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So, for anyone who missed it, here’s what MTV’s cut of Profane Gourmet looked like. This thing was chopped down to 84 seconds, but I’m happy to say that it still looks pretty good.
And here’s our old version, for comparison.
Posted by Nate Kushner at 01:57 AM | Comments (7702) | TrackBack
Ok, so anybody who even casually checks up on video game news has probably heard about the hubbub surrounding the game Manhunt 2. Basically, it’s apparently a gruesome enough game for the ESRB to give it an “Adults Only Rating” rather than just a “Mature” one. Among the consequences of this is that Nintendo and Microsoft will not allow it to be licensed as software for their machines unless it is resubmitted after being altered, and getting an ESRB rating of M or lower.
A lot of people are crying censorship and saying things like “Bullshit! The government thinks it can protect us from seeing and hearing blah blah blah” and all kinds of things that would only be true if the ESRB was actually a government agency with the actual force of law behind it. It is an interesting story, but it is one that only has economic and industry implications, rather than being a precedent that changes the law.
That’s why I think the more interesting ESRB story is the one surrounding the game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a game I’m not interested in playing, but I’m still following the story. To summarize that story, basically the game has had its rating changed from T to M, because of the existence of a third-party modification tool that could conceivably allow you to play a topless female character.
Just to be clear, that means that because of the theoretical possibility that someone could add some boobs to the game, the rating has changed, possibly causing a drastic change, for better or worse, in sales. Now, this is much more precedent-setting, because it sets up the possibility that game developers could be penalized in the future for theoretical things that other people can add to their program, even if they themselves haven’t added any such thing.
That’s a little scarier. I can only hope that something like Pac-Man doesn’t someday become an AO game. I can see that happening, because Pac-Man leaves the possibility wide open for someone to get a high score, and write “ASS” as their initials.
Posted by Nate Kushner at 01:38 AM | Comments (3584)
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