14 DAY TRIAL // The ESRB can be a total pain in the b**t for those involved with video games, but it's their job to make sure that certain pieces of media don't fall into the hands of youngsters, or people sensitive to some aspects usually found in games featuring sex, violence, drug consuming and so on. We respect them for that too, but why on Earth has the board suddenly dug up a Gears of War trailer that has been available on GameVideos since January, sending MS and Epic a notice of a violation, requiring the offending video to be completely removed?
It's not only Microsoft and Epic that have had their media pieces flagged, but 2K Games as well, with The Darkness and, as 1UP reports, the company's statement about the game sounded more like a warning to ensure age gates were in place:
"We recently received a ruling from the ESRB stating that the two officially released Dark Sector gameplay montages have been deemed to contain excessive or offensive content; and to this end are not to be available for download or viewing, regardless of being placed behind an age gate. In order to comply with this ruling, the ESRB has requested that the two Dark Sector gameplay montages be pulled immediately upon receipt of this notice and no longer made available for view by consumers."
ESRB President Patricia Vance explained how the organization's Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (which added the need for an age gate on mature content in 2005) work, but didn't provide an explanation on why they're digging up the dead:
"All trailers must still conform to ARC's Principles and Guidelines, which prohibit the display of excessively violent content or any content likely to cause serious offense to the average consumer. When ESRB notifies a publisher that the content in a trailer is in violation of these ARC requirements, or that there is an age gate issue on a third party site, that publisher then must notify third party sites to rectify the problem," said Vance. "The notices issued recently by game publishers to third party websites are simply that - steps in a chain of publisher compliance with ARC guidelines and the ESRB enforcement system that have been occurring since their establishment seven years ago."
Who exactly empowered the ESRB to make decisions for others? There are age gates right...? What, now we can't see a damn video because some are too afraid that a 5-year-old will know how to access that trailer? What are parents for then? How long do you think before they take on Resistance: Fall of Man, featuring in-church shootings...?