Games vs. R-Rated Movies

[Jeremy]

The RPG Maker RPG was exciting to me for exactly that reason, as you played as something other than the conquering hero.

[Salsashark]

I don't know if games even need to fill this "gap" left by the lack of R-rated movies. An R-rating, or an M-Rating are not synonymous with sophistication, which is what the person who started this threat seems to be implying....(and everything else he said).

Yeah. Case closed?

As for the mature/kiddie content, I just don't worry about it any more. I love Katamari Damacy, I love GTA:SA. Movies getting wussier and wussier over the years doesn't really enter into it, annoying as it is.

I agree. I've always thought the "mature" label for games ratings was funny for a lot of reasons. But it seems like to me that people that are actually mature aren't going to be bothered if a fun game has fruity/girly/kiddish presentation. I guess the name implies that you have to be "matured" enough to not feel the urge to kill people after doing it in a game.

And Diffx, the only truth to your whole movie example is that most studios are spineless and ensure that certain "money-maker" movies either get a PG-13 for a wider audience or sometimes trim bits from an R movie so it won't get slapped with an unshowable NC-17. That definitely is stupid as hell, but the real problem is that most of those movies (moreso for the PG-13 scenario) suck so much in the first place. AVP would have been shit even if it was rated R (but probably a bit more entertaining). As far as "mature themes and adult content" in movies goes, there's just as many as ever, if not more than ever, and I don't think Hollywood has ever been the place to look for them anyway.

I don't know if games will ever catch up, but even if they do it would have to be almost solely to enhance the atmosphere and immersion, like in Half Life 2. I really love Metal Gear Solid, and think its admirable that Kojima tries to put meaning into his games, but on the other hand I can't imagine playing a video game and then having really profound cutscenes in between at the same level as a classic movie. I really have no idea whether or not games could ever break away from being pure escapism and have some kind of provocative reaction the same as the best movies or literature, but if so it's really far off and I don't think you could get there through jumping platforms and then watching a cutscene.

[gameoverDude]

Paul Anderson should indeed have gone for an R with AvP, especially when Quentin Tarantino just went hog wild with Kill Bill.

Capcom didn't hold back when they made the still-excellent arcade game- aliens get splatted really nice, and the infectoids make a good mess when you take them down. A unaltered consumer port of it would be an M title for certain.

Mature content is needed only if it is crucial to the game's theme. In a Rayforce type shooter, an F-bomb in the radio chatter would be truly gratuitous and not necessary. When Sega cut the strong language from Silpheed for its Sega CD localization, it didn't dampen my enjoyment of the game. OTOH, Mortal Kombat would be "just another" fighting game without the gore.

In Street Fighter III, I can live without hearing Alex take the Lord's name in vain after being felled with a Jab- it doesn't affect the game play. Just saying "Damn" instead would've been fine.

[Brisco Bold]

Because of this, you get the kind of leap from GTA3 to San Andreas (yea, GTA3 had good voice work but the dialogue and story was horrible).

It's prolly just me, but I liked the story rom GTA3 a hell of a lot more than a lot of other games, including VC.

Btw., good topic.

[Revoltor]

Story in games should be as transparent as possible. Games are about doing, and every time I watch a cut-scene I'm not doing anything. One of the things GTA gets right is that it's 1% story, 99% gameplay, and the player is almost never rushed into doing story if he doesn't feel like it.


James

This is what helped me decide between GTA:SA and MGS3.

[salmonax]

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ad.php?t=32877

...

San Andreas has an amazing scope that has never been seen before in games, and it nails it.

...

GTA is an awesome, superbly executed action game with tons of shit. You really havent seen action games like that. And plus... man, San Andreas is an amazing sequel. They added and changed and improved every little bit of the game. It really is stunning.

Yesterday, I played San Andreas for the first time

OH NOES! OCELOT IS DEAD! TIME PARADOX


Uh, anyway, I think the neutering of movie content contributes more to DVD sales of "unrated" versions than to game sales. You could make the arguement that more quality R-rated movies could drive up the demand for action games with explicit content, instead of one substituting for another. I remember when people raised a stink over Spielburg's decision to make Medal of Honor T-rated. Private Ryan definitely created a demand for a game with content as explicit as the movie.

[Omni]

Bet you had to break out the detective kit for that one.

[Diff-chan]

I didnt need to play San Andreas to know it was the top dawg.

[Zerodash]

Y'know, the industry seems to be almost through the whole habit of putting blood and gore into games- Violent games of the 90's mostly seemed to use the violence to sell copies on shock value. Violent games of today use violence more as a means to further immersion in the story/atmosphere.

OH NOES! OCELOT IS DEAD! TIME PARADOX

Awesome

I didnt need to play San Andreas to know it was the top dawg.

...so on that note, have you ever played a Nintendo game in the last 5 years? Or do you just assume they suck because of all the pretty colors.

[Bacon McShig]

Violent games of today use violence more as a means to further immersion in the story/atmosphere.

POP1's atmosphere > POP2's atmosphere