any games ever receive this rating? post 'em if you own one
i've got a copy of gta:sa that was printed before it got rated ao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_video_games
Check with Anime games. Apparently they're at risk of being an A all the time from what I hear around here.
i remember my cousin had a playboy game for the first xbox, hatred and leisure suit larry got that rate too i think and some first edition gta san andreas games.
>>332595258
oh shit i completely forget manhunt 2.
>>332594796
Sometimes back in the day but almost never in modern times because it's usually considered worse for sales then not bothering at all. Remember, in the USA ratings are 100% optional private business decisions, they're just about marketing and something that retailers want. But if someone sells direct online or digital they can just go "unrated" and save bothering with the ESRB at all.
Makes AO kind of pointless frankly, if you know you're going to get it for your game then unrated has basically the same effect or better but doesn't cost you any money.
>>332595273
See above, a hentai game either just won't bother at all, will use something homegrown that's aimed at helping customers find their fetishes rather then parents, or for imports will just like the CERO one.
>>332594796
Hatred
>>332595462
>>332595258
I wonder what shit explicitly got cut to change the rating. Maybe just certain executions, or entire gameplay segments?
>>332595872
I don't disagree with anything you said, but Hatred seems like an exception. They ONLY got so much publicity because of how violent/edgy it was, and the AO rating was icing on the cake for them. It probably wouldn't have made any difference though
>>332596091
the executions where censored with static
Speaking of which, what about those Japanese porn games that got localized?
Are they not subjected to ESRB rating?
>>332595872
thanks, i didn't know that. it definitely would be a kiss of death as a publisher to get that label. but on the other hand the controversy gives you an enormous amount of free publicity.
>>332596091
I'm fairly certain it's just the filter when you kill someone had to be added. There are modded versions online without the filter though
>>332596442
rating is a christian retailer/first party requirement, not a legal one. steam doesn't require rating either. if you're not selling console games or you aren't chasing mass market distribution, rating is meaningless
>>332596442
Enzai.
>>332595029
>GTA:SA
>AO because of a never-nude sex scene that could only be accessed through mods
>meanwhile god of war, dante's inferno and the witcher games get M ratings
>>332596387
>>332596490
>violence is an exception
This actually can be true, I forgot but yes you guys are right, that's an exception to the rule. In America it's HARD to get an "AO" for violence, like you have to actually work at it whereas a single showing of genitals rockets the rating into the stratosphere, so usually here "AO" means "porn". But it's true that there have been a few games which were aimed directly to be "violent shooter but MAXIMUM EDGY" for which an AO rating was actually straight up part of their marketing plan. Nothing like some controversy or "forbidden fruit" type thing to juice the sales of something otherwise ho-hum and they never planned on mainstream success anyway.
That's pretty rare though especially these days, part of the reason shit like Hatred made waves is that it's unusual. 99% of the time if you just want to do violence you can do practically anything you'd want and get by with an "M" and have access to an immensely, vastly larger playerbase, so "AO" is pretty useless there too.
How come the witcher series didn't receive an AO rating? It's got everything: boobies, pubes, blood, gore, brutal finishers and so in
>>332598440
No interactive sex or actual penetration.
>Mature rating 17+
>Adults Only rating 18+
I don't get this. Why not just make mature rating for 18+? What's that extra year do?
>>332596490
>but on the other hand the controversy gives you an enormous amount of free publicity.
For direct sales online (digital or physical) it's not as much as it used to be frankly. Mere rating alone is kind of meaningless when shit like Rapelay is literally a few clicks away. Society has gotten kind desensitized overall to just some "18+ label" in some vidya online. To create controversy you'd have to do something specific like Hatred did, and rating wouldn't necessarily even need to have anything to do with it. Like if you made some ethnic cleansing game but kept down any actual visual depictions (no gore or extra gratuitous violence) it'd be no problem getting an M, but it sure could cause social media to go ballistic. Hell, in a case like that getting "only" an M might even cause MORE controversy and outrage, "how dare they not give that an AO" and all that.
Otherwise it doesn't tend to be controversial unless it actually shows up at retail where people can go protest photogenically in person. Which of course is exactly why major retailers won't touch AO, so there you go.
>>332598920
Maybe some of it could be seen as porn? Don't you have to be 18 or over to buy porn in the US?
>>332598440
Things have gotten more relaxed, and remember, the ESRB is a developers ALLY, not some enemy or independent judgement entity. It's specifically an industry creation, it's not gubmint. You give them something and they'll give it a pass and tell you what rating they'd give it if you ship it as-is, but also exactly what you need to do to get a different rating. You can then go do that and run it by them again, cutting out exactly as much as whichever reviewers are taking a look as for. Toeing the line is perfectly doable, there's no "you only get one shot" shit going on here it's an interactive process.
>>332598920
It's for the same reason there's R and NC-17 ratings. With an M or R rating, if the parent / guardian says it's okay, kids of any age can play or view it legally. But AO and NC-17 ratings are 18+, no matter what the parents think.
>>332596991
If you were to disregard the fact that it's a mod, the sex was completely interactive compared to just the few tidbits you see in scenes with those other games.
>>332596091
rating wasn't changed on pc
I really wish they would actually use this rating. Grand Theft Auto V should definitely be AO but retailers and console manufacturers won't sell an AO game.
>>332600469
>M Rating 17+
>Yeah these are cool, we can totally sell these
>AO 18+
>No no no we can't sell those, they are literally worse than hitler
What went wrong?
>>332600782
Probably because of the MPAA ratings where NC-17 is forbidden and it's just copying that.
>>332600469
Frankly I'd be satisfied if it was just more like the movies are: there's an M rated version (R-rated in movieland) and then after mainstream release they do an "Uncut" one (unrated or AO), or for vidya they could have that be DLC or whatever, lots of technical ways to accomplish the same thing.
What irritates me mainly is that it's been turned into this zero-sum game, particularly for cases where somebody is localizing something that was already finished in a certain way. I'm not actually inherently opposed to the mere production of a more heavily localized, censored version. If the market demand is there for it then whatever, that's a business/artistic call. What makes me mad is when they make that the ONLY version, as if in the modern digital-distribution era they still have to live by 90s rules.
Nowadays there should never be a time when we don't have both. It's true for both movies and music even already, if you look on digital music stores there are tons of cases where there are the original explicit lyrics and also censored versions and people can get whatever floats their boat. There's already mass, full scale commercial precedent for this stuff. I'm genuinely rustled that vidya is actually behind the fucking technology curve of the fucking record labels or hollywood of all places, some of the most backwards shitheads ever.
>>332601070
But "Director's Cut Unrated" is not at all forbidden it's done all the time. Has been for ages in fact.
>>332599274
ao applies to more then porn though. Probably it just comes down to legal ass covering and avoiding drama.
