mature-rating
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The Elder Scrolls Online receives Mature rating
The Entertainment Software Rating Board has given Elder Scrolls Online a Mature rating for "Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, and Violence," ZeniMax posted on its Facebook page. The studio is none too happy about the decision, stating, "The ESRB advised us that it has given The Elder Scrolls Online a Mature rating. While we may disagree with the ESRB's determination, we do not plan to challenge the rating, and we are unwilling to change the game's content to achieve a different rating. The game we have created is the one we want our fans to be able to play." ZeniMax said that the ruling has forced the studio to put the Mature rating and age gates on the ESO site, trailers, and ads.
UK retailers caught selling mature games to undercover teen
A sting operation set up by the UK's Trading Standards organization caught 12 retailers selling games with BBFC '18' ratings to a 14-year-old -- specifically, the 14-year-old who volunteered to go undercover for the group. In the US, such negligence from cashiers would merely be disappointing. In the UK, it's illegal.Of the sixteen retail outlets visited last week by the young narc, only four declined to sell contraband games: Gamestation, GAME, PC World and WH Smith. Some of the other retailers even had automatic warnings on their registers, which the cashiers ignored as they broke the law."Given the previous good compliance record with attempted test purchasing of tobacco in Dundee," a Trading Standards rep said, "it is very disappointing that so many large retailers have ignored their own systems in regard to restricted video game sales. Clearly there are issues that need to be addressed, and we will be following up matters with the retailers involved."
Age of Conan video interview focuses on player concerns
Erling Ellingson, Funcom's Product Manager for Age of Conan, recently gave a video interview with Jon Wood from MMORPG. Wood brought some tough questions to the interview regarding the problems many players are having with the game, questions that may not have simple, clear cut answers as the footage implies. Or perhaps they're just not the answers many gamers are hoping to get. Wood's interview covered the gambit of player concerns about the game: the lack of DX 10; missing and upcoming features; and speculation about changes in mature content. Perhaps of greatest significance to the Age of Conan player base is the content drop off after level 20. On the post-20 game experience, Ellingson likened Age of Conan to being two titles in one -- a single player experience and an MMO. The introduction to the game is meant to be very detailed to draw the player into the setting, but the second part is a different experience. Some people may like the first part more than the second, he says. Also, in terms of content thinning as levels go up, he feels that this happens with most MMOs when they launch, and states that even when World of Warcraft launched, "the higher level content was relatively sparse." To remedy this, Funcom is now focused on adding higher level content, including level 80 dungeons, and Ymir's Pass -- a level 55+ zone.
