Hey, you forgot to mention the glittering sunbeams and assortment of friendly forest creatures that appear every time I wake up. :P

Phoenix Wright could NEVER EVER EVER EVER be "M." Ok, the whole Dahlia thing was kind of intense at times, but even that doesn't compare to those other games. And at first, I was surprised that MGS4 didn't make the list, but as horrible as the B&B gang's stories are, they're only really as bad as your imagination can paint them. Eternal Darkness? Eh... It's more like a lite version of Resident Evil (except when you're playing REALLY freaking late at night and a dog comes into the room very silently and freaks out and starts barking XD).

I can see why they put SMT together, but I can't really think of anything in P3 that was truly horrible. In fact, compared to EP... There is a LOT of messed up shit that goes down in EP, especially as you get towards the end. I'm still really surprised it didn't get "M." Then again, it's more telling than showing, so that's probably why.

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This was a really good article. It makes a lot of points that I would have to agree with. I do like the fact that they included Phoenix Wright as an honorable mention.

Jennifer - They made the point of stating that it isn't just about the blood and sex early in the article. That said, there were some games mentioned that contained those items. What made them point out those games though was the fact they dealt with mature themes as well.

I see Phoenix Wright as a game that basically stares back at me and says, "Yeah. We wrote a game that isn't going to treat you like a kid in middle school." While P.W. might not have the on-screen violence and nudity, its maturity level comes from its ability to share mature themes from inside a lighthearted shell. The main characters are do-gooders that have to deal with the events life hands them. When they are upset, we feel for them. When they are happy, we are happy. All of this typically goes on whilst someone has been murdered!

I do not believe a game has to have shock value in order to be considered mature. Blood, guts, and boobs are one thing - but a game that simply asks something to the order of "what is the meaning of life?" and tries to define it is also a game that is considered mature.

I like having games that treat me like I am 30 years old by taking themselves seriously more-so than those that fall to one side ("kiddified" to disguise anything serious) or overboard (blood and sex). I enjoyed playing Persona 3 as it does not feel the need to hold back in order to keep things geared towards a PG-13 audience like say a Final Fantasy series game would.

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Yeah, I can see that. I guess I'm looking at it from how I saw some of the ESRB report things being considered, on the game I worked on. They put more value on graphic depictions, rather than text depictions, which doesn't really seem like it gives an accurate depiction of the game. For the game I worked on, if you take it as a whole, some pretty violent, twisted things happen at every turn. There's human and creature sacrifices, suicide, LOTS of blood, possession by evil spirits, world destruction, religious conflicts, and on and on. But, since they're for the most part described and not shown, it doesn't count as much towards the final rating. So I can see how games like PW show a more serious side to gaming, but after seeing some of what goes into obtaining a rating, it's hard to think of anything that would've bumped it up to "M."

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