ESRB Under Fire
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 856
The available excerpts:
As you know, in June 2007, the British Board of Film Classification refused to rate Rockstar's Manhunt 2 videogame . stating that it contains unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone. In October 2007, the BBFC again refused to rate a revised Manhunt 2 stating that '˜the impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone . is clearly insufficient.GamePolitics points out this is quite a turn-around for Lieberman and Clinton, who as recently as 2006 praised the ESRB, so this is quite a potential setback for the ESRB as an institution and gaming in general.
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[The ESRB, however,] reduced the revised version's rating to (Mature,) effectively opening the door to its widespread distribution and its licensing approval by game system manufacturers Sony and Nintendo.
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In sum, we ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of ultra-violent' videogames and advances in game controllers.
