Or so says Polygon.

Was anyone here ever affected by Halo's M rating? I never was and I certainly started playing it a bit before I "should have." Destiny's T rating amuses me though, since I now have a piece of fan fiction higher rated than the game it's based on. :)

"No gambling". No random loot in exchange for investment. Your apprehensions are finally put to rest. :p

Or so says Polygon.

Was anyone here ever affected by Halo's M rating? I never was and I certainly started playing it a bit before I "should have." Destiny's T rating amuses me though, since I now have a piece of fan fiction higher rated than the game it's based on. :)

I always thought M was a little high for Halo. Other than the kinda gross flood, they didn't really do much on gore, and there wasn't much profanity to speak of (Xbox live is another thing). I've kinda viewed Halo on the same level as Star Wars. Both bluelings have been playing Halo from an early age and they're both...well, they might not be the best example.

Or so says Polygon.

Was anyone here ever affected by Halo's M rating? I never was and I certainly started playing it a bit before I "should have." Destiny's T rating amuses me though, since I now have a piece of fan fiction higher rated than the game it's based on. :)

I always thought M was a little high for Halo. Other than the kinda gross flood, they didn't really do much on gore, and there wasn't much profanity to speak of (Xbox live is another thing). I've kinda viewed Halo on the same level as Star Wars. Both bluelings have been playing Halo from an early age and they're both...well, they might not be the best example.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

huh, i never would have guessed it was because of the flood. That is really interesting.

huh, i never would have guessed it was because of the flood. That is really interesting.

Then why are ODST, Reach, and Halo 4 rated M? No flood in those.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

And for Reach?

huh, i never would have guessed it was because of the flood. That is really interesting.

Then why are ODST, Reach, and Halo 4 rated M? No flood in those.

good point.

huh, i never would have guessed it was because of the flood. That is really interesting.

Then why are ODST

Marty's dancing.

Reach

You can see Halo 1 in the distance during the credits.

Halo 4

Composer.

huh, i never would have guessed it was because of the flood. That is really interesting.

Then why are ODST, Reach, and Halo 4 rated M? No flood in those.

Good question. No clue. (Never asked.)

- No text -

If you look on the ESRB website, it has detailed descriptions for most of the games. It looks like the decided factor is probably the blood effects and vocal feedback when characters are shot.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=29447&Title=Halo%3A%20Reach

"Characters are occasionally impaled on glowing swords, and aliens can be seen stabbing fallen figures during some battle sequences. Gun fights are highlighted by realistic gunfire sound effects, explosions, and screams of pain. Human and alien characters emit spurts of blood when injured; players are able to shoot dead enemies, causing more blood to splash out. Blood is sometimes depicted on the walls and ground."

From what I can remember, there isn't much/any blood or cries of pain in Destiny.

huh, i never would have guessed it was because of the flood. That is really interesting.

Then why are ODST

Marty's dancing.

Reach

You can see Halo 1 in the distance during the credits.

Halo 4

Composer.

Thank you Super Fooper, good stuff.

Clearly, non-glowing swords would merely have earned a 'T' rating.

- No text -

Shooting characters: ok
Stabbing characters: ok
Throwing knives into characters: ok
Running over characters: ok
Blowing up characters with grenades: ok
Glowing swords: THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Then again, plastic lightsaber battles at my house do tend to get out of hand.

Or so says Polygon.

Was anyone here ever affected by Halo's M rating?

Chortle. Yeah, they told me that it was rated Mature, so I shouldn't let me my kids play it.

I'm actually slightly disappointed with the news. I kind of wanted a story that wasn't afraid to go to dark places, but speaking of dark places, I had just as much anxiety roaming the abandoned buildings in the alpha as I ever felt facing the flood, including the first time.

But ratings are weird.

BTW, I do consider Reach and even ODST more adult games than the original Halo. Can't say why exactly.

Reach had Kat's death. ODST had... Sadie's Story?

Reach had Kat's death. ODST had... Sadie's Story?

Yeah, and see, I loved that. I know they're going for that original Star Wars vibe, which is awesome. After seeing what games can do over the past several years, though, I was kind of hoping for more mature fare.

Then again, the original Star Wars vibe … YES.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

And for Reach?

Wasn't there some comment about torture along with some blood trails?

Would love to play with my niece and nephew but don't want to show a disregard for the rating since I believe in parents paying attention to them.

I always thought M was a little high for Halo. Other than the kinda gross flood, they didn't really do much on gore, and there wasn't much profanity to speak of (Xbox live is another thing). I've kinda viewed Halo on the same level as Star Wars. Both bluelings have been playing Halo from an early age and they're both...well, they might not be the best example.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

Never really understood that.

Flood don't even bleed red, most of them aren't even human, and later in the series, aren't even humanoid anymore. (Red blood seems to have been an issue for previous games in markets sensitive to violence.)

The fluctuations over time in what constitutes M or T seem to be quite large.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

And for Reach?

Probably just inertia. Once a series gets classified, I'm guessing things don't get changed unless there's seen to be a fundamental shift in the series itself.

I sort of doubt the ratings body is bothering to ensure people are blind about that sort of thing-- not knowing who makes a game or what previous entries in the series are rated-- which, strictly speaking, they probably should be.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

And for Reach?

Probably just inertia. Once a series gets classified, I'm guessing things don't get changed unless there's seen to be a fundamental shift in the series itself.

I sort of doubt the ratings body is bothering to ensure people are blind about that sort of thing-- not knowing who makes a game or what previous entries in the series are rated-- which, strictly speaking, they probably should be.

Really though? If I'm 13, I get Halo: ODST because it's only 'T' and I like it, am I not going to want to play the other Halos? But if following the ESRB guidelines I'd have to wait another 4 years!

I always thought M was a little high for Halo. Other than the kinda gross flood, they didn't really do much on gore, and there wasn't much profanity to speak of (Xbox live is another thing). I've kinda viewed Halo on the same level as Star Wars. Both bluelings have been playing Halo from an early age and they're both...well, they might not be the best example.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

Never really understood that.

Flood don't even bleed red, most of them aren't even human, and later in the series, aren't even humanoid anymore. (Red blood seems to have been an issue for previous games in markets sensitive to violence.)

Yeah, but some of them are human. Deformed. Limbs and even heads are able to be blown off by players pre- and postmortem. The green-grey 'blood' evokes rotting and disease in animals.

The fluctuations over time in what constitutes M or T seem to be quite large.

Not that age scales are that great to begin with but the ESRB scale is messed up: 10, 13.... 17, 18 - wtf?
PEGI (Europe) is 7, 12, 16, 18 and BBFC (UK) is PG, 12, 15, 18.

Halo was always rated 16 by PEGI and 15 by BBFC. Both boards actually use their 18+ category. Whereas AO in ESRB is basically a death-sentence since no stores will carry AO games.

As another point of comparison, Gears of War got 18 classification in PEGI and BBFC, but M(17+) in ESRB. Only because that's the highest ESRB can give it without effectively banning it.

Or so says Polygon.

Was anyone here ever affected by Halo's M rating? I never was and I certainly started playing it a bit before I "should have." Destiny's T rating amuses me though, since I now have a piece of fan fiction higher rated than the game it's based on. :)

I always thought M was a little high for Halo. Other than the kinda gross flood, they didn't really do much on gore, and there wasn't much profanity to speak of (Xbox live is another thing). I've kinda viewed Halo on the same level as Star Wars. Both bluelings have been playing Halo from an early age and they're both...well, they might not be the best example.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

It was actually the political climate, post 9/11, I believe. You can still find images of the Halo: CE box art with a T-rating out there in the wild. Or on Google.

- No text -

I recall an old HBO discussion over an some bit of news that revealed that Halo CE was given an M rating due to the player's ability to shoot and batter helpless marines to death with realist human blood splatter. This is true in all Halo games so that could explain why they'd all be rated M at a minimum.

Just an old tidbit I remember, but information could've emerged later to invalidate it. Or I might be off my rocker.

seems legit to me.

- No text -

- No text -

It was the dismembering of flood that got us the M. We removed the blood splatter (from everything) because hitting T was important back then, since some chains (like Walmart) wouldn't carry an M rated game.

After the ESRB saw a human combat form having bits blown off of it, it was "remove the flood or get an M". So we took the M and put all the blood splatter back in because screw you guys.

As for ODST and Reach, it didn't matter by that point, so I don't think any effort was made for T.

I can't help but wonder about future games, and whether there will be a perceived need to maintain a teen rating.

It was the Flood that earned Halo that M.

And for Reach?

Probably just inertia. Once a series gets classified, I'm guessing things don't get changed unless there's seen to be a fundamental shift in the series itself.

I sort of doubt the ratings body is bothering to ensure people are blind about that sort of thing-- not knowing who makes a game or what previous entries in the series are rated-- which, strictly speaking, they probably should be.

Really though? If I'm 13, I get Halo: ODST because it's only 'T' and I like it, am I not going to want to play the other Halos? But if following the ESRB guidelines I'd have to wait another 4 years!

I'm not saying there's not a good reason for there to be that kind of continuity.

I am saying that the shoestring way the ESRB operates, there is no guarantee there will be any. The reviewers who see a sequel publsihed ten years after the original will not be the same ones who reviewed the original, and operating the way they do, they don't have the resources to make reviewers look at older games as well as newer ones-- they barely have the resources to complete modern games and see all the content as it is, to say nothing of the challenges of reviewing sandbox games.