Oblivion is now Mature

[Evo]

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. Originally released with a rating of T for Teen, the game has now been re-rated 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." The Xbox 360 version of the game will retain its T for Teen rating because the nude skin is inaccessible in that version of the game.

Before the game was re-rated, 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." A Take-Two representative declined to answer GameSpot's questions about whether the game would be pulled and re-released in sanitized form or allowed to continue sitting on store shelves with its new rating. Instead the representative deferred all questions regarding the matter to Bethesda, which was responsible for submitting the game in the first place.

Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/theelderscrollsivoblivion/news.html?sid=6148897

Put it here so all can read and debate

 

[Vegeta897]

Quite a confusing thread title there, Evo. We don't know whether that's supposed to say "not" or "now" unless we go in the thread

This doesn't really make a difference. It's not an online game, so it's not like our experience is going to be ruined because of a lack of players.

 

[Evo]

Just noticed and edited

True, and is only for the PC version as well.

Waiting for Stern really :E

 

[Hazar]

lol, don't know how this will work

they would have to re-release it to get the T changed to an M and the extra description put on it.... but they could just skip that and release another version that doesn't have that so no copies would ever come out with an M rating

 

[Direwolf]

They imply that the topless mod uses an existing but non-used skin in the game, but I'm surprised to hear that. Or are they just talking out their rear?

 

[Hazar]

I'm pretty sure it does

all that mod does is remove the underwear stuff that they had on

 

[Xune]

Women have breasts. When will geeks get over this fact?

 

[Hypnosos]

Right... aren't these people supposed to rate the game as it's released? How the hell can they re-rate it because you can modificate the game files? They aren't
rating the mod, heh?

So god damn stupid anyway. You can modificate Marge in Simpsons games nude too, put a M rating on that too?

 

[Cole]

You cold do the same on a barbie doll game! who the **** cares?

Hey what age can you legally have sex, 16.....hmmm...yet your not old enough to see a boob..... Ok im confused.

 

[Sui]

This is utterly ridiculous. Why are breasts considered so contraversial in America? A female film-star is allowed to wear nothing but an elastic band stretched over her nipples, but as soon as a game contains an ART FILE with a number of pixels, distributed in a manner which could be considered nipple-like (which, by the way, looks like this: )

The game is not suitable for under 18s? Even though there's not one kid in America who doesn't know what a breast looks like? It's f**king stupid.

 

[Laivasse]

Women have breasts. When will censors get over this fact?

Fixed.

Don't you all know that sex is more evil that stealing and killing? Shame on you.

 

[Codcommando]

*Googles Oblivion booby mod*
YAY! BOOBIES!
*fwap fwap fwap fwap fwap*

 

[Raziaar]

My little Oblivion is growing up to be a man.

 

[CptStern]

this is an obviously gutless move by the esrb. What they're saying is:

"well there's a possibility of seeing nudity in game (if you download and install this 3rd party created mod) so we're going to re-rate the game M for Mature so that the soccer moms/jack Thompson dont scream bloody murder ...oh and with an upcoming patch we'll/they'll be forced to remove the offending bit of cartoony flesh that may or may not represent a female half-naked body, so be at ease america, we'll make sure your kids are safe"

...or something like that

 

[Zeus]

This is utterly ridiculous. Why are breasts considered so contraversial in America?

Well I think its stupid for them to change the rating over a modification, which is complete BS. But the game does depict some quite graphic violence and gore, such as decaying corpses which are decapitated, with exposed brains, also heads on poles, and I'm not going to even get into some of the crap you see in the Dark Brotherhood missions. The game should have been M to begin with.

 

[Direwolf]

A) This is the can of worms opened by Hot Coffee

B) That said, its sucks for kids trying to buy it, but the more parents the ESRB can get on its side the better it probably is as a whole. Publishers can't be too afraid of the M rating with most of the best selling titles being M ones.

 

[hungryduck]

Women have breasts. When will geeks get over this fact?

Good point. Who knows. It's becuase they've never seen or touched any.

gosh, this is so stupid. The ESRB is a stupid, corrupt commitee made up of stupid ****ing assholes who sit around lick up dog shit all day.

 

[Direwolf]

Actually, I wouldn't be too harsh on the ESRB. They're that barrier thats stood between videogames and harmful legislation for the past decade.

 

[Sainku]

Even without nudity I think oblivion was playing with the line between T and M.

 

[CptStern]

and I'm not going to even get into some of the crap you see in the Dark Brotherhood missions. The game should have been M to begin with.

....am I missing something here? I kept on expecting to be asked to do evil dastardly or twisted things but nothing ever came (oh sure a finger here, a kill-everyone-at-a-party there, but it was all bloodless) ...I'm now at the point where I just assasinate for 500g per quest ..nothing morally questionable that I can think of

 

[VictimOfScience]

I just hate how natural things like breasts are the cause of an M rating and not the potentially graphic violence and such that is rampant in the game.

America's prurient attitude toward anything even remotely associated with sexuality is absolutely sickening to me. Go ahead and watch and interact with as much violence as you like...but don't you dare show your nipples to anyone lest the entire country be corrupted--as if you didn't suck on them for years to begin with!!! Have they forgotten their intended purpose??!! Ugh....

 

[Sainku]

nothing morally questionable that I can think of

The last few quests in the dark brotherhood are pretty messed up. Even for an m rated game.

 

[CptStern]

so there's more quests beyond the "kill this guy for 500g" quests? I think I've done 3 of them in a row

 

[Sainku]

If you have not finished the dark brotherhood completely yet, then your opinion on this matter will probably change when you do. A particular journal still creeps me out when I think about it.

 

[JellyWorld]

They don't enforce these ratings here, fortunately. At least they don't enforce them _yet_. And if they do there are plenty of small shops around that won't care.

 

[phantomdesign]

Any intelligent 3D character modeler will model the entire female in the nude first , and then add clothes. Even if the final model included removed polygons where the boobs are supposed to be, it wouldn't be long before the next version of better bodies comes out.

 

[Kyorisu]

ESRB Rofl

Aussie copy is rated M for "Moderate fantasy violence" which is 100% true. For reference M means it isn't even a legally restricted format (MA and on are). here and you are allowed to see nudity on TV at that age, so saying no for oblivion would make no sense.

 

[Neo_Kuja]

So headless zombies, necromancy, mutilated corpses hanging upside down on a rope in a hell-like enviorment, cannibalism by goblins and torture of prisoners in Oblivion don't rate anything other than "teen", yet as soon as (goodness-forbid !) a topless female is shown in-game the rating instantly shoots up to "Mature" ?

I hereby award the ESRB a rating of Immature.

 

[HunterSeeker]

so there's more quests beyond the "kill this guy for 500g" quests? I think I've done 3 of them in a row

There are 6 or so in total, but there is a twist to them. And there is a particular room associated with the Dark Brotherhood quests that is definatly M material.

 

[sinkoman]

HAHAHA!

OMFG, I walked into the the Gamestop that opened down the street a week ago and bought it myself, and i'm about 14 (I think...)

HAHA! Lucky me!

I mean, some of the salesmen here are jackasses. I had a guy not let me buy THUG because I was thirteen, and it was rated T. He let me go after a bit of haggling (I waited in line for a fricken half hour, wasn't going to just go), but I ended up being a penny short, and he wouldn't even give me a penny.

Ass.

Anyway, I thought this was ludicrous at first, but now that I think of it, it makes allot of sense. I mean, in the oblivion portals, you see corpses being hung in packs by their feet and necks, dripping blood all over the place.

And when you slash a pig, there's a giant bloodstain on the dirt.

And there are SO MANY ****ING WHORES IN THE GAME. I swear, I don't see why nobody else NOTICES it!

There's Luciana Galena: Is this business or pleasure? You are ONE HOT CUSTOMER.

Black Lady in a Motel: Meh, what with all the recent portals opening, I don't get much company, if you know what I mean.

That book called the Lusty Argonian Maid.

That quest about the lady whos husband got gang banged by a bunch of spirit women.

The Spider Daedra that feel their tits when they heal themselves.

Walking into a guy you know is single's house, and seeing four or five women all crowding around him.

Huzzah for slutty women!

 

[Jintor]

Pah. Sex and games don't mix well. Will they ever?

 

[Evo]

Bethesda have responeded, pretty good i feel, ain't gonna argue with the ESRB, but make some points

The ESRB has revoked their Teen rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PC and the Xbox 360 and has assigned the game a new rating of Mature. The ESRB reports that this is due to content in the game that was not fully disclosed when rating the game initially. Bethesda, not its co-publisher, developed the game, handled the ratings application before the ESRB, and stands behind it.

Bethesda will promptly implement the ratings change that the ESRB has ordered for Oblivion. We will not contest the ESRB's decision to re-rate the game as Mature, nor will we change the game's content to keep a Teen rating. We believe that this critically acclaimed game is not typical of Mature rated titles, and does not present the central themes of violence that are common to those products.

Bethesda will work with its co-publisher to place new "M" rating stickers on Oblivion packaging now at retail and in warehouses, and will reflect the change in rating on newly manufactured product. No product recall is being directed.

In light of the public comments that are being made about this matter, and to respond to questions we are being asked, we are releasing this statement to be on record about the circumstances giving rise to Oblivion's change in rating.

Bethesda Softworks made what it believes was a full, accurate, and comprehensive submission on Oblivion to the ESRB months before the game's release. Bethesda used the ESRB's application forms and believes it adhered closely to their requirements. Nothing was hidden from the ratings agency. No effort was made by Bethesda to lobby or influence the agency for any particular rating.

The ESRB has concluded that the game deserves a rating of Mature because: 1) partial nudity in the PC version of the game can be created by modders; and 2) the game contains excessive blood and gore that go beyond a Teen rating. The facts are as follows:

There is no nudity in Oblivion without a third party modification. In the PC version of the game only - this doesn't apply to the Xbox 360 version - some modders have used a third party tool to hack into and modify an art archive file to make it possible to create a mesh for a partially nude (topless) female that they add into the game. Bethesda didn't create a game with nudity and does not intend that nudity appear in Oblivion. There is no nude female character in a section of the game that can be "unlocked." Bethesda can not control tampering with Oblivion by third parties. Bethesda is taking steps to ensure that modders can not continue to hack into Oblivion's art archives to create partially nude figures.

With regard to violence, Bethesda advised the ESRB during the ratings process that violence and blood effects were "frequent" in the game - checking the box on the form that is the maximum warning. We further advised that the game contained occasional torture, vulgar acts, and gore. We gave accurate answers and descriptions about the type and frequency of violence that appears in the game. We submitted a 60-page document listing the explicit language, acts, and scenes in the game. Oblivion packaging already contains warnings for "Violence" and "Blood and Gore."

We value the role of the ESRB and believe the rating agency plays a valuable role in regulating our industry. As always, we will continue work in good faith to comply fully with the ESRB's standards and policies.

We remain enormously proud of Oblivion and the standard of excellence in game development it represents. Oblivion is one of the highest rated games of all time and one of the most popular games available on the Xbox 360 and the PC. We greatly appreciate the understanding and support of our fans.

 

[Kyorisu]

The ESRB has concluded that the game deserves a rating of Mature because: 1) partial nudity in the PC version of the game can be created by modders; and 2) the game contains excessive blood and gore that go beyond a Teen rating. The facts are as follows:

1. Nudity can be modded into pretty much anything
2. Good point - plenty of gory fun

 

[DESSTROYER]

2. Good point - plenty of gory fun

yeah, i changed my INI file to where blood stays longer than the default. and now i can notice the blood on the sword when i kill something