ESRB seeks to rate game trailers [update]

I thought the rating pending was good enough. Movie trailers don't do that why should games?

Holy crap, it's getting out of hand. Now we can't even see violence in the trailers! What a dark day in the gaming industry....Thanks a lot ROCKSTAR!

In the case of Oblivion, weren't the nipples already present? I thought the mod just removed the bra overlay. It would be different if the modder had added the nipples and such (like the Sims and the Sims 2).

Two words come to mind:

Totally unnecessary.

Man there are so many issues with this. My biggest issues are that these trailers are about as protected as can be without the use of credit cards to confirm age, and the user created stuff which is rated above.

Another concern is how these trailers are being rated when compared to the actual games. I mean, if a game is going to be rated M then the actual gameplay footage is just fine (with the age check). C'mon ESRB don't become knee-jerk b----s

OK Gamasutra has a more complete article, after reading it I want to know more info on this ARC group and there power. This has huge implications if used to much.

Hmm, how are they going to hold such a law? It seems impossible and unnecessary with such a law..

Does not compute.

Unless I'm mistaken, developers don't actually have to have their games rated, they only do it so retailers will sell it. For trailers, I really doubt websites are going to refuse to host trailers that aren't rated, so how can they possibly enforce this?

While it's nice that sites tend to self-monitor... I suspect that this move is actually very good for the health of video games, allow me to explain: Right now video games are in a position where we're facing massive censure and, like it or not, quite possibly the prospect of government censorship. This isn't a new struggle though it may be new to the game industry; it's just a case of history repeating itself. It's happened before with the comic book industry, the film industry, and even the music industry. When each of these industries was called to the carpet, the industries themselves banded together to create strong, industry-regulated content rating systems (that's right, believe it or not movie ratings don't come from the government; nor do the "parental warning - explicit lyrics" labels on cds).

Granted we do have an industry-regulated content rating system; but it's not terribly strong, and not taken very seriously by and large. Adding their say to trailers can only raise awareness of the ratings system we have in place, as well as cover the industry's ass properly for the trailer-related lawsuits that Jack Thompson probably already has ready to go (except for the plaintiff; but one will appear)...

also:

@hvnlysoldr,

Actually... movie trailers ARE rated, at least the ones shown in theaters. Next time you're in a theater, pay attention to the trailers, you'll notice a green screen (most often) first... these are trailers that are acceptable for general audience viewing, and you'll note the green screen says as much. There are also restricted trailers, which have a red screen. Same general verbiage found in the green screen version, except it mentions that it's restricted.

Also, I should note that movie trailers are rated based on the content in the trailer only, not the content of the movie the trailer is for (which is why r-rated movies can, and generally do, have general-audience rated trailers). Game trailers I assume will be rated the same way (as they should), based on the content in the trailer, and nothing else.

@Hawko, it's not a law, it's industry self-regulation. And while it's not terribly enforceable, it's certainly in everyone's best interests to submit to industry regulation... otherwise government censorship will very quickly become a reality. Thankfully most developers/publishers understand this, even if their audience does not.

ESRB is a goddamned racket. Why won't you "news sites" report on that? I'm sure that with enough digging the truth would be evident.

I thought that's how they rated games anyway, by watching trailers of game footage?

New name: ESCB

Entertainment Software Censorship Board


Damn them.

The ESRB should GTFO.

@fawazr/wine/Martez,

So you'd prefer the goverment to step in and actually censor things? Because fyi... no esrb, or weak ineffectual esrb will mean government censorship. You REALLY think that's a good idea?

This is ridiculous.

I don't see a problem with doing it. Just make showing the games rating before mandatory, or a statement saying it contains violence or something. For films it has to be approved for all audiences, but for games you gotta show whats in it.

This is the stupidest thing I have heard all day. Rate game trailers.. on the internet? How stupid are they?

You are on the INTERNET. If you want to see the game trailer then you would put in a fake age to begin with. Unless they want you to verify it with credit cards or whatnot.

But if thats the case, then the entire idea is totally redundant.

As someone noted, movie trailers are rated -- so that's nothing new. Games are just falling more in-line with the so-called "accepted" business practices of similar industries.

The main problem isn't so much rating things, but the criteria being used to rate them. Movies are a prime example: you might swing a PG or PG-13 movie if there's a lot of violence, but no sex. Throw in sex, and suddenly whoosh! -- it's an R. Crazy.

There's even talk of any inclusion of cigarette smoking in a movie leading to an automatic R rating.

So ... criteria. What standards are being used? Anyone who has seen This Movie Is Not Yet Rated knows plain and simple that the movie ratings board is full of crap. Heck, all you need to do is check out the violence vs. sex situation in movies to know that things are seriously skewed in the US.

But rating trailers leads to a whole new slew of problems: what if preview is E for Everyone, but the game ends up being rated M for Mature?

Frankly, I don't see a whole lot of commotion about R rating movies being given G rated trailers. But you know -- you KNOW -- that in the gaming forum, any easy public and political target, that there'd be a huge uproar.

Total double standard. Total crap. And a total problem. I suggest people write the ESRB instead of posting to forums. Right now the protesting media and politicians have the floor. It's well past time to take it back.

This is a step to far. I mean movie trailer are NEVER "rated"

I HIGHLY doubt if the Industry killed the ESRB the government would get involved considering they have gotten killed in freedom of speech cases.

It is pretty much fact nobody cares about game rating,parents don't care and if they did it is their job to research it theirselves.

Damn, I totally want to look at this mature rated video game trailer, but they're asking for my age and I can't lie on the internet.

this is getting on my nerves man. im 20 but just censoring sh!t on the internet IS a step too far. they need to back the f*ck off and chill out.

..... because kids ALWAYS put their real birth date in. C'mon, my taxes are paying for this?

Let's let the TV freaks rate commercials next!

@Hans Limbtaker (#22):

Oh, so now you're gonna bitch about news being "old" because you saw it THIS MORNING? What the hell, man? Get a life.

Also, please keep in mind that Joystiq is not a news site. It is, and always has been, a blog. Expecting them to credit someone who covered this as a news story earlier is like expecting someone blogging about a presidential election to credit Fox because they reported on it first. Get real, man. Do everyone a favor next time and think real hard before you make a comment.

that age test is so damn stupid. As long as you can do simple math you should be able to figure out that any date before 1987 should let you watch 'mature games'. how much you wanna bet 7 years olds in school library claim to be 110 years old and born on December 31st?

"..... because kids ALWAYS put their real birth date in. C'mon, my taxes are paying for this?"

No. No they aren't. The ESRB is a private organization.

Movie trailers are rated, there's no reason game trailers shouldn't be. Then again, there's no reason they SHOULD be either... I don't think it will help at all.

The one place I can see it possibly helping is allowing console parental lock features to block out downloadable trailers (such as those on XBox Live). That's about it, really.

The ESRB has gone mad with power!

again with the OMGZ CENSORSHEEEEEP talk?! ESRB is NOT the government and slapping ratings on trailers is not censorship even if it were. Way to cheapen a powerful word, you twits.

How do they have any right to tell you what to post?

Sure, they can put pressure on the developers who are their members not to release videos that they don't approve of, but once the videos are out there there is no way they can tell you guys what to post. Post them.

The ESRB is one of the few industry organisations that (in general) has the support of it's customers (unlike the RIAA or MPAA for example). Right now they really shouldn't be trying to lose that support.

something_something_parasol: Just because it's not the government does not mean it's not censorship. It just means it's legal because it's private and the industry accepts it. The ESRB CAN go too far. I don't think they have yet (maybe they did with Manhunt 2, but I doubt it).