Bethesda Responds To Oblivion Re-Rating

Gamespot has details on Bethesda's response to the ESRB for their (some would argue) knee-jerk reaction to fan-added elements of Oblivion. From the article: "There is no nudity in Oblivion without a third party modification. In the PC version of the game only - this doesn't apply to the Xbox 360 version - some modders have used a third party tool to hack into and modify an art archive file to make it possible to create a mesh for a partially nude (topless) female that they add into the game. Bethesda didn't create a game with nudity and does not intend that nudity appear in Oblivion." They go on to state they submitted a 60-page document detailing the violence in the game. If anyone is at fault here, I think it's the ESRB.

Hot Coffee 2: More Cream Please

[Winterblink]

One could apply the same thinking to the original Hot Coffee debacle, that the content was only accessible via a third party hack. They got rerated, but somehow Bethesda wants to be treated differently?

I'm not saying I'm agreeing with this kind of crap, but it's nobody's fault but their own for including the content inside the game in some capacity and not cleaning it out after GTA suffered the same fate. They should just suck it up, and enjoy the free publicity.

Re:Why I'm ashamed to be an American in the 21st c

[Sven The Space Monke]

2 points:

1) I'm pretty sure you're referencing the DMCA. This was a product not of the Bush administration, but the Clinton administration.

2) Considering how most people seem to enjoy the concept of a nanny-state where their government will protect its citizens from "the bad people" (which may be Communists, terrorists, Socialists, homosexuals, hippies, pedophiles, athiests, intellectuals, liberals, etc), I'm pretty sure many people would enjoy living in a totalitarian regime that protects everone from being offended or shocked. Those who would not enjoy such a fate would likely be branded one of "the bad people".

Different Ratings?

[Anonymous Coward]

So based on the details and the platform difference shouldn't tne ESRB technically let the the Xbox version stay at "Teen" and the PC version be upped to "Mature"?

Now that's something that would be interesting to explain to parents. =P

Re:Different Ratings?

[PFI_Optix]

Isn't Counter-Strike rated teen?

I recall there being a lot of custom sprays depecting explicit...err...content.

How about a standard ESRB warning:

"ESRB ratings do not reflect potential changes to content by online or modified play."

Potential Nudity Aside...

[lesleymac]

If you've played the game, there's more than enough violence and gore to earn a mature rating. I'm thinking in particular of the final Dark Brotherhood quest, and that daedra quest with the mad wizard...it was pretty "Resident Evil"-esque. Personally, I like the violence and gore. I don't really care that it's rated M, but I'm pretty sure the M rating is appropriate. The real question is how did the ESRB miss all of that gore? Maybe their just making a big deal about the topless mod to smokescreen the fact that the game should never have gotten a Teen rating.

Support Bethesda in the Cause!

[Durrill]

I am sick of people hopping onboard the ethical bandwagon when something obscure, like nipples, could possibly be exposed to our once "breast fed" children. What the ESRB did was wrong. They should have done their homework on the nudity mod before making a re-rating of the game. I have placed a complaint to the ESRB concerning this problem and I ask that anyone else who loves this game do the same.

You can submit a comment/complaint here [esrb.org].

How about WoW?

[alexgieg]

I'm using since some months a mod for WoW that makes females and males from the eight races, plus succubus, show everything (and I mean it) when unequipped. It's very fun to walk around the main game cities with this installed, since there's always one or more people running or dancing around without equipment. Should the ESRB then rate WoW "mature"? What a nonsense...

The rating system should be changed. Instead of a single "Teens", "Children", "Mature" etc. rating, this should be multi-layered system. The box should have something like this:

- Violence: Extreme
- Sex: Low (may increase)
- Language: Explicit

"Enter code XXXXXX at
www.esrb.org for details."

Puting into the parents hands the burden of deciding what is and isn't appropriate for their children.

In short: any kind of measurement must be somewhat precise. There's no precision at all in compressing these different dimensions into a generic "this is okay for teens, that isn't".

barbie and ken should be rated 18+, too...

[w4rl5ck]

at least, with some minor modifications (stripping) you can get them both NAKED! With nipples!

I even saw them in PR0N on the internet. No really there was this YouTube flick where... ah, anyway.

We Europeans have some problems of our own, but this whole "no-nudity-concept" seems even more flawed (and older, obviously) than the DMCA.