Halo PC question

I think that some of the swears are added in there to make it more 'adult'. Look at the console game BMX XXX, with its 'Keep it Dirty' moniker. The game is supposed to be incredibly juvenile, with cuss words and nudity, and everything that a teen with his hormones raging might find appealing. The real problem here is that with all the nudity, nasty 'comedy', as well as just the concept of a 'dirty' BMX game, people do become desensitized to disgusting stuff the world puts out.

Shooters, on the other hand, are generally not very objectionable. Look at Deus Ex. That game, while having a modest amount of blood/gore, didn't exactly put an emphasis on killing and death. It was a shooter with intelligence, unlike Quake or Doom, or even Wolfenstein. You chose a path through the adventure, while finding ways to either kill or not kill. It might be best in a situation to just subdue an enemy with the butt of a gun, or with a tranqualizer dart.

The much anticipated XIII, based on a French graphic novel, doesn't even look particularly violent for a shooter. It's plot is that you wake up on a beach with the number XIII tatooed on your chest. Soon, you find out that you might have assassinated the president of the United States. This plot, believe it or not, is much like that of The Bourne Identity, and it should be treated as such. But, of course, the stinking ESRB, with its' fake ratings (which they are. Do a little research on it.), has to rate the game Mature, for 'Intense Violence' and 'Blood'. C'mon! The game is cel-shaded, for goodness sakes'! The blood looks just about as unrealistic as possible, without straying from red in the spectrum of color!

Basically, I think that these people, who rate games, do not, absolutely do not, know what they are talking about. Any shooter with blood, it seems like, that was released after the tragedy at Columbine High School and 9/11, is rated Mature. Even games that weren't originally rated as such, like No One Lives Forever, or Dungeon Siege, or even the new Rainbow Six games, have been re-rated as Mature. This makes absolutely no sense, and it needs, desperately, to be dealt with. But it won't, of course.

It really is a shame. All these great games are rated Mature, and for what? Halo was even originally rated Teen, if you look at the old ads. Just a sprinkle of red pixles, and you've got yerself a gen-u-ine Ma-ture ra-t-ed vid-eo game, mister. Well, whatever. I've given up fighting that system. There's no hope for a change nowadays.
 
I agree. ESRB only uses the opinion of three testers. What happens is you get some guy that doesn't like shooters to begin with rate Halo M, and then have him rate a game like Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, full of swearing the occult, and very bloody and dark, T. With Dungeaon Siege, it was released and sold with a T rating for a few months, and then all of sudden, a little M sticker gets slapped on to cover the T. ANother game, Ghost Recon, a very clean shooter, originally scheduled to be released spetmeber 30th, 2001 with a T rating, gets pushed back to Christmas with an M rating, all becuase of 9/11. There are a ton of other examples, but I do not want to take up too much space. In short to ESRB, give me a break and quit being hypocritical.:(
 
i totally understand what you mean ssquared, and i completley respect that. i also think that the ratings are total crap. a bunch of seniors sitting around and at the mention of the word shoot automatically throw the M on the box, even when the next word after shoot was pool. this virtual pool game is rated M for extreme shooting action! OML!!! NOT THAT!!! so in retrospect, the rating system needs to be changed, and sane people need to rate thses games, not the ececntrics that are doing it now. its all thanks to the "blame it on something else so it dosent get balmed on us for being bad parents" mentality. stupid people i tell ya... basically unless the game is bambies super bible trivia quest it will probably be rated M for Moronic. im kinda rambling, but anyways... yeah, GO Marlins!!
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Ok, appropriate?

Well, Blood:

You shoot someone, blood is on floor (not gross at all, my sis is 10 and she's like, "Thats not very realistic!")
Same with Covenant, only, llike, Blue Blood, or orange.

Gore:
None with Master Chief, None with Marines, None with Covenant, Some with Flood.

Not to be a spoiler here, but you can shoot Flood's heads and arms off. When you kill one, bits of Green stuff go flying, but it evaporates after a little while.

So, no gore really.
 
That is completely true. I admit, I haven't played Halo in single-player, but it is substantially less bloody than CS. The other thing is that games like Splinter Cell have non-existent ratings...tell me, where is the blood in that game? No where, as far as I can tell. And then, sometimes, ratings are left out of games, such as in TWINE (The World Is Not Enough) where there is an Easter Egg that allows the player to cause another player to be covered in blood in multiplayer.

The other problem with ratings is the ratings themselves. Now, I did some research on this for an essay in school, and it turns out that the developers, not the so-called ESRB, rates the games. This 'ESRB' is a board comprised of parents who have probably never touched a video game in their life. And why don't the ratings mean anything? For the same essay, I called stores that sold games and asked to speak to their managers. GameForce, a smaller game trade-in place, told me that they ask parents if they don't know the kid. If they do, by some chance, know the kid, they let a kid, doesn't matter what age, go home with a Mature rated video game. Wal-Mart told me that they are trying to enforce a policy, and Toys 'R' Us barely knew what they were saying when I asked about their Mature rated game policy. As an aside point, on a recent visit to Blockbuster, I decided to rent a Mature game. Even though I told my mom it was rated Mature, she was distracted or something, and didn't hear me. The manager of the store didn't tell my mom that the game was rated Mature. She said, 'Thanks, Come Again,' and that was it. That is pretty crazy. You'd think a store that enforces R-rated movies like the plague would restrict Mature rated video games as well. But, of course, no. They can't do that.

The bottom line is, it eventually comes down to what the parents want. If they don't want a game like Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in their household, they should enforce that. They shouldn't let their kids buy whatever kind of violent game that they can, mainly because it is a bad example for the kid. If the parent plays the violent game, fine. But they shouldn't allow such a game to even reach the ears of their child. It is simple responsiblity. How do you think kids learn about foul language and sex these days? The television. That medium is falling in the eyes of kids. Gaming is becoming the next Hollywood, and there is nothing to do to stop it. Likewise, Christians should not be lax about the games that touch the monitors. Find out about a game before you buy it. I learned the hard way with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It seemed really cool at first, but it turned out a demon infested the mask. I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable with a game that features demons. But that's just me. I, in turn, have recieved many an email about blood, violence, and demons that I object to in my reviews.

Whatever the case is with a Mature rated game, it should be the same as an R-rated movie. Games that always push the limits of moral decency will always be around. It is up to us to restrict it in our homes.
 
ANother thing about ESRB. The people who rate the game do not play. IN stead they take a short video froom the devopers, and rate the game off of this. DOes anyone else see a problem with this. This come right from the ESRB site itself.
 
Well, something needs to be done about it. There's no point in having a rating system that means nothing.

To get a game certified with an ESRB rating, publishers fill out a detailed questionnaire explaining exactly what's in the game, and submit it to ESRB along with actual videotaped footage of the game, showing the most extreme content and an accurate representation of the context and product as a whole. Working independently, three trained raters then view the game footage and recommend the rating and content descriptors they believe are most appropriate. ESRB then compares the raters' recommendations to make sure that there's consensus. Usually, the raters agree and their recommendation becomes final. However, when the raters recommend different ratings, additional raters may be requested to review the game in order to reach broader consensus. Once consensus on a rating and content descriptors is reached, ESRB issues an official rating certificate to the game's publisher.

When the game is ready for release to the public, publishers send copies of the final product to the ESRB. The game packaging is reviewed to make sure the ratings are displayed in accordance with ESRB standards. Additionally, ESRB's in-house game experts randomly play the final games to verify that all the information provided during the rating process was accurate and complete.
---from the ESRB website

This is not game playing. It is anything but. A game that is rated for violence may not even contain violence, whereas a game rated for nudity may not contain nudity. There is no logical basis for the system.

Here are the rating reasons, and descriptions of what they mean:

Alcohol Reference - Reference to and/or images of alcoholic beverages

Animated Blood - Cartoon or pixilated depictions of blood

Blood - Depictions of blood

Blood and Gore - Depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts

Cartoon Violence - Violent actions involving cartoon-like characters. May include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted

Comic Mischief - Scenes depicting slapstick or gross vulgar humor

Crude Humor - Moderately vulgar antics, including bathroom humor

Drug Reference - Reference to and/or images of illegal drugs

Edutainment - Content of product provides user with specific skills development or reinforcement learning within an entertainment setting. Skill development is an integral part of product

Fantasy Violence - Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving human or non-human characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life

Gambling - Betting like behavior

Informational - Overall content of product contains data, facts, resource information, reference materials or instructional text

Intense Violence - Graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict. May involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons, and depictions of human injury and death

Mature Humor - Vulgar and/or crude jokes and antics including "bathroom" humor

Mature Sexual Themes - Provocative material, possibly including partial nudity

Mild Language - Mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol, or drug use

Mild Lyrics - Mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol, or drug use in music

Mild Violence - Mild scenes depicting characters in unsafe and/or violent situations

Nudity - Graphic or prolonged depictions of nudity

Partial Nudity - Brief and mild depictions of nudity

Sexual Violence - Depictions of rape or other sexual acts

Some Adult Assistance May Be Needed - Early Childhood Descriptor only

Strong Language - Profanity and explicit references to sexuality, violence, alcohol, or drug use

Strong Lyrics - Profanity and explicit references to sex, violence, alcohol, or drug use in music

Strong Sexual Content - Graphic depiction of sexual behavior, possibly including nudity

Suggestive Themes - Mild provocative references or materials

Tobacco Reference - Reference to and/or images of tobacco products

Use of Drugs - The consumption or use of illegal drugs

Use of Alcohol - The consumption of alcoholic beverages

Use of Tobacco - The consumption of tobacco products

Violence - Scenes involving aggressive conflict

I'm sorry, but a game that is cel-shaded, being XIII, rated M for Intense Violence? Give me a break. Unless gaping holes are shown, the violence can't be that intense. Perhaps State of Emergency, GTA3, or Max Payne should be rated M for...oh, no, wait, the system is bogus.

These ratings are no longer used.



Gaming - Betting-like behavior

Mild Animated Violence - Mild cartoon or pixilated scenes depicting animated characters in unsafe and/or violent situations

Mild Realistic Violence - Mild photographic-like detailed depictions of characters in unsafe and/or violent situations

Animated Violence - Cartoon or pixilated scenes depicting animated characters in unsafe and/or violent situations

Realistic Violence - Photographic-like detailed depictions of characters in unsafe and/or violent situations

Animated Blood and Gore - Cartoon or pixilated images of blood or the mutilation of body parts

Realistic Blood and Gore - Photographic-like detailed depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts

Realistic Blood - Photographic-like detailed depictions of blood

Reading Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Higher-Level Thinking Skills - These phrases are found only on products rated Early Childhood and indicate whether children's reading, computer, or other skills are used in these titles

How realistic can blood get? How realistic can any of these things get? While it may be okay within the industry for these developers to do the ratings, which is basically what is done, I don't hold to these 'ratings'. They exist to satiate the controversy in Washington D.C. That's it. Nothing besides that is what they are for.

Give me a break.
 
There "standards" *cough* excuses *cough* are way to vague.  Ive never played a game that has completely accurate content descriptors.  What really gets me is that an ESRB rating is optional, and the developers know this, yet they still submit their games for review to ESRB to apease the public.  Secondly, I do not think it is fair that ESRB tends to hold a monoply on the game rating industry.  In this way they can bias the public to their own views of gaming.  Developers of these games need an alternative to ESRB, and one that rates objectively and not on bias.
 
I've played an E game with graphic double entendre. It was Banjo-Tooie. I've seen games that rated T for Violence, Strong Language, and Mature Sexual Themes, whereas a game that is rated M for Gambling and Mature Sexual Themes is rated differently than a game with far worse. It is so messed up.
 
Its more then messed up, its just plain beyond all and any comprehensible logic.  And the sad thing is, ESRB can influence people with this logicless logic.
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Okay, I've got a great idea. Let's just not even look at the ratings. We could find out what the games have in the them, and then just forget about the rating! It's the perfect plan...:blues:
 
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