6 Games that shouldn't have 'M' ratings

Have you ever found yourself picking up a game and wondering to yourself why on earth it has that little 'M' plastered on the front of it? Some games like Grand Theft Auto 4, Resident Evil 5, and Modern Warfare 2 are rated Mature for good reason, but there are certain cases where one must question what was going through the ESRB's minds when they rated these. Here are six games that were unfairly rated M.

Devil May Cry 4 -

There is barely any blood, a little bit of suggestive themes, and very little swearing. When you kill one of the demons, you don't get covered from head to toe in grisly piles of blood, the enemies instead gush out what looks like black mud or smoke. The story was not extremely disturbing or adult in nature so that could not possibly be the case. I would give this game a 'T' at most because it really does not deserve the rating it received.

Halo 1, 2, and 3 -

The 'Halo' franchise doesn't differ much from most other FPS games and the amount of blood shed displayed is minimal at best. Sure it has a bit of cursing but was that really enough to give it an M rating? When you kill the alien soldiers of the Covenant, they erupt gallons of green, blue, and purple blood so what's the deal ESRB? Was it because you can dismember the Flood enemies into bite-sized pieces? Those were alien infections that didn't really bleed. A 'T' rating is the most this one needed.

The Last Remnant -

This is one that I can't honestly believe got a rating that high! The only blood in the entire game from what I could see were small clouds of red mist during the battles and the sound effect of liquid hitting a floor. The fact that this one isn't rated 'T' from the start just blows my mind.

Nighty-Nine Nights -

This is another example that just makes no sense. I can't even begin to wonder what happened here because to be honest, this game could have passed with an 'E10+' rating. Was it the 2 second clip of a woman's cleavage in the intro that garnered the M rating? Dynasty Warriors is only rated T and that is the exact same kind of game!

Onimusha: Warlords -

There is a scene in the intro to the game where it shows a dead body covered in maggots for a brief moment, other than that I really can't find any reason why this should have the M plastered on its cover. If you take out that scene I swear this game would have recieved a T rating.

Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams -

Another entry in the Onimusha series that didn't need the rating it recieved. I actually played through this game again just to find something, anything that could justify the rating and you know what I found? Nothing! This one could have passed for E10+ as well because even a T rating is a bit too much.

This is just scratching the surface. I am well aware of many other titles with unjust ratings, some of which are even rated T but should be rated M. The original Fatal Frame is a prime example of this. What do you guys think? Have you played any games you thought didn't need the specific rating it had been given?

11/10/09 Colton West

Activision sets out to educate parents

In an attempt to educate Parents about the ESRB rating system Activision is kicking off a new corporate initiative called "Ratings are not a game". So far, a three part series of videos that are supposed to educate parents about the ESRB system as well as give tips on how to use games for problem solving skills and which games are appropriate for what group of people.

With the ongoing media battles over the last decade about the impact of games it would seem many companies are making concerted efforts to inform parents of their own responsibility to monitor their children's intake of media. Common sense would dictate that if a game has an M rating its probably not suitable for a 5 yr. old but the industry probably still has a few years left of dealing with uneducated consumers regarding our medium. I say this because if you think of the evolution of gaming a large percentage of people in their late 30,s and 40,s still view games as kids fare because the only games they ever played were coin opps an Nintendo type kid fare. We are however coming to a point where the majority of the population will have at some point been exposed to more mature games do to the inception of the Playstation and the increase in mature content that it brought with it. Those who spent hours in college playing Resident Evil and Metal Gear would it seem have a greater understanding of the content available and what is appropriate for their children then those who the most violent thing they ever saw in a video game was a Mushroom genocide at the hands of 2 pesky Italian brothers.

If your under 18 and begging your parents for MW2 then you might not agree with the efforts Activision and other publishers are taking to better inform your parents of the content of their games. but if your a mature gamer who is tired of your slightly older but less informed peers still thinking gamers are all 12 year old boys than like me you applaud the industry for taking these steps. If we as an industry don't take steps to fix the PR issues this industry has than like in several counties across the globe such as AUS. and China our governments will, and nobody wants that. Just ask all those gamers in AUS. who wont be playing L4D2 on NOV. 17th.

11/04/09 David Allison