AO games

For those who don't know what that means, AO means Adults only. Ao games are known for being very hard to get. First, the three main console companies(Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo)make great efforts to make sure AO rated games don't appear on there consoles. And if a AO rated game does make it on to one of there consoles, good luck getting it. Basically every major retailer refuses to sell AO rated games. In this link contains comments from representatives of Microsoft and Nintendo basically supporting what i just said. I know the article is biased, but i posted it just because of those official comments.

I personally think it is unfair to judge AO rated gamers so much harsher than similar content in other mediums, such as R rated movies. However, i wanted to get fellow fakkers opinions on this matter? Do you think AO rated games deserve it, or do you think they are being judged unfairly?

And the reason i put this in serious discussion rather than video games is because i am looking for substantive responses. If a mod decides that it fits better in video games, then i have no problem with it being moved

I dont see anything wrong with adult games, but it is the right of these companies to refuse to carry it - for the reasons of protecting their image and the potential problems of distributors not carrying it later on. At the moment its bad for business, even if this game gets high sales but eventually leads to tarnishing the company's image which would drop potential sales for the rest and their future products - its a bigger loss. I myself if I was in the position would suggest the same.

Its just like porn, is there anything bad about it or the people who watch it?

But why are they treated different from lest say a R rated movie?

I just don't understand why AO games have to deal with this prejudice.I mean, porn can be played on the 360, and SOny's blue ray format is allowed to have films like "Debbie does Dallas", but when it comes to games all of a sudden everything has to be appropriate for children?

I just don't get it

It's because parent's aren't expected to actually screen what their child sees anymore, that's the responsibility of the businesses now.

I never understood why they made an AO rating if they were never going to use it. It's sort of like NC-17 - with that rating, no theater is going to play the movie, so you might as well release it on video/DVD and call it "unrated."

I really don't see why companies can't make adult games and sell them at adult stores, with the AO rating. They'd be just as hard to get as porn, so parents wouldn't have any reason to get pissed, right?

On the other hand, there have been some adult games that somehow got through, and they sucked. "The Guy's Game," I think it was called, came out a couple of years ago, and from what I heard, it was worthless. Answer some inane questions, then see some boobs. Just pointless. It's possible that any American company willing to make a porn game wouldn't want to bother with any sort of story, or anything interesting at all, and if that was the case, there'd be no point in having the games, period.

Porn generally doesn't bother with story, and lasts i hear porn is a multimillion(if not billion) dollar industry. Also, what may be a story with tits and ass may just be tits and ass to another(basically, to use the R-rated movie example, what one may look at as a piece of art may to another just an excuse for tits and violence. Hostel comes to mind)

It just seems like videogames are still treated differently than other entertainment industry's

Is it being suggested that people see video games/consoles as a plaything primarily for kids? Its being hinted by these reactions that it is - from the companies, parents, general people.

Something that was said does happen as well in real life, parents blaming anything but themselves when tehir kids screw up - from the education system, tv, neighbors and video games.

Also about movie houses, the ones that ive been to - you can buy one ticket then get inside and watch all the movies that you want that theyre showing, just go in and thats it. Easy for kids to slip in and watch something thats not meant for them - or so I remember, havent been to one for a few years now...

I can think of one game, Larry... something. I remember a part where his girl was making love to a teddy bear with a strap-on and another with him while he's on a mascot costume I think.

I think the ratings are usually justified, but I don't agree with how difficult it can be to obtain those kind of games. There is little reason for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony to be so adamant against AO games. Sales? Bah, they will make sales and only tarnish their reputation against activist groups that already despise video game companies,

Also there is no reason why more retailers shouldn't sell them. What was wrong with the way those games were sold before the Video Game Crash of 1983? If you wanted an adult Atari game you had to ask for it because the games were found "behind the counter" and you had to prove that you were of legal age. It can work just the same as other adult material in general stores. Granted the sales might be low, perhaps too low to justify them being on a console to begin with. However, adult-oriented developers know they are only going for niche crowds. I'm sure they would prefer it if they could mass market their games on the consoles and have retailers sale them in a private setting.

Because there are so many people who STILL think games are made and designed for children.

That's why the assholes (Fox news) makes a big deal out of things when an M game has something "objectionable" in it, when similar, if not WORSE, movies come out and they leave them alone. It's because they grew up with movies being restricted, and all games being "Suitable for Children".

Since you're talking about the ESRB rating, I'll keep my thoughts to the US game market.

Console makers have historically had to fight off accusations that games are perverse and degenerate. When Nintendo put out the NES, they had to call it something besides a video game system because retailers were so burned by all the mess that Atari created. So consoles have historically been a very conservative market in the US. It's not as bad as it was in 1983, but there's a lot of lessons to be learned from consoles that tried something different and got burned.

There's a group of people in the US that are given a reliable mouthpiece in the mass media, and that's conservative "family" groups. Whenever a new Grand Theft Auto comes out, media outlets will turn to these groups, however small or insignificant they may be, so they can create drama and say "look how controversial games are! by the way watch our show!" Look at how insane everything got when the Hot Coffee mod came out for San Andreas. Console makers are scared to death of this kind of negative publicity, because they feel like they're on the cusp of mainstream acceptance and this makes it seems like the 1980s where gamers were crazy weirdos.

So they corral anything to do with sex off in its own rating and make sure no serious games will ever come out with this rating. The whole scenario is really stupid, but it's mainly because in the US media, you can't really discuss sex in any constructive way.

If you just want to see tits and ass, why would you play a game? It'd be easier to just pop in a movie.

I think AO games would only be worthwhile if American companies looked at what Japan's been doing for years - making adult games with good stories that the player can get lost in. That's the appeal of visual novels, right? And just look at how popular they are here.

If a game is really that bad, then it will be ignored by gamers and fall into the abyss of obscurity, no matter the rating. But i would rather leave those decisions to gamers themselves rather than multi-million dollar corporations. R rated movies aren't treated this way. Adult moviegoers can decided for themselves whether a R-rated movie is worth there money. Heck it seems like AO games are treated worse than porn(which can be played on a 360, and "Debbie does Dallas..Again" which is a adult video has been released on Sonys blue ray format)

The thing is, you can't buy porn at a place like Wal-Mart. They won't sell it, just like they won't sell AO games. You have to go to very specific stores. They allow porn on Blu-ray, but they definitely don't sell it alongside Spiderman 3 at the video store. They can afford to let porn come out on the format since the idea of a video format is vague enough to where they won't get bad press for doing so. People don't get mad at the medium of magazines itself because Playboy exists, or they didn't call VHS immoral because there were porn tapes. Realistically, this should apply to video games as well, but like I stated before it's a newer medium that's already had PR problems and console makers don't want the headache.