| Author |
Message |
PO Info |
 |
RuneLateralus
Otaku Knight
Gender: 
Joined: 27 Sep 2002 |
 Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 7:23 pm Post subject: And another Take-Two game is under fire. |
This time, it is Oblivion.
| Quote: |
Oblivion re-rated M for Mature
[UPDATE] ESRB bumps up game's rating from T for Teen, says Bethesda failed to properly report objectionable content in ratings submission.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted May 3, 2006 1:44 pm PT
Take-Two Interactive may not have a follow-up for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas yet, but it appears the publisher does have a pseudo-sequel to that game's Hot Coffee scandal on its hands.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board today issued a parental advisory that it has changed the rating of Take-Two subsidiary 2K Games' hit role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PC and the Xbox 360. (Inital reports indicated that only the PC version of the game had been re-rated.) Originally released with a rating of T for Teen, the game has now been rerated M for Mature, due to "more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or 'skin' that, if accessed through a third-party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters."
Before the game was rerated, Pete Hines of Oblivion developer Bethesda Softworks discussed the mod with GameSpot. "Obviously we have a pretty big, and active, mod community for the PC version, and there are some gamers who hacked into Oblivion's art archive files and modified them to create a nude upper female torso in the game," Hines said. "We can't control and don't condone the actions of anyone who alters the game so that it displays material that may be considered offensive. We haven't received any complaints on the issue from anyone."
The ESRB is adding a "nudity" content descriptor to the PC version of the game "until it can be re-mastered and released with the topless skin removed."
[UPDATE]: As for how Oblivion escaped the ratings process with an improper rating the first time around, the ESRB pointed the finger at Bethesda. When a company submits a game to be rated, it is required to provide the ESRB with a video tape "showing the most extreme content and an accurate representation of the context and product as a whole."
After discovering the issues in "post-release monitoring and play-testing," the ESRB initiated a review of the game's original ratings process. The board cross-examined the tape Bethesda submitted with video taken from the final release of the game, and ultimately determined that the developer understated the detail and intensity of the blood and gore in the game. In reference to the nude skin, which is inaccessible during normal play and so couldn't have been included in the taped submission, the ESRB said publishers are required "to disclose locked-out content during the rating process if it is pertinent to a rating," and that Bethesda failed to do so.
As a result, the ESRB said a number of corrective actions are being taken regarding the matter. Bethesda will notify retailers of the rating change, provide stores and distributors with M-rating stickers for all unsold copies of the game, and preparing new packaging with the proper rating and content descriptors for future copies of the game. Bethesda will also prepare a downloadable patch to modify the game's art archive and make the topless skin inaccessible, even on a modded PC version of the game.
Shortly after the ESRB parental advisory was issued, Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association president Hal Halpin sent out his own statement about the re-rating. Halpin called the resulting change in sales policy for the game "immediate," and said a number of major retailers had already changed their systems so cashiers would be prompted to ask for ID when copies of Oblivion were scanned.
"Of note in this matter is the speed at which retailers reacted and parents were empowered," Halpin said. "Ultimately that is what makes any ratings system effective in the end."
A Take-Two representative deferred GameSpot's questions regarding the matter to Bethesda, but did say that the company doesn't expect the re-rating to have a financial impact on its operations. |
And the idiots have started to respond...blaming Take-Two for the situation...
| Quote: | The change marks the second time in a year that Take-Two Interactive has seen a game it published rerated after release, with the last time being the infamous Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee scandal. Whether the Oblivion rerating goes down in industry history as "Scalding Skooma" or just a tempest in a tea pot, the incident has already entered the political arena. California Assemblyman Leland Yee today issued a press release calling on Take-Two and the ESRB "to stop deceiving parents."
"The ESRB again has failed our parents and clearly has shown they cannot police themselves," said Yee. "Plain and simply, the current rating system is drastically flawed and here is yet another reason why we need legislation to assist parents and protect children." |
Source and Bethesda's response. |
_________________
make like siamese twins and split...and one of you die. |
|
|
 |
 |
Wins 0 - Losses 0
Level 1 |
EXP: 0
HP: 0
 |
STR: 0
END: 0
ACC: 0
AGI: 0
|
(0 - 0) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MitchellTF
Senior Otaku
Joined: 27 Sep 2005 |
| Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 8:19 pm Post subject: |
Actually. I'd say there perfectly right to blame Take Two. Once, is maybe an accident. But TWICE...
And if it's this easy to skip bye...it might NEED to be redone.
Jack Thompson is still a dick, and is thankfully out of this, but in this case, Take Two IS in the wrong...from that article.
I'm still buying the freaking game... |
|
|
|
|
 |
Wins 1 - Losses 0
Level 2 |
EXP: 0
HP: 1850
|
STR: 750
END: 550
ACC: 550
AGI: 750
|
Slashy the Sword (Sword)
(230 - 300) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Shurikane
Dim Panties As String
Joined: 24 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 8:35 pm Post subject: |
I would've given the game an M simply because of the woman in Skingrad asking about necrophilia.  |
_________________
Gopher it.
"Remember when /b/ was good?"
"/b/ was never good." |
|
|
|
 |
Wins 24 - Losses 32
Level 8 |
EXP: 2375
HP: 2550
|
STR: 1050
END: 750
ACC: 800
AGI: 600
|
Graduate's Windbuster (Sword)
(230 - 480) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RuneLateralus
Otaku Knight
Gender:
Joined: 27 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 8:38 pm Post subject: |
| Shurikane wrote: | | I would've given the game an M simply because of the woman in Skingrad asking about necrophilia. |
Don't forget the dark brotherhood quests. Some of those....disturbing. |
_________________
make like siamese twins and split...and one of you die. |
|
|
|
|
Wins 0 - Losses 0
Level 1 |
EXP: 0
HP: 0
|
STR: 0
END: 0
ACC: 0
AGI: 0
|
(0 - 0) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GD
driven to tears
Age: 49
Gender:
Joined: 19 Jan 2005 |
| Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject: |
| RuneLateralus wrote: | | Shurikane wrote: | | I would've given the game an M simply because of the woman in Skingrad asking about necrophilia. |
Don't forget the dark brotherhood quests. Some of those....disturbing. |
You bet they are.. and I've done them all. I felt dirty after some of them. Thankfully there are no children anywhere in the game, or I can only imagine what the ESRB and the public at large would have said about the game.
As for the content, it's kind of a sketchy area. The mod maker swears the breasts were already there, just covered by a "skin" of clothing, which he removed. Bethesda swears they weren't in the released game. It's kind of a grey area, but either way I was surprised the game didn't already get an M rating based on the sprays of blood from dying enemies. |
_________________
PSN ID: Mobius76 |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kugyou
Katori Shintaro!
Age: 44
Gender:
Joined: 26 Sep 2005 |
| Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 3:31 am Post subject: |
Aw jeez. This is like Hot Coffee all over again.
- Modder "unlocks" hidden content - in this case, an already-existing topless mesh with underwear welded onto it.
- Publisher makes claims that the content didn't exist, but that it was added into the game. At least in this case, the mod was more substantial than just flipping a couple values in the executable. Also, several of the people commenting on the mod make note that it appears that the "topless" mesh is based on slapping a bra on the male chest mesh.
- Publisher will eventually have to own up to what exists in its game, and apologize to what amounts to the new Un-American Activities panel.
At least the ESRB isn't trying to get it declared AO or something. (Oh, and no one's mentioned that someone else has come up with a graphic bottomless mod for in-game females as well).
Then again, I wonder something else...
DO THESE PEOPLE REMEMBER THE KHAJIIT? Sure, it wasn't graphic, but them kitties didn't wear no undies.
And my non-analytical two cents: Everyone's born with nipples. They haven't killed anyone yet. |
_________________
CI, Eqvites Ivbalis, Order of the Knights of Jubal
"It is the end of days, and I am the reaper." --Alessa
 |
|
|
|
 |
Wins 26 - Losses 24
Level 8 |
EXP: 2375
HP: 2300
|
STR: 700
END: 800
ACC: 800
AGI: 800
|
Hidden Hell (spikes) (Saw)
(240 - 440) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Shurikane
Dim Panties As String
Joined: 24 Sep 2002 |
| Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 7:17 am Post subject: |
They didn't? I remember completely looting several of them and they all wore undies.  Is there a naughty khajit hidden in the game that I didn't know of?  |
_________________
Gopher it.
"Remember when /b/ was good?"
"/b/ was never good." |
|
|
|
|
Wins 24 - Losses 32
Level 8 |
EXP: 2375
HP: 2550
|
STR: 1050
END: 750
ACC: 800
AGI: 600
|
Graduate's Windbuster (Sword)
(230 - 480) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
