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Hey, so the ESRB released its ratings certificate for Kinect Star Wars, let's read along: "In this action game, based on the Star Wars universe," mmhm, yeah, "players use their body movements to perform activities," right, gotcha, "that include dance tournaments—" More »
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Calif. State Sen. Leland Yee was unsuccessful in getting his anti-video game law to remain the supreme law of the land of California—when the Supreme Court smacks down something 7-to-2 with Justices Scalia and Ginsburg agreeing, you know that was one rancidly unconstitutional piece of work. So he's back with another handy set of Black Friday deals to avoid: That is, practically any video game that's out there. More »
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It's the height of the fall rush, and more and more games rain down upon us every day. And with so many games, whoever will tell us which of them contains objectionable content? The Entertainment Software Rating Board, that's who! More »
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Here we are for a slightly late Week in Dangerous Games, where we look at the latest certificates from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to determine what, if anything we should be concerned about this week. Here's a hint: It's the Black Eyed Peas. We should always be concerned about the Black Eyed Peas. More »
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After a week of downtime, I'm picking up our friend Mike McWhertor's stewardship of our weekly look at the new ways that games are offending the world's sensibilities. Or at least, offending the sensibilities of the fine folks at the Electronic Software Rating Board, aka the ESRB. More »
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Each week, we take a look at the new and creative ways that video games are offending us. Well, not us. We've developed a thick skin to alcohol references, partial nudity and comic mischief. Other people, however, may be disgusted by what video games are doing. More »
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You know, video games will rot your brain. They're filled with nothing more than gratuitous fish abuse, LEGO toilet humor and references to pornographic cannonballs—or so this week's most potentially offensive video games might lead us to believe. More »
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How are new and upcoming video games potentially offending us now? In mostly the same old ways: with excessive violence and gore, earfuls of foul language, smoking, drinking and "suggestive themes," sometimes known as sex. More »
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It's like clockwork; Moments after popping open any game that has a mature rating, my 10-year-old son seems to appear at my elbow to ask if he can play it with me. More »
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Gotham City Impostors, the unusual first-person shooter that's not about Batman, earned a T rating from the ESRB, which itself isn't surprising. But the certificate included this weird tidbit: The game includes a "sensual" voice option. More »
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Earlier this year we published a rumor that the first three games in Capcom's famed Devil May Cry series would be getting an HD re-release. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5837803&view=rss&microfeed=true PlayStation game Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was recently re-rated by the ESRB for the PlayStation 3 and PSP. That means the 1998 original is a very likely candidate for a digital PSone Classics re-release. :) More »
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It's no surprise that Deep Silver's zombie title is getting an M-rating. The certificate just handed to it by the ESRB is still a little interesting for the bits of details it gives up from the game, from dialogue to gameplay features. More »
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The Nintendo DS game based on the Aliens franchise that leaked more than two years ago looks like its finally going to happen. Proof? Aliens: Infestation for the DS, a side-scrolling, alien-shooting platformer, was just rated by the ESRB. More »
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Ending a years-long battle with California legislators, the U.S. Supreme Court this week ruled that video games are protected free speech and that their sale to minors can't be criminalized. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5815863&view=rss&microfeed=true Developer CD Projekt has teased console versions of The Witcher games before, but it looks like it might actually happen for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The game's producer talked around it to Eurogamer and the ESRB now has a rating for an Xbox 360 version. Maybe at E3, then? More »
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The Entertainment Software Ratings Board used to manually assess the content of the games it was awarding a classification to. Now, computers do most of the work. Which must be a bummer to anyone hoping to get a job there. More »
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Already outed by Australian's ratings board, the ESRB details the next game in the Burnout series, a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game that sounds... well, really different. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5799511&view=rss&microfeed=true Looks like the original SNES version of Square Enix's seminal role-playing game Chrono Trigger is bound for the Wii's Virtual Console service. The ESRB recently rated Chrono Trigger for Nintendo's platform, so expect the 16-bit version of that JRPG favorite to show up on a Wii Shop Channel near you. (The PlayStation port is also imminent for North American gamers.) More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5797887&view=rss&microfeed=true Looks like the enhanced PlayStation port of Square Enix's seminal role-playing game Chrono Trigger is bound for the PlayStation 3 and PSP. The ESRB has just rated Chrono Trigger for those platforms, so expect the update of that JRPG favorite to show up as a PSone Classic on a PlayStation Store near you soon. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5794978&view=rss&microfeed=true The Entertainment Software Ratings Board has responded to a Federal Trade Commission report that video game retailers do a good job of observing the M-rating on video games and refusing their sale to minors. More »
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As the Supreme Court considers whether or not selling violent video games to children should be a crime in California, the Federal Trade Commission releases a report showing that game retailers are doing just fine enforcing game ratings without fines and jail time hanging over their heads. More »
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Shortly after games began to flood the channels of Apple's iTunes I asked a developer friend of mine why the ESRB weren't rating the games headed for the iPhone and iPad. More »
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Much hyped zombie game Dead Island has gotten the attention of the ESRB for its logo of all things. Hanging zombies are a no-no, it seems, as the game's logo has been "censored" to remove that dangling corpse. That change affects the game's box art in North America only, reports IGN. More »
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Just five percent of all games rated by the ESRB and published in 2010 were classified as M, a marginal decline from 2009 when they accounted for 6 percent, the board said in a news release today. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5782792&view=rss&microfeed=true The ESRB has rated 1998 PlayStation game Parasite Eve for the PlayStation 3 and PSP, a sure sign that the game will receive "PSone Classics" status at some point, likely coming to the U.S. PlayStation Store before the latest entry, The 3rd Birthday, ships stateside on March 29. More »
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It's an appropriate opening for a song placed in a game that begins in prison. "You know you fucked up, right?" begins "The Loser Wins," by Atmosphere. In another sports game, this would have to be blanked out, or just not used. More »
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It's with a heavy heart that I retire our "Demon Tits" tag. Introduced with Dragon Age: Origins, it seems to be not applicable to Dragon Age II. But it does have blowjobs, according to its ESRB listing. More »
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In 2009 California congressman Joe Baca introduced legislation that would require games to display a label warning of links between violent video games and aggressive behavior. Now Baca's back, singing the same old song with a few new lines. More »
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In the video game war against video game cannibals, as depicted in next month's Bulletstorm, extreme measures are required — or at least rewarded. The straight-faced official U.S. video game ratings board describes a bunch of them. More »
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Four classic titles from Squaresoft (now Square Enix) have been rated by the ESRB for release on the PSP and PS3, indicating an imminent release to the North American PlayStation Store. More »
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Sunday Comics mainstay Nerf Now!! explains - in stark terms - the differences in the ESRB ratings. Artist Josué Pereira felt this was maybe a little risqué for his site, so he's allowing us to publish it exclusively. More »
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The Entertainment Software Rating Board, America's classification outfit for video games, has a new iPhone (and Android) app out, and it's surprisingly handy! More »
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ESRB certificates for Metal Slug X and Front Mission 3 indicate both titles will be released as PSOne Classics sometime soon. More »
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Yesterday, EA Sports confirmed that Fight Night Champion will be its first M-rated sports game ever. The sweet science is a dirty business - how far will the game go in presenting that? More »
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Not yet officially rated by the ESRB, promotional copy on the game's official page bills EA Sports' next boxer as the publisher's first ever M-rated game. More »
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The studio in charge of Duke Nukem Forever asked that press not film a trailer featuring strippers,"the word f—-ing" in giant letters and an alien getting punched in the balls repeatedly, because it risks a harsh rating. More »
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Being the parent of a 9-year-old boy and a gamer, I'm a huge fan of parental settings. More »
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Blasting a California statute regulating sales of very violent video games as a threat to the freedom of creative expression, the Entertainment Software Association today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the law, once and for all. More »
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SNK, the Osaka-based game developer best known for its fighting games, has made a shooting game that features its fighting game characters. More »
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