I recently was reading the blog of Yuko Asho concerning the attitudes of a certain rhythm game developer on violence in games and how 'it prevents the industry from growing' (not an actual quote).  Since Yuko has already posted this, I will not repeat it here, but I would like to point out similar frustrations that I have with game developers; namely, the ones who have been behind the release of two heavily censored Wii titles, Red Steel and Rival Swords.

For those who do not know anything about these games, let me explain the censored nature of them.  In Rival Swords, enemies that are comprised of flesh and blood no longer bleed blood.  Instead, they emit a light brown liquid that looks something like a cross between a bowel movement and a tame version of the juices of some thing from Resident Evil 4.  These enemies also do not undergo mutilation animations when hit by attacks that should have dismembered them.  Though this was true of the original, The Two Thrones, the same now applies to sand monsters.  The various speed kills/attack combinations that originally sent foes' heads flying or bodies falling apart have been omitted.

Then there's good old Red Steel.  The cover makes it seem almost certain that the game is going to be messy, as is expected from a game where you are constantly shooting up thugs or engaging in sword duels.  Again, this is not the case, as not a single drop of blood is ever spilled by you or the baddies you face off against.  And don't even get me started on the language matter.  The AI constantly shouts out what were apparently supposed to be intimidating threats, but they are about as offensive as a middle schooler's primitive vulgarities.  Exactly why gangsters would refer to a man who has been blazing through their pals as 'dumbass', 'murderer', and 'moron' rather than more emotionally affected comments is beyond me.

Exactly why does this put a bee in this blogger's bonnet?  Simple.  These gory little details, while not directly tied to the fun factor of core gameplay, all contribute to setting a believable gaming atmosphere.  In a violent game, it is expected that enemies bleed something (assuming that they have anything to bleed) or show some visible sign of taking damage from whatever just wounded them, not for them to spout diarrhea or simply absorb damage then fall over.  If an opponent is going to shoot their mouth, hearing them cry out taunts that have absolutely no weight at all is just plain stupid (i.e., 'give it up moron!' vs. 'die, mother****er!'*).  Without these kind of factors, it is difficult, if not at times almost impossible, for a sense of immersion or suspension of disbelief to be maintained.

Similar activities to this have been seen before, chief among them originating from Nintendo of America during the early years of games.  NOA had a lot of experience in censorship, such as replacing blood with sweat, dogs with rats, and Hitler with a generic german adversary in the SNES version of Wolfenstein 3D.  The consequences?  Such games where either dismissed as being just for kids, hurting sales, or being condemned as poor stabs at attempting to make them more appropriate for youths without altering the actual level of violence.  Only until other companies began to release titles that were not so determined to be solely youth oriented did the industry see any appreciable growth.

So I ask, Nintendo and/or Ubisoft: is there a particular reason that games on the Wii seem to be exhibiting a pattern of censorship?  First Red Steel, then Rival Swords, and even rumors of Resident Evil being dumbed down for the sake of a lower rating...  tell me, is it really the wish of these companies to sacrifice acclaim and income for the production of unconvincingly rendered mature-themed violent games, as if no lessons were learned from the past?

In conclusion, it would really help if the developers would make up their minds on the issue of whether they wish to sell games with the level of detail needed.  If they want to manufacture and sell nonviolent or less mature titles, I have no problem with that.  However, they seem to have reverted to censorship similar to what we have already seen in the '80s and '90s in the same attempt to peddle the same game in all its violent glory, but massacring the little details that make a game's atmosphere, and determine just how enjoyable an experience the whole package is.     

*Courtesy of F.E.A.R.