-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Binding of Isaac 3DS REJECTED [Up: Now looking into Sony Platforms]
- Thread starter weeaboo
- Start date
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I know it. I talked to my best friend on the phone about this abut a half year ago and told him that the policy, or whatever its called, was an old one. It's pretty uninformed to even use that argument these days.
themadcowtipper
Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
Will people be up in arms when Sony passes on it. Screaming how kiddy they are.
AceBandage
Banned
Of course not.
"No"
This is going to end (after he then attwmpts an xbla version) in him getting angry and making a large fuss at how consoles need to be more accepting and allow all types of content.
ScreenSplitter
Member
Just like they're not proclaiming Sony should go third party and are doomed because the Vita is selling like crap, I doubt it.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
They were looking into 3DS too. I doubt this will turn out any differently, but if it does I'll gladly accept the terms of my bet.
Edit- I should feel it goes without saying for this bet that this has to be officially approved by MS or Sony, it can't skirt by that by using XBLA Indie Games or PS Suite.
Easily answered with a God Of War 3 gif, so I'm guessing 'no'.
It will still fucking suck though.
themadcowtipper
Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
Shh people we believe you are serious.
Meus Renaissance
Member
Some history in gaming censorship
....
What was significant about it’s release (Wolfenstein 3D), and in the greater context of society’s reaction to violent narrative in games, was it’s banning in one country in Europe. Wolftenstein 3D required the player to traverse through a setting in 1940 Germany decorated by Nazi swastikas, with the anthem of the Nazi state being played in the background; depictions that constituted as an illegal crime in modern day Germany. Subsequently, examples involving the portrayal of blood or its likeness would become part of a theme that would be deemed grounds for the circulation of the title to be prohibited in not only Germany but also Australia and Scandinavia – setting a global precedence where other nations signalled their intent to follow in banning video games they deemed tasteless. Pham and Sandell (2003) pointed out countries like Germany, for example, whilst prohibiting certain imagery of violence on the pretext that it was inappropriate or harmful for the young audience, and yet permitted the use of nudity and potent sexuality in the same games “reflect the distinct cultures and traditions of different markets”.
The congressional hearings led by Senator Liebermann led to the establishment of the Entertainment Ratings Software Board (ERSB) in 1994 in response to public pressure. It was believed that the industry would moderate violence in their games by enforcing a rating based on the appropriateness of the content for a said age group. If a title was deemed only appropriate for adults, then that would be stated on the cover of the title in retail stores – the hope being parents would be reluctant to purchase it for their children; a tactic that would presumably communicate to publishers through decreased sales. These types of video games, however, did not just continue to attain market success but they arguably also increased in their visual realism and consequently grew more grotesque in their violence, and particularly in Japan, their sexuality which led to the implementation of their own regulation board in 2002. The growth in popularity of these games directly led to criminality and mass violence, critics argued. When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into their Columbine High School and indiscriminately gunned down students and members of staff, it challenged the preconceptions of ‘natural’ human behaviour. The prevalent disbelief that young men could commit such a heinous act without influence was strengthened by the discovery that the two intensively played violent shooter games such as Doom and the well-known Wolfenstein 3D and thus reignited a debate that would continue alongside the development of graphical capability and processing power for the consoles.Ultimately in the midst of this debate and controversy, the relationship between the military and violent video games ironically received little attention by comparison. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers made a damning remark in 1999 that Britain’s Ministry of Defence was overly aggressive and exploitative in its pursuit to meet quotas by targeting the young. A spokesperson for Amnesty International told the BBC that Britain had “the largest number of recruited under 18-year olds in any of Europe’s armed forces” and was “the only country that actually deploys 17-year olds into armed conflicts”. The question of the military’s conduct in its recruiting efforts has historically been a point of embarrassment for the government but the behaviour wasn’t limited to only one country. Shortly after publicised reports of the US army failing to meet its recruitment target in the early 2000s, America’s Army was released to leverage on the militant rhetoric found in a post 9/11 society. Video game journalist Wagner James Au described, “It was very much designed to be an accurate simulation of the way you’d train in the Army.” What was significant about the project was that the army developed the game itself, or ‘in-house’ as it’s known in the industry. They also took on a leading role in the marketing of the title by controversially sending uniformed soldiers to the same gaming conventions where young adults made a large portion o the attendees. Furthermore, and most significantly, America’s Army was completely free to the public. It was an open statement of intent and reversal of policy from the same government that was holding Congressional hearings on the legality and morality of portraying violence in video games to now have its army commission a similar title for recruitment
“There are vulnerable children out there who will begin to think about acting them out”
Those are the words of United States Senator Joseph Liebermann during a press conference in the mid 90’s reflecting on the Senate hearings on the question of the level of violence portrayed in video games. The 90’s saw the evolution of computing technology reaching three-dimensional space, impacting the design and consequently visual detail of the medium. The concern of video game violence spurned directly from the increased realism in visual likeness that certain games, such as ones involving warfare and depictions of blood, began to demonstrate and would evoke a controversy, a “moral panic” that would in 1993 see it reach the political echelons in Capitol Hill. Libermann’s comments itself drew both support and criticism between gaming enthusiasts and members of the media who claimed to be speaking on behalf of concerned parents; it quickly became a debate between two generations, the young and the old.
....
What was significant about it’s release (Wolfenstein 3D), and in the greater context of society’s reaction to violent narrative in games, was it’s banning in one country in Europe. Wolftenstein 3D required the player to traverse through a setting in 1940 Germany decorated by Nazi swastikas, with the anthem of the Nazi state being played in the background; depictions that constituted as an illegal crime in modern day Germany. Subsequently, examples involving the portrayal of blood or its likeness would become part of a theme that would be deemed grounds for the circulation of the title to be prohibited in not only Germany but also Australia and Scandinavia – setting a global precedence where other nations signalled their intent to follow in banning video games they deemed tasteless. Pham and Sandell (2003) pointed out countries like Germany, for example, whilst prohibiting certain imagery of violence on the pretext that it was inappropriate or harmful for the young audience, and yet permitted the use of nudity and potent sexuality in the same games “reflect the distinct cultures and traditions of different markets”.
The congressional hearings led by Senator Liebermann led to the establishment of the Entertainment Ratings Software Board (ERSB) in 1994 in response to public pressure. It was believed that the industry would moderate violence in their games by enforcing a rating based on the appropriateness of the content for a said age group. If a title was deemed only appropriate for adults, then that would be stated on the cover of the title in retail stores – the hope being parents would be reluctant to purchase it for their children; a tactic that would presumably communicate to publishers through decreased sales. These types of video games, however, did not just continue to attain market success but they arguably also increased in their visual realism and consequently grew more grotesque in their violence, and particularly in Japan, their sexuality which led to the implementation of their own regulation board in 2002. The growth in popularity of these games directly led to criminality and mass violence, critics argued. When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into their Columbine High School and indiscriminately gunned down students and members of staff, it challenged the preconceptions of ‘natural’ human behaviour. The prevalent disbelief that young men could commit such a heinous act without influence was strengthened by the discovery that the two intensively played violent shooter games such as Doom and the well-known Wolfenstein 3D and thus reignited a debate that would continue alongside the development of graphical capability and processing power for the consoles.Ultimately in the midst of this debate and controversy, the relationship between the military and violent video games ironically received little attention by comparison. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers made a damning remark in 1999 that Britain’s Ministry of Defence was overly aggressive and exploitative in its pursuit to meet quotas by targeting the young. A spokesperson for Amnesty International told the BBC that Britain had “the largest number of recruited under 18-year olds in any of Europe’s armed forces” and was “the only country that actually deploys 17-year olds into armed conflicts”. The question of the military’s conduct in its recruiting efforts has historically been a point of embarrassment for the government but the behaviour wasn’t limited to only one country. Shortly after publicised reports of the US army failing to meet its recruitment target in the early 2000s, America’s Army was released to leverage on the militant rhetoric found in a post 9/11 society. Video game journalist Wagner James Au described, “It was very much designed to be an accurate simulation of the way you’d train in the Army.” What was significant about the project was that the army developed the game itself, or ‘in-house’ as it’s known in the industry. They also took on a leading role in the marketing of the title by controversially sending uniformed soldiers to the same gaming conventions where young adults made a large portion o the attendees. Furthermore, and most significantly, America’s Army was completely free to the public. It was an open statement of intent and reversal of policy from the same government that was holding Congressional hearings on the legality and morality of portraying violence in video games to now have its army commission a similar title for recruitment
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Er...its not censorship for a closed platform holder to restrict what kinds of content appear on their platform. Situations like this are exactly why PC exists.
Waste of time. Sony isn't going to allow it either. I'm starting to think they know that and are doing this just to build more awareness for the game and to sell more copies on Steam. I doubt they have any intention on actually succeeding, same regarding getting it into the Nintendo eShop. This sounds more like a marketing ploy. Especially since they praise Steam every chance they seem to get.
Louis Cyphre
Banned
Does the entire industry put in place friend codes in their respective online services? Now I'm not entirely sure how the online connectivity works on the 3DS but I do hope it's much more freely open to match players and in line with services like Steam/Xbox Live/PSN/OnLive.
This is why I am eager to see how the Wii U pans out as far as appeasing 3rd party content and it's online offerings. Will Nintendo learn and adapt or continue to march to the beat of their own drum?
maverick40
Junior Member
Is the game good? It looks awesome!
Air Zombie Meat
Member
I really like it. If you're a fan of roguelikes I'd highly recommend it. It's basically a roguelike/top down shooter/2d zelda dungeon mashup with a twisted setting. Pretty cheap too!
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Is Nicalis a PS3/Vita licensee? So far all their games have been for Nintendo or open platforms... also, why is that article calling BOI a Team Meat game when it isn't?
I wish Nicalis would look into getting SMB on 3DS and Vita instead.
I wish Nicalis would look into getting SMB on 3DS and Vita instead.
No, that was Activision's call; they went to the ESRB with a version of the game that had that song in it and they were told it was going to receive an M-rating if that song was present. It's a weird situation since it actually appeared in another Activision game (Tony Hawk's Project 8), which would suggest that the tipping point was that a kid could sing along with it and be rewarded for it.
themadcowtipper
Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
It would most likely have to be changed to recieve an M rating. No way it makes it past the ESRB with anything other then AO the way the game is now..
You start playing and you're like, this sucks and then its 10 hours later and then you realize the incredible depth for such a simple looking game.
From what's been said about their content guidelines, this game would be denied faster on XBLIG!
Don't know what kind of content guidelines PS Suite operates under, but then I don't think we know a whole lot about PS Suite outside of the PS1 ports that have already been released.
It's pretty awesome and I don't even like the roguelike genre.
Backfoggen
Banned
What are you people smoking. Have you seen the games that have been rated AO in the past? Manhunt 2, San Andreas w/ Hot Coffee & a bunch of porn games.
There are no prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content and nudity in Binding of Isaac. It's twisted, yes but presented in a very crude comic art style. It would get an M rating max.
Uh, have you played the game? Like it's been said before in the thread, the entire thing is one prolonged scene of violence, almost every powerup does bodily harm to Isaac (nails through head, hanging himself, chopping off his head while the bloody stump of his neck bleeds on enemies) and there are literal vaginas walking around in the game. Not connected to a person but it doesn't change that they are in there. That certainly has to classify as nudity.
I literally can not think of one M rated game where you fight vaginas that bleed on you.
I demand they claim it should be accepted on the grounds that it is a "Period drama".
It's an excellent game. Team Meat just needs to slap some pants on issac so I can waste 20+ hours on the vita version.
Oh, fuck me. I owe you a pint, that was a cracker.
And make his mom an alien.
Colonel Mustard
Banned
Aaaaand there goes one of the leading points in your opening cutscene.
Isaac's mother strips him of everything because her god said so. Pants won't effect this not getting an AO rating.
Just buy this on Steam guys. It's only like $6 and you can have the experience as it should be.
All downloadable. SCEA had something against 2D retail games last gen. Considering Rayman Origins, they eased up on it. But last generation SCEA turned down Altered Beast PS2 for instance just for this reason.
Though don't know why some insist on censoring the game like toning down the blood or violence, when the only reason the game was not allowed on the 3DS eShop was because of the religious content.
And the only way to censor that was to change the entire story of the game.
Heck, it seems that Nintendo actually liked the game and had no problems with it, but it was the possible outcome, media war, lawsuits and protest what they tried to avoid. Heck, they got some hell in the 90s because of that Ocarina of Time song with some Islamic chant and the "OMG red blood"; just because the game was rated E.
Can't imagine the PR nightmare from them around a game that has a crazy/Bible/Christian mother killing his son because God told her to.
“All I know is they passed on it due to problems the religious aspects of the game might cause. I don't have details on what aspect of ‘religion’ they are most bothered by, but I did hear that they didn't care about any blasphemy in games, but cared more about religion period and how something based on the bible might effect things... honestly it was a pretty muddy response, but I did hear that religious games are far more bothersome than blasphemous ones, and the game being based on a story in the bible and being ‘by the book’ in a lot of ways could have actually been an issue.”
And the only way to censor that was to change the entire story of the game.
Heck, it seems that Nintendo actually liked the game and had no problems with it, but it was the possible outcome, media war, lawsuits and protest what they tried to avoid. Heck, they got some hell in the 90s because of that Ocarina of Time song with some Islamic chant and the "OMG red blood"; just because the game was rated E.
Can't imagine the PR nightmare from them around a game that has a crazy/Bible/Christian mother killing his son because God told her to.
WrenchNinja
Member
Huh, I thought they said they wouldn't deal with Sony after Super Meat Boy was rejected.
themadcowtipper
Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
They will probably say the samething after Sony passes on this.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
In their latest tweet they said that exclusivity with MS prevented that. Don't know how much truth there is to it.
AranhaHunter
Banned
I had completely forgotten you kill the pope in that game....and I platinumed it....:/
No shit. This game is five fucking dollars. Cheaper than it would ever be anywhere else. A goddamn TI-82 could run this. People are really willing to wait and than pay more just to play it on their console or portable?
They also recently tweeted that they have no beef with Sonly like everyone on the internet seem to think.
Many people (myself included) would love to be able to play it on a portable specifically. I have the PC version and have put over 30 hours into it but I would gladly pay for another copy to have it on a handheld.
I doubt many people are "waiting" to buy it because they want it on a console, but there have been plenty of people in this thread to say they would like to play it on the go.
??
Maybe I'm mixing things, but...
You don't and many actually whined about it because "after all that I couldn't kill him? he lets him alive?!"
Heck, he appears in Brotherhood and
is killed by someone else; with poison.
Just like the "rumors" around the real one's death back then:
It has been suggested that, having taken into account the unusual level of decomposition, Alexander VI was accidentally poisoned to death by his son, Cesare, with Cantarella (which had been prepared to eliminate Cardinal Adriano), although some commentaries doubt these stories and attribute the Pope's death to malaria, then prevalent in Rome, or to another such pestilence. The ambassador of Ferrara wrote to Duke Ercole that it was no wonder the Pope and the duke were sick because nearly everyone in Rome was ill because of bad air ("per la mala condictione de aere")
Yes. But considering Sony's first party games have contained 'edgy' subject matter, there's little reason to think they'd reject it.
Wake me up when Nintendo publishes a Heavy Rain.
One thing' is "edgy" and another is infanticide and bashing Christianity and religion openly; which are the reasons of the ban from the eShop. Or did you forgot that Sony recalled copies of LittleBigPlanet, right after shipping the game to stores and then delayed it; just to remove one -religious- song?
If Sony allows this game, good for them, but is not like Heavy Rain dealt with someone going to kill her son in the name of God just because; neither bashed religion openy and put them as lunatics.
That was specifically after a complaint from a user, not upon submission by Media Molecule.
Exactly.
That's why Nintendo decided to not allow this game, the religious themes "were too much" for others, not them.
As said through this thread and even I quoted again a few replies above, they had no problems with anything in the game (violence, blasphemy, etc...they liked the game); just that the religious themes of it might be too much for some.
Same way some were offended by the use of that song in LittleBigplanet, or even back then in Ocarina of Time and the "islamic chant in the Fire Temple"; they're just covering their bases.
Now, if someone else allows the game and noone minds and is a success, who knows if they'll allow it on the 3DS by then.
Just like back with Manhunt 2's AO rating, Reggie specifically pointed to that been a problem between the ESRB and Rockstar, and because the other manufacturers don't allow AO rated games, they don't either.. which is "normal".
*tip of the cap* Binding of Isaac creeps me out and I probably won't play it, but that line was well done.
I did get the soundtrack, I think as part of the first indie music bundle. "The Clubbing of Isaac" is a morbidly entertaining track title AND a catchy song.
You don't kill him, but the highlight of the that entire sequence is the entire tirade he goes on with regards to man's faith in God, where he flat-out calls those people morons for doing so.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
We already had a lot of "non-games" published by Nintendo, as "hardcore" gamers like to scream about.
Does that really surprise you? People feel more comfortable playing games on certain systems, and often, in certain environments. For many, the PC is a "last resort".