U.S. politicians take aim at ESRB ratings board

By Stevie Smith Nov 22, 2007, 8:51 GMT

U.S. political figures are calling for a review of the process employed by the ESRB in its rating of videogames. Credit: ESRB.

Although critical review sources have largely hammered Rockstar Games’ contentiously violent Manhunt 2 videogame, it would appear that aftershocks related to the game’s protracted ESRB rating battle continue to rumble beneath the industry’s surface.

Specifically, Variety reports that a group of four leading U.S. lawmakers, which just so happen to include Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, have moved to instigate an intensive review of how the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) carries out its videogame rating procedure.

In a letter dispatched to the ESRB earlier this week, Senator Clinton and Senators Evan Bayh (D-Ind), Sam Brownback (R-Kan), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn), said that the recent rating alteration handed to Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive’s controversial Manhunt 2 videogame threw up a "number of serious issues" related to how the board evaluates and rates the software placed before it for assessment.

Manhunt 2, a game granting the player with countless opportunities to carry out vicious executions as they assume the role of an escaped and psychotic mental patient, is referenced following its initial ‘Adults Only’ (AO) rating in the U.S., which saw the game’s release delayed as AO is all-but crippling in the videogame market. The game’s creators later submitted an amended version for the ESRB’s evaluation, which resulted in the game being handed a more retail-friendly ‘M for Mature’ rating based on the application of selective blurring to certain in-game scenes.

Manhunt 2 is presently banned in three European countries, including the UK, where the official ratings board, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), condemned the game for its "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone," and also refused to remove the ban despite the alterations made to especially graphic moments of violence.

Solons have noted that, in the case of Manhunt 2, its inclusion on the motion-sensing Nintendo Wii console means that it "teaches children the behavioural sequence of killing" through interactive movements channelled through the Wii-Remote and Nunchuk controllers.

"In sum, we ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of ‘ultraviolent’ videogames and the advances in game controllers," wrote the four lawmakers.

By way of response, ESRB spokesman Eliot Mizrachi offered that: "We have received the letter and will be responding to it accordingly."

According to figures offered up by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), children below the age of 17, which is marker set by the ‘M for Mature’ rating, are still able to purchase restricted software 42 percent of the time.

It is perhaps worth noting that BBFC ratings applied to entertainment products (videogames, DVDs) in the United Kingdom leave the retailer legally responsible if those products are sold to anyone below the restricted age. That legal responsibility is not something U.S. retail outlets face, which is a considerable bone of contention with certain videogame activists in the country, as the ESRB ratings on videogames are viewed as a mere guideline and not a legal restriction.