he Entertainment Software Rating Board has changed the rating assigned to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion from T to M. The content causing the ESRB to change the rating involves more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or "skin" that, if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters.
The ESRB says that a patch for the PC version of Oblivion that disables access to the topless skin file will be made available shortly. It will be posted in the near future at http://www.elderscrolls.com/.
"Parents across the country depend on ESRB ratings every day to make sensible choices about the games they bring home for their families," said ESRB president Patricia Vance. "Rating changes are extraordinarily rare, but if ever one does occur, ESRB recognizes that parents must be made aware of the change as quickly as possible so they are certain to have the most current and accurate information."
Oblivion will retain its current content descriptors for "Violence," "Blood and Gore," "Sexual Themes," "Language," and "Use of Alcohol," and the PC version will carry an additional content descriptor for "Nudity" until it can be re-mastered and released with the topless skin removed. The locked-out content is inaccessible on the Xbox 360 version of the game.
Retailers have already kick started an effort to get the new rating in effect at stores.
"When we were notified of the game's ratings change today, we alerted our member company representatives who communicated to their stores the change in the game's rating." said Hal Halpin, president of the IEMA.
"The effective change in sales policy was immediate. In fact, several major retailers changed the cash register prompt tied to the bar code of the game (a technology which prompts cashiers to ask for ID)."