The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has just sent word that the rating assigned to Bethesda’s and 2K Games’ The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been changed from T (Teen 13+) to M (Mature 17+). “The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves 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,” said the ESRB in a release.
Christ, this is stupid. By their standards, all games will be rated “M” as there will always be a lone geek out there to make a nude patch for any game featuring the female gender. Does that mean we should give “The Sims” a rating of M? Or how about “Rollercoaster Tycoon”?
Ridiculous.
Comments
2 responses to “ESRB Out-of-Touch”
I think the difference between this and The Sims is the fact the topless models were present in the original game data, all the patch did was unlock them… in The Sims, all nude images were contained within the patch data.
— Mr. DOS
True that, true that. 🙂
I went and saw videos of the patch. The girls had nipples textured onto their polygonal breasts. That must have been what they all got riled about.
Had they not had that single nipple, this game would have fallen in the Barbie Doll category of the Sims own nude patch (which removes the censor when the sims take showers.)
Funny how our society is sensitive like that.