Take Two bringing M-rated games to Wii?
by Kevin Kelly 
{ Sep 20th 2006 at 3:55PM }
While Nintendo consoles have never been a real target for M-rated games, that could all be changing soon. Several M-rated games have been confirmed as coming to the Wii, including The Godfather and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. And don't forget Ubisoft's flagship Red Steel -- it's gotta be M-rated, right?Although several M games were released for the GameCube, Nintendo has never had a Grand Theft Auto title on any of their console platforms, although it made a brief appearances on the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance systems. But this won't be the case for much longer, if Reggie has any say about it.
"We're reaching out to every publisher, frankly every day. I'll be spending some time later today with the folks over at Take Two to see what type of support they can give our console ... the fact is there will be M-rated content on the Wii console. EA has already announced that they're bringing The Godfather to our console. And we want every single best-selling game to be available on Wii. Whatever that content is."
This means you could be swinging the Wii-mote as Tommy Vercetti wielding his baseball bat. Bring it.
[Thanks readers for the Grand Theft Auto GBA tip]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
crono141 @ Sep 20th 2006 3:59PM
"LOLOLOLOLAWLAWAL!!!!11!!1!
NINTENDORK IS FOR KIDDIES!!!!LW"
maybe these people will finally STFU.
But I doubt it.
Kevin @ Sep 20th 2006 3:59PM
I believe they said that Red Steel will NOT get the M rating, as there is no blood in the game. Look at videos to confirm.
Derbeste @ Sep 20th 2006 4:01PM
Wow....best story of the day goes to the newby with 8 posts this month.
Bravo.
Personally, I could care less about Take Two and GTA...but I AM glad to see Nintendo trying so hard to be 3rd party friendly this time around.
Vikram @ Sep 20th 2006 4:01PM
Going from pushing a button to simulate violence to Simulating a violent act with the Wii mote - is enough controversy to give the media outlets a very spinnable story, and Nintendo a paradigm shift away from the inherited kiddy image.
ejflex @ Sep 20th 2006 4:01PM
Yeah maybe Red Steel would be M rated if they actually had blood in the game. I'm a die hard Ninty fan, but a game RED STEEL with no Blood(red) in it? That's BUSH league. I'd say a T rating for that one.
Psaakyrn @ Sep 20th 2006 4:02PM
What, everyone forgot about Conker's bad fur day already?
me @ Sep 20th 2006 4:02PM
GIVE ME OBLIVION!!!
(and if wii can't produce the graphics, just trim them down a bit and i'll still be happy)
32_Footsteps @ Sep 20th 2006 4:02PM
Between this and Nintendo's professed marketing strategy with the Wii, I wonder if someone will get all up in arms about the prospect of Nintendo marketing a murder simulator (or worse, a driving simulator that rewards bad driving) to Grandma.
brandon_r87 @ Sep 20th 2006 4:06PM
I don't know if the word "platform" extends its coverage to handhelds, but correct me if I'm wrong, I think there was a Grand Theft Auto for Gameboy Advance. Not that it really matters, because I think it was GTA2, which was popular, but not as successful as the series became after GTA3.
White Rose Duelist @ Sep 20th 2006 4:06PM
Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil 4 didn't stop the kiddy comments about Nintendo from the other fanboys. Why would this? Until Grand Theft Kuribo's Shoe comes out, the people saying that Nintendo is for kids will continue to do so, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.
Strike Man @ Sep 20th 2006 4:06PM
"Although several M games were released for the GameCube, Nintendo has never had a Grand Theft Auto title on any of their platforms."
I'm assuming that you're referring to consoles and not handhelds then, since the GameBoy Color got Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, while the GameBoy Advance has Grand Theft Auto Advance.
Strike Man @ Sep 20th 2006 4:08PM
brandon_r87 beat me by a minute. :p
me @ Sep 20th 2006 6:18PM
Weren't there GTA games on the GBA?
carg0 @ Sep 20th 2006 4:37PM
"While Nintendo consoles have never been a real target for M-rated games..."
You forgot to add "third-party titles" as well.
Judd @ Sep 20th 2006 4:11PM
"Nintendo has never had a Grand Theft Auto title on any of their platforms."
Au contraire, Joystiq.
http://www.rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto/gba/
Zo K. @ Sep 20th 2006 4:12PM
Not a big deal, Kevin... but I'm sure you weren't implying that 'The Godfather and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent' was all one game.
Your italics imply otherwise. Just looking out. ^^
chuck @ Sep 20th 2006 4:13PM
this is a poorly written blog entry. its point is basically nothing. however, its nintendo, so no one critizes.
m-rated games a nintendo system(as if it never happened)...
apprently leads to grand theft auto on the wii(you know, take two is a publishing company with many companies under it's belt. it could very well just be oblivion as much as it could be GTA. if you said Rockstar, this grain of salt wouldn't be so damn big.)
so basically, hogwash, i say! hogwash!
Nter @ Sep 20th 2006 4:14PM
Hey Kevin. GTA has been on a Nintendo console in the past.
Think GBA..
RP @ Sep 20th 2006 4:16PM
Don't forget as well that an N64 version of GTA was eventually canned before completion.
Besides, i don't think it'll be GTA.
Judd @ Sep 21st 2006 1:02AM
Damn it you guys beat me by five minutes. That's the thing by the time I type this out and send it there will be like 4 new posts. It always makes us commenthaters (Hehe, I just created a portmanteau), seem like smart asses by telling Joystiq multiple types how they are wrong, but really we just want to help out.
Probot @ Sep 20th 2006 4:20PM
"While Nintendo consoles have never been a real target for M-rated games, that could all be changing soon."
I doubt it. They'll certainly have M-rated games (they always do), but I don't think they'll ever be the main target for them.
I'm not really in the know, but it never seemed like it was Nintendo that stopped publishers from not porting M rated games to their console.
moofree @ Sep 20th 2006 4:22PM
While on the subject of Rockstar games, they need to produce a new Space Station Silicon Valley game. That is one of the best games for the N64.
Crosswayboy @ Sep 20th 2006 4:29PM
It probably won't be GTA (however awesome that would be), the big N would have to pony up a lotta dough to make that happen, plus, with GTA4 hitting PS3 and 360 on the same day, Wii probably couldn't handle it. More likely we'll see something like Midnight Club or Bully. MC Wii would be so sweet though...
32_Footsteps @ Sep 20th 2006 4:47PM
Carg0, what year did you get into video gaming? 1996? 1997? Nintendo used to absolutely control third-party support. And as the scads of games for the various Game Boy iterations prove, they're still quite capable of attracting it.
croz @ Sep 20th 2006 4:46PM
All these people saying "look back to Gameboy Advance" aren't looking back far enough. The original GTA was available for the Gameboy Color in 1999, followed by GTA2 a year later.
Sam @ Sep 20th 2006 4:59PM
This would be great. You know the little warranty card that comes with almost every game? On all the Rockstar ones the last quetion is "What is wrong with the world?" I always put that there are no Rockstar games on a Nintendo system. Maybe they will read my card after they talk to Reggie!
Seroth @ Sep 20th 2006 4:55PM
GTA? Sure, that'd be cool. A sequel to BODY HARVEST? That would be AWESOME.
rockintom99 @ Sep 20th 2006 5:01PM
It seems like a big catch 22 to me. People who own Nintendo consoles are (allegedly) little kids, who wont buy rated M games. So developers wont make mature games for Nintendo consoles. So people who like mature games won't buy Nintendo consoles. Repeat.
yay @ Sep 20th 2006 5:09PM
LOL, ports of last gen games. Woopty friggin doo.
Fancy @ Sep 20th 2006 8:00PM
Nintendo is for children. You are children. We are children. The children are the future. Welcome to the future, today.
nodmonkey @ Sep 20th 2006 5:37PM
GTA(4?) for Wii does make total control scheme funtimes sense. Think about it... it's all there!
On foot third person / FPS sections: wiimote-nunchuck setup.
Sniper rifle: wiimote as pointer (could move closer/back for zoom).
Baseball bat/katana: obvious! (may require a button press to switch to bat-swing mode)
Car driving: sideways wiimote a-la excite truck.
Plane/chopper flying: wiimote in that wii plane game (can't remember name), could use nunchuck for firing if holding wiimote underneath as a toy plane.
What more do you need? GTA as a serious has never really been about cutting-edge graphics, but more style, black humour, freedom and anarchic fun. Still, I don't have hopes it will come out for the system, but it SHOULD. I'm just hoping the designers have this eagerness.
nodmonkey @ Sep 20th 2006 5:40PM
oops, i meant 'GTA as a series', not 'as a serious'! sorry.
dantebk @ Sep 20th 2006 5:50PM
GTA on the Wii would be nice, then I'd only have to buy one of the next-gen consoles. Since we've already heard that many games will allow you to play with the GameCube controller if they don't use the Wiimote in any vital way, I can't imagine this being an issue.
I spend most my time playing older games, and only two next-gen games really have me excited: Super Smash Bros. Brawl and GTA... since Brawl will never be on another system obviously, GTA on the Wii would be a money-saving dream for me.
matt @ Sep 20th 2006 6:43PM
i cant belive this, nintendo is for children! that was the whole thing. nintendo was like known for having lots of kid games.
and 'me' they said in the artical that GTA was on GBA
fumar @ Sep 20th 2006 8:32PM
Maybe Nintendo 1st party games were considered for children. But did we all forget that Resident Evil 0,1,2,3,and 4 were on the Gamecube. Along with Killer 7. Theres 6 M games for you. Now STFU about Nintendo is for kids.
Nick @ Sep 20th 2006 11:43PM
Red Steel is shooting for a T rating. They've also said that there will be blood. I'd assume that they'd take out the blood for the sake of marketing it for a larger audience though.
T though. Not M
Cage @ Sep 20th 2006 7:39PM
"On foot third person / FPS sections: wiimote-nunchuck setup.
Sniper rifle: wiimote as pointer (could move closer/back for zoom).
Baseball bat/katana: obvious! (may require a button press to switch to bat-swing mode)
Car driving: sideways wiimote a-la excite truck."
I'm sorry nodmonkey but I dont want to need a towel by the time I'm done playing for 5 mins.
AlloyNES @ Sep 20th 2006 7:43PM
Hey, I know the Gamecube didn't have a GTA, but it DID have True Crime. That should count for something.
brandon_r87 @ Sep 20th 2006 7:53PM
Hey, the Gamecube also had Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes which I'm giving a first time runthrough. Recently bought MGS2 for $5 so I figured a story driven game like this should only be played after I know the prequel to it. So I bought the Gamecube update of the first game. Quite enjoyable and I finally know what I've been missing out on for so long. Almost makes me wish I could justify the amount of money to buy a PS3, but just buying it for Metal Gear Solid 4, I could not do.
brandon_r87 @ Sep 20th 2006 7:55PM
Sorry to double post, but is Joystiq planning an engadget-esque update? I really enjoy the wider reading area and enhanced comments. It's dot com!
chad @ Sep 20th 2006 8:34PM
Well to you fellow commentors, I believe Kevin is refering to the platform such as game cube and N64 really the GBA dosn't count in that regard. Besides that however Grand Theft Auto is the perfect game for the Wii controller. Think of all the different things the controller can be used to do in the game. I think if the game can pull it off it would be a great seller for the Wii in showing the more normal gaming crowd the advantanges of the Wii instead of just a gimmic for new gamers.
Tom @ Sep 20th 2006 9:23PM
Playstation 3 is for spoiled rich kids who aren't real gamers.
greg @ Sep 20th 2006 10:40PM
Offense "nodmonkey" but I got tired of just reading all that work id have to do just to play for an hour. Maybe its just but i just cant get with this wacky contol system.....People keep saying the way we play games needeed to change....Begore Nintendo got people excited about this remote no one was complaining about controller....and im amazed how everyone got behind them as they made you believe you wanted and needed something you didnt have a problem with until they said it. The last complaints i heard was the boomerang but now all of a sudden people think they want to move and twist because nintendo said your gonna want to. We needed fresh idea for games not the way we control them
lebowsky @ Sep 21st 2006 10:04AM
Greg,
The main reason that the Wii has garnered so much attention is that it is trying to do something different. Control schemes have had pretty significant changes in the past. Atari's joystick had one button and a stick. Now we have a Dual Shock controller with 2 analog sticks, 4 shoulder buttons, four face buttons, digital pad, etc. We all fumbled our way around these new controllers and finally mastered them. I see the Wiimote and nunchuck in the same light - just another new controller to learn.
I would agree with you that controllers don't NEED to change, but I noticed something when I got Guitar Hero for xmas last year. Playing with a well built peripheral is really fun. Sure, GH can be played with a normal PS2 controller, but there is nothing like standing up in front of your TV with that guitar controller and rocking out. The immersion is what makes that game great (well the songlist doesn't hurt either).
I guess what I am trying to say is that the Wii is definitely not for everyone, and it surely isn't a revolution (no pun intended) in gaming. It's a new way to experience games, a way that will hopefully immerse the player more deeply than ever before.
I have to admit that when I saw the Wii Bowling demo from the Nintendo NYC event, I got really excited. I could see playing this with my in-laws (who are gamers already). Each of us actually standing up to take their turn on the lanes. Maybe I'm exactly Nintendo's demographic, but I am extremely excited about the possibilities of the Wii. I can also understand why it doesn't appeal to a lot of current gamers who feel, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Dylan Millikan @ Sep 21st 2006 12:30PM
40. Playstation 3 is for spoiled rich kids who aren't real gamers.
Posted at 9:09PM on Sep 20th 2006 by Tom
THE BEST THING I HAVE HEARD ALL WEEK.
house husband @ Sep 21st 2006 2:35PM
@ greg
"Begore Nintendo got people excited about this remote no one was complaining about controller....and im amazed how everyone got behind them as they made you believe you wanted and needed something you didnt have a problem with until they said it"
Just like a competing company will have u believe that you need 1080p????Blu Ray????HDDVD?????
That is what most people say about anything new thats invented. "IF IT AINT BROKE DONT FIX IT" blah blah blah. You and people like u should go back to kerosene lamps and atari with 1 button.
lol@cha @ Sep 22nd 2006 7:00PM
"You and people like u should go back to kerosene lamps and atari with 1 button."
Lol, the amish knew that they could do that, electricity is a useless advancement, good old kerosene... So let's use ammish philosophy always and never make life better for ourselves...
jermaine @ Sep 25th 2006 6:04PM
i could more than likely happen because playstation is meesing with rockstar thats why the last grand theft auto was multiplatformed.
Aden Nak @ Sep 26th 2006 2:58PM
Yes, Nintendo has a corner on the kid games market. Why? Because previously, that was the only market they could corner. They weren't bringing anything to the table that other systems could not (other than first party titles). So they grasped a hold of the under-targetted kids market. But with the age of the average gamer rising, that kind of boxed them in.
Now, however, they are offering something that neither other system has. It's not even something the PS3 or the 360 and "add on" at a later date, really, no matter how much axis-oriented-marketing you slap on a week before E3. Since they have a new draw that is not age-dependant, it's perfectly reasonable to see a wider range of games coming to the Revolution (despite its terrible new name which I will not even type).
But, for the record, here's a brief and skinny on M-rated games for the GameCube that lived up to their rating.
Killer 7 - Brilliantly flawed, and almost frustratingly differnet, the primary functions of the game included being stalked by psychopathic, invisible suicide bombers, upgrading characters by using the blood of your enemies, and shutting down a child slavery crime syndicate. "Disturbing" barely describes this title.
Resident Evil (et al) - Zombies. Exploding heads. Creepy stuff crashing through windows. Gears, cranks, and gems. Nuff said.
Eternal Darkness - Based heavily in Lovecraftian lore, most of the characters met with grisly, brutal deaths even if you completed the game. It was grueseome, featured psychotic and halucinagenic episodes that the player experienced, and dipped heavily into the occult.
Hitman 2 - Well, you play as a professional killer, after all. Realistic violence, cash-for-corpses contracts and plenty of blood mark this game as rated M.
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes - Yeah, it was a remake. But it was a damn fine remake. And with more of that realistic violence, a very adult (though not in the dirty way) plotline, and plenty of Solid Snake neck-snapping goodness, Hideo Kojima's revisited masterpiece deserved its rating.
Bloodrayne - A big boobied Vampiress sucks the blood from a legion of nazi corpses. Yeah. That's an M.
Other noteworthy mentions:
Prince of Persian (Warrior Within & Two Thrones), Mortal Kombat 4 & 5, True Crime, XIII, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and at least two other Tom Clancy titles.
Sure, you couldn't kill hookers on the GameCube. But it wasn't just a pokemon market.