Midway is in desperate need of a best-selling blockbuster, as any industry analyst will tell you that the 50-year-old company is circling the drain. While Midway is likely banking on the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universeto fill that role, an increasing amount of violence within the title has apparently pushed the game to M-rated territory -- which typically doesn't help sales during the holiday season. Therefore, we can't say we're surprised at Midway's decision to tone down the "toasty" brawler in order to keep the T-rating they've been shooting for.
In a recent interview with Kotaku, Ed Boon explained that the developer had been working with the ESRB to squeeze as much brutality into the game while still remaining teen-friendly. However, one known casualty of some recent content cutbacks is the Joker's wicked "prank gun" fatality (posted after the break), the fatal part of which will now take place off-screen. It's unclear what else has been changed to appease the ESRB, though it's safe to assume that the final product won't contain any unceremoniously removed spinal cords, or, lamentably, disappearing pencils.
For censoring the game to make it a teen game, than they can shove it up their asses. This was one of the games that i was planing to get. Thanks for saving me money Midway.
I'll be canceling my preorder. I'll just wait for this title to drop to at least $30 before I pick this one up. Shouldn't take too long now that they neutered the title.
@Lijik Word, Up, Sir. Whoever is responsible for the loss of that amazing fatality, is an asshole. I was looking forward to this so much. Not buying it now. Great. Midway you disappoint.
So a game that exists almost solely for it's fatalities is having it's fatalities gimped? I'd like to meet the man who thought that was a good idea and smack him.
It's not quite the same as Manhunt 2, MH2 was trying to avoid an AO rating to get an M rating. AO would have effectively banned it from all platforms but the PC.
In the Batman Beyond movie joker shoots someone with the prankster gun and that earned it a PG-13 rating,isn't PG-13 the equivalent to T? Soooo shouldn't that be T-acceptable?
(but then again, the Max Payne movie got away with a PG-13 movie... Ya, maybe they're not totally similar.)
Actually, that wasn't the sole reason why the film got the rating it was originally goin to get. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker gotten the teen ratin because of many things like dialogue, content (one scene, BAtgirl talks to prosititutes which was changed to normal men in the pg ver) and violence.
The scene Nanu refers to is a scene where a goon of the joker dies after being shoot by the joker's flag spear gun onscreen (like his mk fatality but not as graphic.) This scene was changed to the joker henchie dyin by joker's laughin gas offscreen.) Other changes are: adding seatbelts in the film, takin out the word, Kill and Joker dyin by the very same gun was replaced by him steppin on a puddle, which had a live wire on it.
The cause of tonin down the violence prior of the movie's release was because of Columbine, which happened shortly before the movie came out.
Because of petitions, the original pg13 ver was released a few years later; the edited ver is the initial one and can is shown on Cartoon Network
I mean, if this film came out in its uncut form, I cannot say why Midway can't do a M ver of DV vs mk.
Well at first I wanted no part of this game as it horribly robs any chance of Mortal Kombat going back to its roots, but then I saw the game play and some fatalities and realized that it could be rather fun to play. Now hearing them once again put their tails between their legs and disregarding their fans that stuck through them since MK1 in the arcade, they can keep this game.
Too much to buy this season to spend $60 on a MK game kiddied down to make bean counters happy. Especially since that specific Joker fatality was the indicator for most of us that this was going to be an "authentic" MK game, at least for the non-superheroes.
Not to stretch a sports analogy, but this game looks like a busted double-reverse in football. Either make a Mortal Kombat game or don't.
Does anyone remember how awesome the pg-13 aliens versus predator movie was? I expect more of the same pg-13 brand of awesomeness, because one day, when I have kids, I'll understand. And so will you.
C'mon what mature adult reads comics? If there were any such people it's not like there's enough of them to make a profit off of. Widening the demographic clearly means more sales.
They are doing it wrong imo. If they are doing this to cover their ass from some sort of video-game hysteria backlash they should just make it mature and make sure to strongly announce/reinforce that it's not for kids. It would have the odd affect of increasing sales because it's all tabooo. ooooo. Don't let the digital crack fall into the hands of kids.
Crap. My too-long-rant-o-meter is broken. Apologies for the length.
Nobody remembers how awesome the PG-13 Alien vs. Predator movie was. Mainly because it didn't happen. There was nothing awesome about some melodramatic heroine holding back a Queen by the tail, with her bare hands no less.
Hey, the Dark Knight was PG-13 and that did pretty well with most of it's violence implied or toned down...not to mention the movie still managed to be dark as hell. Don't be so quick to give up because things change, it's that same old shit mentality that make the franchise lose credibility in the first place.
Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Batman: The Dark Knight, which is PG-13, the Joker puts a nail on the table then through some guys eye socket and that's OK. In a game he shoots someone in the head just as he could in the comic books that millions of kids read but it's NOT OK? ...WTF...
Just what I always look for in a "Mortal Kombat" game: a T rating.
Midway deserves to go under following this travesty.
"What were they thinking." I what goes through my head every time I see a new MK game. It WAS a great series but I'm convinced that we will never see a good MK game again.
I agree with everyone else. I was really looking forward to this title. The graphics are finally depicted the way I wanted this game to look. No 2D animated actors or 3D polygons. It actually looks to have 3D rendered characters. But a Mortal Kombat game without the gore is like Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford... or like someone said earlier... "Star Wars without the cool stuff." What the hell were they thinking? The gore is what set this fighter apart from the rest. You can't bake a cake without eggs!! These developers have lost it. I hope this game tanks so they can rightfully slap on an M rating and release the game the way it was suppose to be!
