ESRB Defends Dead Island Logo Decision

[McNinja]

If it's displayed publicly then it should be changed if they feel it's for the better. There's nothing wrong with that. The logo is still in the game itself, everybody is happy in this situation.

I dislike seeing public box art that has some graphic content on it, I feel it gets out of hand at times, there are plenty of other ways to sell your game. They've done the right thing with this game.

This.

There's difference between changing box art and changing in-game content. One is fine, the other is not.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Dear ESRB,

You are rapidly becoming a contender to PETA in the contest for "Stupidest company to be involved in games". If you do not want this shameful title, than please stop this idiocy now.

Thank You.

 

[Something Amyss]

For the land of the free, you guys sure do have some odd fine print when it comes to these things.

They're free to publish it how they please. The eSRB is not a government agency, nor do they actually mandate these changes.

 

[BX3]

Well, the censor is understandable. Hell, i support it. I'm not giving the game may business, but that doesn't mean the company should be hosed for the potential s--t storm that the logo could cause with people whose minds seem to be fixated on the past. We gamers have enough PR problems.

What does bugs me is the lack of consistency. As stated, Indigo Prophecy, L4D and Dead Space were all visually graphic and nothing negative came of those. Also I don't want to hear about "girth and width" pills on the radio when I'm riding in the car in the middle of the day with my parents, dammit! (Yeah, I know the ESRB have nothing to do with that, but it's always been my belief that companies' censorship policies should atleast try to pay attention to eachother, otherwise the censor makes no sense.).

 

[jawakiller]

For the land of the free, you guys sure do have some odd fine print when it comes to these things.

Haha, no kidding. I don't get what the big deal is? Its not outrageously violent, hell I could draw a better picture than that. But when they said the original L4D2 game cover had a two digit hand I was like >.< WTF?! That would have been frickin awesome. Censorship sucks.

 

[Ickabod]

Let the ESRB do their job and support them. If we don't then the government will step in saying that the ESRB isn't doing their jobs, and then comes the censorship.

 

[Quazimofo]

Dead Space has a cut off arm floating in space. People didn't seem to complain then

on the box its busting out of the ship.
i kinda see the reason behind this though. since its true that many more than the people who will buy the game will see the box art, so i can understand how they don't want the box art to be THAT graphic, and considering the change is minor, and the in game logo will be the same, i dont see any real reason why this is a particularly bad thing.
not to mention america has an iffy past with people hanging from trees, not trying to be racist im just saying. i live in america and my dad's side of the family is black, and we learn much about this in us history classes so yeah, not a racist, but some people will remember that shit, and take offense, and sue, because thats how america works.

 

[Thyunda]

I dunno, I liked the old box art. It was different. More powerful than a zombie. Dead man hanging from a tree - that's a powerful image. Has a haunting feel about it. Definitely give the game a different feel, a kind of emotional horror tone.

A zombie shambling forward? Wow. So original. I have never seen a game with zombies shambling forward before. Just that one little change remodels the entire feel of the logo from 'tragic horror' to 'zombie-fest'

 

[lord.jeff]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

Well:

What would happen if the dev team just said "no"?

Unlike in ausstriala, a game is not banned if it doesn't get rated, because the esrb is legally required to rate all games, not the other way around where all games are legally required to have ratings.

All it says is "points, corrective actions, and monetary fines".

I have no clue what points mean, monetary fines still don't ensure a dev complies, and what is the ESRB gonna do if they don't allow corrective actions to be taken?

 

[emeraldrafael]

I wonder if the term "lynching" and reference to the south and how black people were lynched back when it was the cool thing to do.

 

[lord.jeff]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

Well:

What would happen if the dev team just said "no"?

Unlike in ausstriala, a game is not banned if it doesn't get rated, because the esrb is legally required to rate all games, not the other way around where all games are legally required to have ratings.

No retailer in America would carry an unrated game, they don't even carry AO rated games, so the game would fail to be put on any shelves and lose most it's market.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

Well:

What would happen if the dev team just said "no"?

Unlike in ausstriala, a game is not banned if it doesn't get rated, because the esrb is legally required to rate all games, not the other way around where all games are legally required to have ratings.

No retailer in America would carry an unrated game, they don't even carry AO rated games, so the game would fail to be put on any shelves and lose most it's market.

Read my edit.

Even so, the only time that a game that was shceduled or already released was given an AO was sans andreas, and it had explicit sex.

I think microsft and possibly sony would LET this game carry an AO if needed for such a minor thing, and not ban it from the console.

And it still could be more or less unaffected on PC.

anyways, We've never had an urated game be MADE since the esrb was made, so we don't know for certain if it would not be stocked

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Wow... that's awesome in a ballsy way.

 

[lord.jeff]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

Well:

What would happen if the dev team just said "no"?

Unlike in ausstriala, a game is not banned if it doesn't get rated, because the esrb is legally required to rate all games, not the other way around where all games are legally required to have ratings.

No retailer in America would carry an unrated game, they don't even carry AO rated games, so the game would fail to be put on any shelves and lose most it's market.

Read my edit.

Even so, the only time that a game that was shceduled or already released was given an AO was sans andreas, and it had explicit sex.

I think microsft and possibly sony would LET this game carry an AO if needed for such a minor thing, and not ban it from the console.

And it still could be more or less unaffected on PC.

anyways, We've never had an urated game be MADE since the esrb was made, so we don't know for certain if it would not be stocked

Gamestop, EBgames(the to count for a majority of game sales in US) and most other game stores I've been in have a poster explaining all the ratings as well as signs above each shelf saying "Check the Rating" I find it hard to believe they would stock an unrated game if they support the ESRB that much, plus anyone who stocked the game would pull it from shelves when it gets attacked which it will, because a violent game without a marker saying don't sell to kids would be an even easier target then San Andras's sex scene. And like I stated earlier ESRB is making a really smart move by attacking box art, they can show that they take action against gore and sex without changing the games at all, this is all about distracting the politicians and media, so that the games can go through unchanged. Also I think box art should fall within an E rating, game stores do have a lot of kids in them after all.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I liked the original concept art, but the change seems to have good intentions. That whole lynching thing from our past is still a pretty touchy subject. And while it would be hard to lynch someone from a palm tree, I doubt that's going to be as considered as a silhouette hanging from a tree. But, it hasn't changed in-game, so I can live with this.

 

[Rayne870]

Round the hanging tree, swaying in the breeze...

Anyway yeah zombies don't tend to hang people from palm trees so I think the change sort of helps stupid people who buy based on box art tell that the game is in fact about zombies and not about hanging people from a palm tree.

That said I still like the art and don't find it offensive.

 

[kitsunema]

all im seeing is rage and baww over a peice of rope. but as it seems people gut butthurt over the craziest things, rope being one of them.

 

[Squarez]

Dunno why but this reminds me of this atrocity.

For those of you not in the know, giving people two fingers in Britain is equivalent to the middle finger everywhere else. So for the UK release of Left 4 Dead 2, we got the laziest, cheapest re-packaging in the history of ever.

Hippie zombie FTL.

 

[InfiniteJacuzzi]

For the land of the free, you guys sure do have some odd fine print when it comes to these things.

It was probably the Canadians.