QUOTE(FoolishOwl @ May 4 2006, 08:34 PM)
Wasn't there some comment by the developers that they wouldn't include some "mature" themes in the game, in order to avoid getting an "M" label, and therefore losing sales? If I understand correctly, some major chain stores, like Target, won't carry "M" rated games at all.
I agree that the last sentence of the public statement from Bethesda is the most troubling part. The censors and their weird priorities are always a pain, but it's disheartening that Bethesda might go out of its way to accomodate them.
Actually, although I don't remember the proper quotes right off of the top of my head, (they are in the site's "dev quotes" section, though) BethSoft's take on the rating
Oblivion would get, boiled down, came to:
"
We're making the game how we feel it should; we don't really care which rating it gets, though there are some things we aren't including because we feel they don't belong. (like nudity)"
QUOTE(ThePerson98 @ May 4 2006, 10:26 PM)
So, that means morrowind should be rated M? I mean, people made nude mods for that. Better bodies simply has an option when installing for nude or not. So if you have to go do research and do a bunch of manual game modding to get nudity.
ESRB makes no sense.
No, there's a
very clear line here;
Oblivion actually has a toppless model included in the PC data files;
Morrowind did not. The ESRB did change their guidelines to include content that was "hidden" in such a way. They do not count "second-market" content, like in
Better Bodies, but they count content included in the original game, regardless of whether it's normally accessible, and, in fact, regardless of whether someone makes a mod to "unlock" it. Of course, if no one makes a mod to grant access to it, it's kinda hard for most people (and reviewers) to know that it's there...
QUOTE(Duncan Frost @ May 5 2006, 06:53 AM)
This is stupid.. it's like the
Hot Coffee mod for San Andreas...
Like, pretty much
every game has a nude mod of some sort. Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, San Andreas, Vice City, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, hell, even Halo has some. So should we ban every game that can have nude content? No! Let's petition it.
You're missing the difference here, between a "nude mod" and a "access mod." As I recall, of those, only
GTA: San Andreas (not even
Vice City) actually had nude content included in the base game. The ESRB apparently rates games based on all included content, regardless of whether there's access to it or not. They don't monitor mods, hence why the games that simply had "nude mods" made for them were not re-rated.
QUOTE(Akul @ May 6 2006, 06:32 PM)
At least they didn't get the Adult Only rating as San Andreas did.
BTW, in Europe it was alredy M.
Well, keep in mind that "nudity" is only worthy of an "M" rating. Actual sex scenes are what's needed for an "AO" game.
As for the European rating, which system? As I understand, the UK's system (BBFC, or something like that) actually has rated the game "14" since its release, and hasn't changed it. I think PEGI (what most of continental Europe does, such as France, and I believe Germany as well) rated it at "16" their closes equivalent to "M" from the start.