There are some minor spoilers in the writeup, I suppose, so I'll let you venture over there if you're interested in what the awesome displays of violence entail, as they most directly pertain to capabilities or plot points in the story.

"The violence and the profanity account for the Mature rating," saith the ESRB, so let's look at the other half of that equation.

The game includes frequent use of strong profanity (e.g., "f**k," "motherf**ker," and "c*nt") and some lesser four-letter words (e.g., "sh*t" and "tw*t"); in one instance, an enemy attacks [Subject] Delta [that's you] while screaming, "F**king sodomites everywhere!"

Sodomites? F—- yeah! Oh there's also some stuff about hookin' and red-light districts. Frankly, in a laissez-faire capitalist society I'd be astonished if those weren't encountered, so maybe this should be rated O for Objectivism.

BioShock 2 [ESRB via Hot Blooded Gaming]

House of the Dead: Overkill only sold 45,000 copies in its first month. MadWorld sold 66,000. The numbers paint a dismal picture, but as Sega's MD of European Development Gary Dunn explained to GamesIndustry.biz, the first month is but a few strikes in the overall profitability painting.

"House of the Dead: Overkill was a profitable title for us...Whilst it had a rather sharp tail at full price, they do bubble away at a lower price point for a long time. You get your money back and a bit on full price, but over the years, if we do the final product return on investment, profits come from the lower price point."

His response to MadWorld sales is a bit less chipper, but nonetheless hopeful.

You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega.

I don't know. If I were Sega I'd be developing a bit of a complex by now. They create Sonic-themed drek we claim we don't want and it sells in droves, while games like MadWorld that we seem to enjoy barely make a drop in the bucket. What exactly is it we want from Sega?

Sega: It's not game over for mature Wii titles [GamesIndustry.biz]

A popular argument is that Nintendo's portable is for kids and soccer moms only, something that the Japanese developer and publisher has spent years now fighting to disprove.

Last month Rockstar Games, the developer known as much for the adult themes of their games as they are for the quality of their superb titles, took a gamble to disprove that notion, releasing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS.

Expectations for the open-world, high-production value game ran high with analysts predicting 200,000 to 450,000 in sales in the first month. But instead the game moved a paltry 89,000, according to the NPD Group.

Proof that the DS isn't a good fit for hardcore gaming? It's a bit more complicated than that.

"Chinatown Wars received critical acclaim and is the highest rated DS title of all time," said Alan Lewis, vice president of corporate communications for Take-Two, which owns Rockstar Games. "In terms of performance, we think it is performing in line with other triple-A games on the platform."

Lewis points out that the game was only on sale for 19 days in March, adding that the game is the highest unit selling M rated title in its launch month and already the second highest selling M rated title on the DS.

"We are very confident in Chinatown Wars long-term potential for success," he said. "We think it will have a long life in the market."

Analysts agree that Chinatown Wars' potential success will be measured over the long haul, rather than the short one. Though Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter thinks that the early low sales could mean it will be quite awhile before we see another deep game developed for adults on the DS.

"It's shocking that sales were 89,000 because it is a really well known franchise, a really high rated game," Pachter said. "There is no way you can say it didn't do well because people didn't know about it or it's bad."

What that leaves, Pachter says, is evidence that either the DS audience is too young or disinterested in deeper, longer games to play on the DS.

"This is really the first hardcore, mature game for the DS," he said. "I think there certainly won't be another for the next two or three years. It will take a bold publisher to put something else like this out there."

EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich says he wasn't surprised by Chinatown Wars initial low sales numbers.

"When you release a big DS game like this, it's for the long term," he said. "It's not like an in and out thing, like you would see for the console. With the DS, games have a lot longer legs than any other

Nintendo seems to agree.

"Remember that many games for Nintendo DS have a nontraditional sales pattern," said Denise Kaigler, Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs. "The trend is toward ‘evergreen' games that sell well over an extended period of time instead of in a one-month spike. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Nintendo DS is a good example. In its first month (November 2007), it sold only 36,000. To date, it has sold through nearly 500,000. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a great game that has received tremendous reviews. We expect that with continued backing, it will follow the same long-tail/evergreen sales route that other top sellers have taken."

Divnich says that like Nintendo he expects Chinatown Wars will see similarly big numbers in the long run, but recognizes that the game faces an uphill battle compared to something like Pokémon. Pokémon Platinum was the second highest selling game in March, with 805,000 copies sold.

"It's really an apple to oranges comparison," Divnich said. "You are targeting two different markets. The people who buy Pokémon, that's the main consumer for the DS."

And that's sort of the point that it seems Rockstar was trying to disprove. The question now is, will Rockstar and other third-party publishers still be willing to wait for long-term sales on future deep, adult games or will they instead move back to the casual and the kiddy for the DS.

"We have and we will continue to support the platform," Take-Two's Lewis told me. "We think the mature segment of the DS market is growing."

Well Played is a weekly opinion column about the big news of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

I realize that "GamesRadar" and "mature" in the same sentence is like matter and antimatter (or pasta and antipasti). But they've (rightly) judged that "adult" and "mature," as applied to video games and films anyway, usually mean T&A and lots of SSC and really immature depictions of both. So they've provided a list of games that actually do contain mature, as in grown-up, themes. You might be surprised to find Braid on here, but they sorta justify it. Warning, those expecting a chucklefest absolutely will not find it in the last two on the list.

Mature Games That Are Actually Mature [GamesRadar]

Bionic Commando Comminucator [Official Site via Videogaming247]

Hit the jump and I'll show you what all that means when compared to the actual amount M-rated games were released in 2007.

What we see here is that while Mature games don't dominate the marketplace's overall selection, they are certainly doing their part in dictating what we buy. Note: the ESRB numbers include more than just console titles, so this comparison should NOT be taken as scientific. With that in mind, see that Mature's 6% of games sold 21% of overall game revenue. Hit the link for the whole story as told by Next Gen.

By the Numbers: M-Rated Games Rake It In [Next Generation]

More neat stats from the ESRB in 2007:

•94% of games were rated for children 13 and younger
•The 'E' (6+) category saw the biggest growth of all
•60% of ratings were 'E'

So it would seem that parents opposed to headshots can find plenty of alternative content for their children in today's video game market. So unless anyone feels like content has been mislabeled, it pretty much negates the bitchfest in my mind.

ESRB Newsletter Winter 2008 [ESRB via GoNintendo]

Over a year in the making, the design was tested with many gaming and non-gaming audiences for appeal, attractiveness, and its ability to communicate clearly what the viewer can expect to find in the game.

If the ratings system is really meant to deter minors from experiencing "adult" themes, TIGRS shouldn't make the adult packaging so appealing. Instead of fancy graphics, try printing "playing this will give you cooties and kill Santa" on the cover/website. If the kid can call your bluff, then maybe they're old enough to smack around virtual prostitutes. Mark Wilson

Remember when I posted about that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories ad on Denver's local train months back?

The Parents Television Council and the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood just announced that they are trying to get the ad pulled from the trains.

Specifically, they're asking the Regional Transportation District to "stop advertising video games rated "Mature" or "Adults Only.""

What bothers me is that this group is so specifically targeting mature and adult games and don't seem to care about the same content being advertised for movies or music or, shudder, books. God forbid they slap an add up for Lolita or Choke.

"Our public transportation network serves more than half the residents of Colorado and is doing them a disservice with its tacit approval for the dangerous content in the Mature-rated video games that are advertised throughout the system. I'm here today to remind Chairman Chris Martinez and the board that they have a responsibility to act in the best interest of those who voted you into these important positions. You can take a step towards being a better steward of the public good today by no longer accepting advertising from violent video games that can have long-term harmful effects on the youth in our community," said PTC Denver Chapter Director George Robison to attendees at the meeting. ... "It is unconscionable that RTD would accept advertisements for a game like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories," said CCFC member Peter Simonson . "In Vice City Stories, players are rewarded for killing innocent bystanders, law enforcement officers and rival gang members, as they attempt to set up illicit businesses, such as drug dealing and prostitution rings, and commit armed robbery. As a father and a Denver-area resident, I want to know that my children can ride public trains and buses without being subjected to ads that promote violence and lawlessness." ... According to PTC President Tim Winter, "Countless research studies demonstrate the unequivocal effect of media violence on a child's brain and cognitive development. It is the height of irresponsibility for the RTD to be accepting money to promote violent video games to the many children who use their services."

"Advocates for children from across the political spectrum are united in their belief that children should not be targets for advertising that glorifies violence," said CCFC co-founder, Dr. Susan Linn. "This letter reflects that diversity. We hope that Denver will join the growing number of communities declaring that public property cannot be used to promote violence to children."

I spoke with a representative of the organization today about the decision to call for the ads removal. Specifically, I wanted to know if they would ask for the removal of an advertisement for an R-rated or MA movie, or if this request was driven more by the medium than the content.

They said they'd get back to me. They still haven't. Brian Crecente

Dan, from tadpole-oriented gameblog GameFam, was shocked and appalled after witnessing the following scene at a local fleamarket:

Father: "This is the one you want?" Daughter: "Yeah. This is the one." Father: "Are you sure? What about that other one?" Daughter: "No way. I played that other one like a thousand times already." Father: "So this one? You're sure?" Daughter: "I'm sure." Father: "Okay." Father buys game for daughter.

Daughter: "Thanks, Daddy!"

Dawww....so polite, so adorable. Until! (And here we insert a dramatic chord, ala ancient radio dramas) We are informed that the games in question were of a Grand Theft Auto bent.

Now, I swore I would never write a Girls in Games article, and I hold to that, but I never said shit about shunning the Little Girls in Games genre.

Dan is looking at this as an outraged father witnessing the rape of a girleen's tender brains by a pack of sluthungry mafiosos, and I can see his point. For the vast majority of ten year old children, GTA is probably not the best choice.

Despite that, I cannot help but think that any girl who digs this sort of stuff is not really out of her depth on this one. And god help me, I see it as a heartwarming example of a young girl rejecting gender stereotyping. By crikey, she wants explosions, car chases and gross physical violence; none of this My Little Pony shit!

Anecdotal little girl, I salute you. Eliza gauger

More Here [GameFam]

The first ad in the series features a character named Sarah, a girl around age seven or eight that loves video games and whose parents use the ESRB ratings to help them choose ones they are comfortable with. The second ad, which will be released along with the first, introduces readers to the Andersons, a dad and son who play games together. The series progresses with characters of increasing ages and seeks to capture the way each age group views games and ratings. ... "We don't expect to ever be considered cool among gamers, but at the very least we want gamers to understand the purpose we serve," added Vance. "After all, many of them will be parents one day, at which time we expect they will be far more appreciative of the tools we provide."

Explaining the rating system (beyond the most high level concept) wasn't what they wanted us to do. The ESRB wants people to know who they are, and what they do, and who they're doing it for.

I guess I had imagined a series of comics demonstrating the difference between the ratings. Like the Fruit Fucker 2000 could have been the poster child for the AO rating. I think there probably would have been monkeys in the Everyone rating, monkeys and pirates... oooh or maybe monkey pirates! Brian Crecente

According to Reuters, "The study found around 80 percent of M-rated games included sex, violence, profanity, gambling or drug and alcohol use, none of which was described on the labels." We're trying to figure out what the other twenty percent had that got them an M rating. Maybe really intense sassing and backtalk.

Violent video games often not properly labeled [Reuters UK]