're going to have to stick to the computer for porno games.  Take that as you will.  But I see no problem with distribution, no more so than porno movies.  And if you think about it, digital distribution is cheaper and easier than brick and mortar sales, anyway.

Final note and partially unralated:  I have no problems with games like Bonetown (though from it's website, it looks kind of lame).  Porn can be awesome (if done right)!  But I do take issue with some (many) of the Hentai games out of Japan, due to "lolicon" content.  I consider "virtual" child pornography little different than real child porn, and I agree with the several countries around the world that don't make the distinction between the two (like Canada, where distribution and ownership of lolicon is illegal).

I'm really not sure what this guy expects here. This game is explicitely pornography. I agree that it's kind of fucked up that the same kind of stores that will gladly carry the Saw series won't stock Manhunt, but it's not like you can pop into any old store and grab the latest volume of Breast Attack on Fuck Mountain but they refuse to carry Bonetown.

Yeah you're gonna jump-start an entire adult games  industry with cartoony bubble women who all look like Hello Nurse from Animaniacs, Ron Jeremy, and a game about "pleasing women" that's so typically oblivious to oral? Okay then.

Also Japan already has that whole bustling sex game industry thing covered.

Anybody else concerned that this will go the way of Custer's Revenge?

--- Official Protector of Videoland!

Anyone want to take a guess when Jack is going to associate "BoneTown" with games that originate from the industry? I can see another clueless politician listing off a bunch of FLASH games and Jack describing the pleasurable jolts only he seems to receive while using a DualShock controller before "BoneTown" is eventually uttered by the unwitting pawn Jack has enlisted.

I'm not against this, but I think we need to get everybody comfortable with M rated games before we do this.

EDIT: But maybe if this does catch on, everybody will be more worried by the AO games and not worry so much with the M rated games.

--- Official Protector of Videoland!