August 1st, 2009 by JC Fletcher
Let’s Hitchhike from NIS (actually, Let’s Zenryoku Hitchhike!!!!!!!!!, but we’ll stick to Let’s Hitchhike) is one of the weirdest games on WiiWare — a board game with a hitchhiking mechanic and an angry restaurant owner as the primary antagonist. It might not be Muscle March weird, but it’s quirky enough to get our attention.
According to a new ESRB listing, NIS is planning to localize Let’s Hitchhike as Full Blast Hitchhike. The content description offers two examples of the English version’s “tongue in cheek humor”: “What are the two sexiest farm animals? Brownchickenbrowncow!” and “Japanese girls are great! W-well…not as great as YOU, my pet.” If you enjoyed those, be sure to give Full Blast Hitchhike a ride whenever it actually, you know, is announced and released for real.
Also found via ESRB: the Wii version of Geon, now published by UFO Interactive and called Geon Cube — not to be confused with Technos’s Geom Cube.
[Via GoNintendo]
ESRB reveals localization plan for Let’s Hitchhike originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted in , esrb, wiiware, ufo-interactive, lets-hitchhike, nis, full-blast-hitchhike, geon-cube | 2 Comments »
July 10th, 2009 by Richard Mitchell
Above, you can see the
actual ESRB listing for the upcoming DS write-em-up,
Scribblenauts. We’ve taken the liberty of blurring out the most boring bits. Left behind is just a
tiny sampling of the truly
wondrous things that
Scribblenauts is capable of. Trust us, developer 5th Cell
did its homework. We know,
we checked.
Seriously, any game that allows you to attach a steak to a baby in order to attract lions … that’s at least a rental, right? Scribblenauts drops this September.
[Via NeoGAF]
The Scribblenauts ESRB listing is hilarious originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted in , esrb, 5th-cell, scribblenauts | No Comments »
January 10th, 2009 by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Virtual Console, WiiWare
That copy of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen you stashed under the mattress to partly fund your early retirement just got a whole lot less valuable. The ESRB has rated the rare Enix RPG for a Virtual Console release, along with another, more widely known SNES gem: Super Punch-Out!!. Is Nintendo planning to release the classic pugilist title alongside its modern Wii equivalent, as it did in the case of Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption? Perhaps!
Those aren’t the only surprises in the latest ESRB ratings: Lonpos, a launch title for the Japanese WiiWare service no less, has also been classified. As it’s been a while, here’s a reminder of what it looks like:
Super Punch-Out!! and rare Ogre Battle rated by ESRB originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Posted in , RPG, puzzle, snes, boxing, esrb, enix, sports, genki, lonpos, ogre-battle, super-punch-out | No Comments »
December 13th, 2008 by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Virtual Console
Musha Aleste came out in Japan back in April, and it was rated by the OFLC for PAL release (though that hasn’t happened yet). Also, it’s a shooter, which almost guarantees a game’s worldwide availability on the Virtual Console. We knew that Compile’s M.U.S.H.A. (as it was known in its American release on the Genesis) would be bound for the North American VC soon, and now there’s one less roadblock on the way to its release: it’s been rated by the ESRB.
If you haven’t played it, M.U.S.H.A. is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Compile, creators of so many awesome shmups, including Zanac and Blazing Lazers. While it’s hard to explain what makes one shmup better than others, we think this one’s really keen.
Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Virtual Console Game originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Posted in , esrb, shmup, compile, musha, musha-aleste | No Comments »
December 6th, 2008 by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Virtual Console
The Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was never released in North America (only the inferior Game Gear version made it there), so its appearance on the ESRB database (which pretty much guarantees a Virtual Console release) is a little bit of history in the making. A very little bit, mind, because the differences between the 8-bit Sonic 2s are trivial, to say the least.
We never played either iteration, so are unqualified to comment on the game’s quality, but Wikipedia informs us that this was Tails’ debut appearance, which also means this game marks the start of Sonic having friends. Man, look how that turned out.
[Via Go Nintendo]
The other Sonic 2 rated by ESRB originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Posted in , Sonic, esrb, platform, master-system, sonic-the-hedgehog-2 | No Comments »
November 1st, 2008 by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, WiiWare
Click to enter gallery.
Keen ESRB-spotter Spencer at Siliconera has located a welcome addition to the ESRB’s database: Gradius ReBirth. While Japan has been pew pewing itself silly since early September, this is the first solid sign that the 1000 Point WiiWare game will be leaving its native country.
Input the code and shoot the core down the break for footage of the first two stages.
Gradius ReBirth: U.S. to destroy the core soon originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Posted in , gradius, konami, esrb, shmup, gradius-rebirth | No Comments »
November 21st, 2007 by Candace Savino
Filed under: News
Some high-profile U.S. Senators, including Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), have made attacking the ESRB their new pet project. The cause of this controversy is, of course,
Manhunt 2. You may recall that Rockstar was
forced to revise the game in order to remove the "Adults Only" rating
given to it by the ESRB. These tactics may have worked in the U.S., but the British Board of Film Classification
was unimpressed and still refused to issue a rating for the title.
The Senators are pretty ticked off at the ESRB for not being as censor vicious as the BBFC. But the ramifications of the Senators' attack on the ESRB go deeper than
Manhunt 2, and may affect the video game industry in general if the ESRB is put under the "thorough review" that they are demanding.
Even worse, the Senators are calling for more extreme ratings on the Wii,
due to the console's motion-sensitive controller. They argue that the Wiimote "permits children to act out each of the many graphic torture scenes and murders."
Of course, they don't acknowledge the fact that children shouldn't be playing
Manhunt 2 at all, since the game was given a "Mature" rating by the ESRB, and one of the few ways they can even play the game is with parental permission. If children playing mature games is really their concern, perhaps the Senators should be putting
parents under review, and not the ESRB. Those old enough to play violent games can differentiate between using waggle and using real weapons, making separate Wii ratings unnecessary.
At times like these, we really yearn for Stephen Colbert to
make a political comeback.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
Posted in , wiimote, manhunt2, rockstar, take-two, esrb, manhunt-2, bbfc, Politics, Hillary-Clinton, Joe-Lieberman | No Comments »
November 13th, 2007 by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News
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.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
Posted in , esrb, rating, info, parents | No Comments »
October 24th, 2007 by David Hinkle
Filed under: Video
As if Fox News has been a beacon for intelligent discussion and sensible thinking throughout the years, it still manages to surprise us every now and then. Take the
Cashin' In segment presented above, for example, which brings on "anti-violence activist" Jack Thompson to discuss the
Manhunt 2 ban in Europe and the debate as to whether it should be banned here in the States. Jack claims that there are different acts of fraud going on with the game and the ESRB (o ... kay?) and that the game surely didn't have enough time to be altered from an "Adult's Only" to "Mature" rating. Last time we checked, Jack wasn't a game designer or programmer, so we're sure he has no clue when it comes to game development (or much else, for that matter).
The rest of the video is pretty much your usual Fox News fair, with each side yelling at each other and no resolution to the conflict made, so if it's your thing, hit up the video above.
[Via
Go Nintendo]
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
Posted in , manhunt2, rockstar, fox, esrb, jackthompson | No Comments »
October 12th, 2007 by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Interviews
Well now, color us
shocked that the recent version of
Manhunt 2 that was
cleaned up for our friends across the pond turned out to be the same exact game that received a "Mature" rating by the ESRB here in the states. So, what's mature to us is absolutely intolerable to them, apparently.
This might cause one to think that the BBFC is tougher on games than, say, movies, as the country had no problem allowing films such as
Hostel and
Saw into the country. BBFC spokesperson Sue Clark says otherwise, stating "If we were more tough on games than any other medium, don't you think we'd be banning far more titles?
Manhunt 2 is the second game we have rejected in 23 years. I'd hardly call that draconian." She goes on further to add "Manhunt 2 went beyond our guidelines when it came to gross violence and we had a public duty to reject it."
Looks like there is still
a lot of debate left here.
See also: Croal goes on CNN to discuss Manhunt 2Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
Posted in , manhunt2, rockstar, taketwo, esrb, uk, bbfc | No Comments »
