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Best Buy to supplant the ESRB?

LibrarianThorneLibrarianThorne Registered User regular
edited July 2008 in Games and Technology
This is pretty crazy news. So, iv you hop on over to Best Buy, you'll see that three DS games have been rerated by the big box retailer. Final Fantasy IV, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, and Myst have all been rated Mature by Best Buy.

This is a strange move, to be certain, and unprecedented. Especially since the ESRB ratings for those three games are nowhere near M. FFIV and Myst are rated E, and Trauma Center has a T rating.

There's no word on whether or not this is just a mistake or an intentional act on the part of Best Buy. If you look at Best Buy's site, all three games have had their box art photoshopped to give the M rating. If it is intentional, the fireworks from the ESRB come tomorrow will be really interesting.

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    metaghostmetaghost An intriguing odor A delicate touchRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    It's already been changed.

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    randombattlerandombattle Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Probably just a mistake.

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    An AngelAn Angel __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2008
    Wasn't a mistake, no one just purposefully changes ESRB ratings like that.

    Best Buy was fucking ruthless.

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    mspencermspencer PAX [ENFORCER] Council Bluffs, IARegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I always thought those ESRB ratings and rating logo graphics were trademarks, and that you had to obtain permission from the ESRB to apply them. I believe this is why games can't say "we believe we are rated T" and self-rate and not seek input from the ESRB -- they are not allowed to use the ESRB's trademarks yet.

    Do you have any links to photographs of these re-rated game boxes?

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    slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Yeah the bestbuy website checks out fine on the ratings

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    PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    slash000 wrote: »
    Yeah the bestbuy website checks out fine on the ratings

    I just looked too out of curiosity and those games have the correct ratings on their site.

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    Pajama_ManPajama_Man Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    LibrarianThorne wrote: »
    This is pretty crazy news. So, iv you hop on over to Best Buy, you'll see that three DS games have been rerated by the big box retailer. Final Fantasy IV, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, and Myst have all been rated Mature by Best Buy.

    So you've already went to a B&M Best Buy store and saw the games rated "M" with with your very own eye on the shelf?

    Seems like a printed mistake on the ads, happens a lot.

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    DisruptorX2DisruptorX2 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Pajama_Man wrote: »
    LibrarianThorne wrote: »
    This is pretty crazy news. So, iv you hop on over to Best Buy, you'll see that three DS games have been rerated by the big box retailer. Final Fantasy IV, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, and Myst have all been rated Mature by Best Buy.

    So you've already went to a B&M Best Buy store and saw the games rated "M" with with your very own eye on the shelf?

    Seems like a printed mistake on the ads, happens a lot.

    My copy of Starcraft says M on the cover.

    DisruptorX2 on
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    MarvellousMMarvellousM United StatesRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I just asked my wife to pinch me. Yes, I am awake. Yes, this thread actually exists.

    MarvellousM on
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    DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    DisruptorX2 wrote: »
    My copy of Starcraft says M on the cover.

    It was rerated.

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    LibrarianThorneLibrarianThorne Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    It does seem like this is much ado about nothing, but I went to the source article (culled from Joystiq, who got this from MGSOLID) and got this image:

    bestbuymatureadqq5.jpg


    Which is apparently from today's Best Buy flyer. Does anyone have a physical copy they can confirm with?

    LibrarianThorne on
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    ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    DisruptorX2 wrote: »
    My copy of Starcraft says M on the cover.

    It was rerated.

    I can't decide if I want to be gullible or stupid

    how do I choose

    Zombiemambo on
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    MonstyMonsty Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I checked the ads and they DO say M. Big whoop?

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    JastJast Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Best Buy supplanting the ESRB, sounds awesome! I hope this is true, because then we can have ratings wars!

    Jast on
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    randombattlerandombattle Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I think people are looking into this a bit too much.

    I seriously don't think BB is trying to "supplant" the ESRB..

    randombattle on
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    DisruptorX2DisruptorX2 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    This is a good thing, as I only buy mature rated games, for mature gamers such as myself.

    DisruptorX2 on
    1208768734831.jpg
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    khainkhain Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    LibrarianThorne wrote: »
    It does seem like this is much ado about nothing, but I went to the source article (culled from Joystiq, who got this from MGSOLID) and got this image:

    bestbuymatureadqq5.jpg


    Which is apparently from today's Best Buy flyer. Does anyone have a physical copy they can confirm with?

    If you look at the Weekly Ad on their website it shows an M, but I suspect that the problem is some one gave them a incorrect version of the box art.

    khain on
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    Dareth RamDareth Ram regular
    edited July 2008
    how can Best Buy supplant the ESRB with the ESRB's OWN rating system?

    Seriously, use your brains.

    Dareth Ram on
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    MonstyMonsty Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Maybe, for some reason, they didn't get the ratings and decided to go high as that would cause less problems than going low.

    *Cue mysterious music*

    Let's deeply analyze this in all of its excruciating minutia.

    Monsty on
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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Best Buy, in my experience, was never good about their DS selection to begin with. They pretty much carry things that are rated E and, if lucky, some T rated games. I'm shocked that they're carrying Trauma Center 2 and Myst at all.

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    kriegskriegs Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Man, you should work for Fox News, LibrarianThorne.

    kriegs on
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    EvilBadmanEvilBadman DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    This thread is fucking retarded.

    EvilBadman on
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    FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2008
    Looks like someone just made an oops with the ESRB ratings (I think on their side, they may only have the box art, since they are a multinational company, and the rating for the site/ads is applied when the ads are constructed).

    Otherwise you can't use the ESRB rating system unless they let you, it's trademarked. Much like how that's why the gaming industry doesn't use the G/PG/PG-13/R system, that's trademarked by the MPAA.

    FyreWulff on
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    ZercofZercof Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    No physical copy (had one at work) but w/e. I'm not planning on getting/playing any of them, so I don't really care.. idk :?

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