This is an editorial I originally posted back in September. I thought it seemed quite timely now, with the additional pressures on the ESRB and the release of two very prominent games (namely Halo 3 and Mario Galaxy). If you've read it before, I'm sorry for the repost, but for those who missed it, enjoy.

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Gamespot's recent article M Rated Games Sell Best got me thinking a little. I'm a conservative in every sense of the words. Which means the while I am definitely not for government censorship, I do find the strong language, sexual themes, and (to a lesser extent) violence, slightly disturbing. Its those apprehensions that keep me from owning games like Bioshock and Gears of War. Almost contradictorily, I do own Rainbow Six Vegas and Perfect Dark, which oddly enough is rated M. Additionally, have always been a fan of the Resident Evil and Time Splitters series. So, while I'm not against buying a game just because it is rated M, I will not buy it just because it IS rated M.

The reason I believe M rated titles have been doing so well, is because of the large amount of very good M titles that have been released recently. Take a look at this quote:

"One of the more noteworthy findings from the study was that titles that received a M for Mature rating had the highest average review scores and the highest average gross sales in the US."

continued...

"The study also noted that games that score above 90 on Metacritic grossed sales of up to 531 percent more than the industry average, even though games of such caliber accounted for less than 2 percent of the titles released"

The truth of this study is that in recent history the best rated games coming out on any of the three major systems have mostly been M rated. While some people use this as a point to argue that reviews are more inclined toward more adult titles, the truth is that these games are just better. "Good Games Sell Best" would probably have been a better title for the article, but then that would have gotten my attention, and definitely not warranted me writing this blog post. So why are these games better? Is it because they have more blood and gore? Is it because of the foul language and sexual themes? While those might play a part in the overall game experience the real reason these games are better is because the developers are putting more work into them. Even looking at the Wii, a notoriously child oriented system, we find Gamespot puts Resident Evil 4 at the top of the list of games. So if the developers are putting their best best work into M rated game Then the question really becomes, "Why?".

The short answer would be because that's where the money is a, but that isn't really the whole truth. A discerning adult, such as myself, has to really consider what games to buy and what games not to buy. I don't want to waste my hard earned $60 on a game I'll be bored with in a few short hours. To appeal to an adult audience a game MUST BE GOOD! To earn my dollars a developer must create something worth buying,and because this is true, a developer knows they can't hold back when approaching an M rated title.

This is not true though for a younger audience. Movie tie-ins are notorious for being poorly made, yet they continue to sell well because they target a younger audience. A game like Spider-Man 3 doesn't have to accomplish much more than being released and the appropriate time and allowing a six year old to pretend to be Spider-Man for a couple hours. Problems like repetitive gameplay and mediocre graphics wont prevent a title like that from being successful. So, there is less focus placed on the game itself and the final product suffers as result. This is not necessarily a bad situation for a manufacturer. Because of the limited resources spent on the title and the timely release, the game is overall more profitable than if it were held to AA or AAA standards.

In the end, the games that have the most potential are games that are made for everyone that have been polished to perfection. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one example of a game that was greatly enjoyed by young and old alike. However, its hard not to alienate the ever aging core gamer audience. Many fans of LoZ:OoT were not so very enthused about the sprite graphic Nintendo decided on for the next game in the series, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Also, it doesn't matter how good a game like Nintendogs is, I could never bring myself to play it. That, however,isn't enough to hinder the game's sales, over 14 million worldwide.

So, in the short term M rated games may rule the day. With as many good ones as have been released in recent history it is little surprise they are doing so well. The reason so many M rated games are good though might just be because if they weren't no one would buy them (Vampire Rain, anyone?). Children's titles can get away with a lot more, by playing off loved characters from movies, TV, or Video Games (games like Pokemon Dash are proof). The best selling titles, however, have been, and will always be, great games rated E or T.

Halo 3 will top the charts this year, but those Pokemon games wont stop selling, and once all those Wii owners have a chance to get their hands on Mario Galaxy, we will see drastically different numbers. There will always be great M rated titles, and they will continue to sell well (I will continue to buy them), but any victories they have in sales will be short lived.That's my opinion anyway.

Thanks for Reading!

-zgreenwell