California Senator Leland Yee wants the ESRB to be a little more transparent about what was cut from Manhunt 2 to warrant the drop from an Adults Only rating to Mature:

Parents can’t trust a rating system that doesn’t even disclose how they come to a particular rating. The ESRB and Rockstar should end this game of secrecy by immediately unveiling what content has been changed to grant the new rating and what correspondence occurred between the ESRB and Rockstar to come to this conclusion. Unfortunately, history shows that we must be quite skeptical of these two entities.

Clearly the ESRB has a conflict of interest in rating these games. It is time to bring transparency to this rating system and for the industry to be held accountable. I join the [Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood] in urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the process by which Manhunt 2’s rating was downgraded from AO to M.

ESRB president Patricia Vance has issued a statement, which explains the lack of transparency while dodging the greater concern entirely:

Upon reviewing the modified version of Manhunt 2, the ESRB assigned a rating of M (Mature 17+) with content descriptors for Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content and Use of Drugs. This is a very clear and firm warning to parents that the game is in no way intended for children. As always, we urge parents to strongly consider the ESRB rating in their decision about whether a game is appropriate for their children.

Publishers submit game content to the ESRB on a confidential basis. It is simply not our place to reveal specific details about the content we have reviewed, particularly when it involves a product yet to be released. What can be said is that the changes that were made to the game, including the depictions themselves and the context in which those depictions were presented, were sufficient to warrant the assignment of an M (Mature 17+) rating by our raters.

Now would be a great time for Rockstar to step in, and fill in the blanks - before even more people take the silence to mean the difference between an M and AO rating is merely lined pockets.

Be sure to check out our full video coverage of Julian Eggebrecht from Factor 5 in his Leipzig GCDC keynote, detailing the ridiculous beast that is the ESRB.

via Gaming Today

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This entry was posted by Tim Hanlon on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 6:40 pm and is filed under Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.