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ESRB's censorship wound re-opened, user-made content to break the ratings system
In an article published today titled "The Breasts that Broke the Game", The Escapist re-visits a bit of news that should have caused a commotion but barely grabbed our attention. In April of last year, the ESRB changed the rating of Oblivion from "T" to "M", citing newly-discovered gore and violence as well as a user-made mod that made all the female characters topless. Bethesda crafted the perfect response, agreeing to comply with the ratings upgrade but reminding everyone it has no control over third-party creations.The mod was created because a woman named Maeyanie hated "government/society/whatever forcing companies to 'protect our innocent population from seeing those evil dirty things 50% of them possess personally anyways'". The Escapist points out that the mod was tame, featuring little more than Barbie doll-style nudity, yet the ESRB still flipped out. User-made content is fast becoming the focus of videogames (see Spore, LittleBigPlanet, The Sims), and with that will come an influx of sex-related creations. How should the ESRB respond? With a new ratings category ("W" for "We're not responsible")? Slapping an "M" on every game that gives you an iota of customization control?
June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month! Woot!
The ESRB in partnership with Ingram Entertainment has announced a new campaign aimed at educating consumers on store policies regarding the sale and rental of mature rated games to minors. The announcement coincides with a fun-filled declaration by several trade groups that June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month, the acronym of which is an anagram for LAMER. Coincidence?The components of the new campaign include shelf strips, tent cards and store policy signs explaining ESRB ratings placed throughout retail outlets. A letter from Ingram senior VP of sales and marketing Bob Geistman stressing the importance of ESRB ratings will also be included. We can only hope shaven-head bodyguards in tight t-shirts will be on hand to force parents to read the words printed on the signs.[Via Gamasutra]
Level 70 Combat ratings values updated and listed here
With that great explanation of stats this morning, how fitting that this afternoon, we have Drysc's update on what the various combat ratings mean for each of your character's combat values.The combat ratings system was implemented when the expansion came around-- it used to be that instead of a "dodge rating" on a piece of armor, you just got a "+2% chance to dodge." But Blizzard noticed that in order to scale that gear up ten levels, they'd have to push up percentages, and eventually everyone would just be walking around with crazy high percentages-- adding enough armor up to a 100% chance to dodge would obviously break the game.So they developed the rating system, with each armor piece giving a plus to "rating" that then translated into different percentages at different levels-- an item with 18.9 dodge rating on it actually gives +1% dodge at level 70, but more than that at level 60 (about %1.5, actually). That way, Blizzard can scale the rating with level, and gear can get better without breaking the game. Much more on this, I'm sure, when Elizabeth continues her WoW Rookie feature on stats. And don't forget that RatingBuster can give you all this automatically ingame-- from what I understand, it has been updated with these numbers.But in the meantime, after the jump, I've posted what Drysc says all the ratings will give you at level 70. Feel free to bookmark this post for quick reference when comparing gear.
The 360 controller is the best of the best
CNET UK decided to rank the top five video game controllers of all time and you'll be happy to know that the Xbox 360 controller did us very proud. Actually, according to CNET the 360's controller is the best gaming controller of all time! They thought that the controller is comfy, practical, and gets extra points for being the first to the gate in being a wireless standard. We agree. Going further down the list the 360's controller beat out favorites like the PS2, N64, SNES and Atari 2600 controllers. But we do have one issue with CNET's controller description. The Xbox 360 and its controller are not "beige" in color. They are a light kinda whitish ... greyish. So, please get it right.[Via Xbox-Scene]
ESRB says 90 percent of parents aware of ratings
The ESRB is attempting to prove with a new study that their ratings system is doing more than just cluttering up game boxes. The group says that 90% of American parents of gaming kids are aware of the ratings and 85% use them regularly when buying games. Those numbers are up from 84% and 73% from last year.While it's certainly good news for fans of industry self-regulation if accurate, this surprisingly high number of rating-literate parents comes at a conveniently good time for the ESRB, which currently has its independence threatened yet again by the "Truth in Video Games" act reintroduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas).But who knows? Maybe the ratings are catching on. One concerned 4-foot-tall man pre-ordering Grand Theft Auto IV in our local game store who assured us that was "really a parent" certainly thought so. "Yes, I don't want my son, the son that I really have, playing those awful violent games," he said, pressing on his waxy-looking mustache nervously for emphasis. "When I have a legally-obtained beer with my adult friends at adult parties, we often talk about the ratings of games being played by our children, our real children ... the ones who are not us. Now, if you'll excuse me I hear my mom honking. Wait, no -- my wife. It's my wife honking. The wife that I have."
Carrie Underwood sets iTunes record
The question of Sanjaya's hair-styles aside, American Idol is a music phenomenon. Carrie Underwood's American Idol Gives Back recording of "I'll Stand by You" just became the first iTunes-exclusive track to debut in the Billboard Hot 100's Top 10 according to Country Standard Time. "I'll Stand By You" is set to appear at #6 on that top ten list for the week ending May 12th. Apparently there have only been six on-line releases to debut in the Top 10 and "I'll Stand By You" is "the only track to do so without having been serviced to radio for airplay", selling nearly 125 thousand copies since it debuted in late April. iTunes will donate net proceeds from "Idol Gives Back" singles and videos to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund.
Whoops! Metal Gear Solid forgets rating; no longer on sale
Months after the US and Japanese release, Europeans were supposed to enjoy Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops today. To make up for the excruciating delay, the PAL version will feature new content not available in the other releases, such as new characters, maps and missions. However, it appears Europeans will have to wait a little bit longer, as the game has been delayed yet again. Why? According to Pocket Gamer, it appears that the box art artist forgot to include the BBFC (the UK equivalent of the ESRB) rating for the game.Without a rating on the box UMD, the game will not be sold at retailers. Whoops! This is a strange mishap, to say the least. It looks like European gamers will have to wait just a little bit longer as Konami fixes this mistake--but you guys are used to waiting, right?
British ratings board: violent video games less harmful than movies
The British Board of Film Classification, which assigns content ratings to both films and video games, says that video game violence is less influential and harmful to young players than violence in films or television. The board came to this conclusion as a result of their 107-page study, "Playing Video Games," featuring interviews with players ranging from very young children to the middle-aged.Says BBFC spokeswoman Sue Clark, "We have traditionally taken the view that because a game is interactive, by definition we need to be more careful. But ... one of the key conclusions of this report is that interactivity actually helps players distance reality from adult experiences in games." The study was conducted to prepare for a revision of the BBFC's video-game ratings system -- which means that their new ratings may actually become less restrictive.A study, huh? Using research, data, and possibly even science to draw conclusions? Silly Brits! We independent-minded Americans can make judgements without any facts whatsoever!
Over 100,000 standalone HD DVD players sold in North America
Sure, moving 100,000 units doesn't seem all that extraordinary when you consider that Microsoft managed to foist off 92,000 of its own add-ons last Christmas, but the number does manage to garner a bit more respect when you realize that the Xbox 360 addition nor HD DVD PC drives are included in it. The North American HD-DVD Promotional Group is now claiming that sales of set-top HD DVD players have finally hit the 100k mark, presumably ready to smack down that Blu-ray supremacy talk and prove that the recent surge in disc sales was more than a well-planned fluke. Of course, claiming the feat really says nothing in the grand scheme of the ongoing format war, but we can officially start the countdown until the Blu-ray camp proudly trounces these figures and yet again claims momentary dominance.[Via TGDaily]
Report: Sales data undersells true reach of games
There seems to be a slight obsession with measuring the size of the video game market recently. First TV ratings experts Nielsen Media Research estimated nearly 46 million U.S. households have a game console. Then Scarborough Research ranked major U.S. cities based on console ownership. Now, Gameasure has issued a report saying simple sales metrics might be under-reporting the true reach of video games.The research group noted in a recent press release that video game sales don't take into account the true number of players created by "social game play, rental, used sales and pass-around." For example, while NPD estimates 2 million people bought Call of Duty 2 in North America, Gameasure estimates that 9 million North Americans have actually played the game. Such data is key to evaluating the effectiveness of in-game advertising, which cares more about individual eyeballs than game sales.While it's hard to know how reliable Gameasure's estimates are, it's nice to see somebody attempting to go past the sales numbers to estimate the true size of the game market.
Indie game ratings system re-launches
The Independent Game Rating System, or TIGRS, has received a major overhaul to incorporate a sleeker and more accessible design. The voluntary ratings system was originally unveiled two years ago as a way for indie developers to label their games and help warn parents of any objectionable content.The problem with a voluntary system such as TIGRS is a little word called "accountability". While most developers would use the logos responsibly, it would only take a few naughty people to ruin the whole thing. And considering the trouble the ESRB has been into after the Hot Coffee fiasco, do indie games really need that kind of exposure?
Nielsen: One-third of TV owners play game consoles
Nielsen Media Research, best know for its TV ratings, has released an outline the American video game landscape in the form of "The State of the Console" report. Among the more interesting findings:
