With so many legislators and concerned parents waiting for the next Hot Coffee scandal to score a few political points, developers are doing all they can to avoid the censor's scythe. Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto 4 both saw content changes, drawing the ire of many a gamer who believed that critics were trampling their rights as adults.
And with a game like MadWorld, designed to simultaneously entertain and horrify players with astonishing levels gratuitous violence, developer Platinum Games is taking a few extra steps to prevent the delays and bad press associated with a controversial game falling into the hands of ban-hearty censors.
For starters, they're keeping the ESRB well aware of all of the game's content by way of regular updates and feedback, hoping to fall within the rating board's guidlines for an M rating. The game also won't be released in Japan – the nation that the indie developer is based in – until sometime after its US release in March of 2009, and may never see the light of day in censorship-heavy nations like Australia, to prevent any content entanglements that could threaten to alter their vision.
It's a real shame that things have to go this far, in order to skirt the overwhelming force of self-appointed morality police. Despite that, it's great to see these developers doing the responsible thing by vetting their work with the content ratings board, working with the system instead of offering up the completed game and calling bloody murder when the censors have a field day. While refusing to release the game in particular markets might hurt their bottom line, here's hoping more game developers will take this route: anti-censorship practices are always a good thing, and great games being kept from us will be yet another reason for gamers to flex their political muscle.
Sega Working Closelsy With ESRB On Ultra-Violent “MadWorld” [MTV Multiplayer]
