If you’ve been following any of the development stories about Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe, then you know it’s being slapped with a T for Teen rating instead of the usual M for Mature, which means you’re probably not going to see any images of Scorpion pulling out Batman’s heart any time soon, unless you’ve got some crayons handy.

Gamasutra has a story on the development of the game and the ratings change:

It’s the first Mortal Kombat game in the history of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (which dates back to 1994 and whose founding was spurred by congressional hearings surrounding games such as the original Mortal Kombat) to receive less than a Mature content rating — “and the first Teen rated game this team’s done,” Garcia points out.

Still, the designer thinks the series’ ultra-violent reputation may not be as stark as it once was relative to the industry. “I think [with what's] going down nowadays — besides decapitations and stuff — Mortal Kombat’s sort of tamed down compared to what other games are doing that have M ratings nowadays,” he says. “We’re still going to have fatalities in there, but they will be toned down fatalities. Scorpion will have his ‘toasty’ fatality, where he burns the guy, but he won’t have, say, ‘cut the guy open’ fatalities.” And while DC Universe villains will have their own fatalities, DC Universe heroes will only be shows brutalizing — but never killing — their opponents.

That’s quite a change for a series that, in its arcade hey day, all but single-handedly brought about the creation of the ESRB. It’s a change that Nate Ralph at Wired questions:

So is Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe an honest attempt at ensnaring a new generation of fighter fans by toning down the violence and putting a focus on fun? Or is it just an attempt to cash in on the series’ waning popularity by ditching the violent, Mature ethos for a rating that’ll ensure the widest access to consumers’ wallets?

There’s really no way to know until the finished product actually hits shelves. But here’s the question that’s troubling me: Are any of the folks who predicted that young gamers like me would grow up to become violent psychopaths going to take notice?

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under DC Comics, News & Views, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.