Nintendo Wii Fanboy

For those of you that stop by our little corner of the internet every day, you know that a great deal of what's coming to the Virtual Console and WiiWare is found out via the ESRB's website. Well, it looks like things are about to change.

How? well, the ESRB are instituting a new policy for when publishers submit games for rating. These publishers will be able to designate a specific date when the title is revealed on the website, allowing both the ESRB and publishers to better keep a lid on hot titles. Like, say, Earthbound.

There's still hope for ESRB site perusers, however. If publishers leave the reveal date field blank on their submission forms, the ESRB will showcase the title on their site 30 days following the title's rating.

A new site, What They Play, launched yesterday, and it's geared at explaining to parents just exactly what the ESRB ratings are all about, in simple terms, when it comes to the games their children are stuffing into those mystical boxes attached to the televisions. The brainchild of former 1UP/Ziff Davis employees John Davison and Ira Becker, What They Play hopes to cut through parents' confusions and offer not reviews, but simply information about exactly why games get certain ratings. How much blood is there? Nudity? Language? They also warn about future downloadable content and how it could change the gaming experience.

Of course, there are two early issues with the fledgling site. The first, and most important, is that right now, it's getting noticed in the gaming community -- and parents within are usually already informed about what games are or are not appropriate for their children. The second is that the facts are written with the humorous, down-to-earth tone that categorizes so many gaming sites. Again, this is great for gamers, but what about older parents, who are mystified enough by the technology their children so effortlessly wield? Will this quote cut through the generational barrier?

"Furthermore, Guitar Hero III offers some visual themes that parents should be aware of. For one thing, all the characters tend to be of comic-book proportions, with the women dressed in torn shirts, low-cut pants, and/or bikini tops (outfits that are emphasized by the game's, ah, lifelike physics)." (emphasis in original)

There are boobies in them there hills, guys. Bouncing cartoon boobies, which, from all the rock videos we've seen over the years, aren't a bit out of place, even if they are sometimes a little eyebrow-raising. However, a lot of the language is very simple, the site is easy to navigate, and each game's page includes a rating provided by parents with the recommended age-level. It looks like What They Play is on the right track, and with time (and with some carefully placed advertising and widespread marketing), could help to inform parents about the games their children play.

It seemed like a good day for a celebratory visit to the world of Daniel Lamb. In this week's video spotlight, we have all three Manhunt 2 trailers rolled into one post -- which makes it that much more convenient to look back and compare when we see what comes out next. We wonder if any changes will be apparent in the trailers. Since that's about all we would guess some judgmental nongamers people saw, we would anticipate a difference.

The New York Times called this one -- a slimmer, sleeker, and we can only guess happier Manhunt 2 will hit shelves, appropriately enough, on Halloween. The ESRB issued a new rating for the game, lowering the Adults Only tag to Mature, which clears the game for release.

The game's fate in Europe, where it was banned in several countries, is as yet unknown, but we expect to hear some news on that front soon.

The entire debacle, though cleared up, is still disheartening. With the number of adult gamers increasing all the time, and comparisons between game and film content demonstrating the vast difference in standards, we hope that someday, something in the system will change. For now, however, it seems publishers and developers, and indeed, all of us, are at the mercy of the ESRB and the standards of Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.

[Via Joystiq; image found here.]

The National Institute on Media and Family, an advocacy group that tasks itself with monitoring media for content they deem dangerous to children, is pleased with the ESRB's decision to rate Manhunt 2 as AO. They have previously criticized the ESRB for their lack of use of the Adults Only rating in their 2005 Video Game Report Card.

In their statement, the NIMF said "Hopefully Take-Two has learned from its Manhunt 2 experience and will undertake preventive measures to ensure its future games, including Grand Theft Auto IV, are appropriate for families and gamers." Does that sound like a threat to anyone else?

The fact that the AO rating basically bans the game isn't directly mentioned, but we think that might have something to do with their advocacy of its use. But since the game can no longer be released in its original form, the only "victory" here is for censors, which the NIMF explicitly claims not to be.

We take it back -- Manhunt 2 is in a more dire situation in the US than we first thought, because Nintendo will not even license or allow playback of the controversial title with an AO rating. Looks like Pachter was right: Rockstar is going to bleed money over this title, because they're either going to have to scrap the game altogether, or simply edit Manhunt 2 down until they can wrangle another rating.

It's not just Nintendo, either -- Sony's taken the same hard line on Manhunt 2. Looks like poor Daniel Lamb and Leo Kaspar are at risk from more than just the Pickman Project.

The ESRB ratings website is a veritable treasure trove of nuclear launch codes, CIA secrets, and unannounced Virtual Console games. Recently, ratings have popped up for Mighty Bomb Jack, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire. While not all of the ESRB rated games have yet arrived on the console, it's fairly certain that they'll get here eventually.

In addition, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts was announced not only for the Wii, but for the 360 and PS3. This would make it the first game to be released on all three systems' classic download services, which then brings up silly flame wars and pointless arguing.

But seriously, the Wii version will totally be the best.

(Note: The GameSpot article mentions that Galaga was also tagged for release, but we actually caught this back in January. We rock.)