ESRB Clarifies Rating Info For Creepy Voyeuristic Title

Today video game news outlets all across the Web picked up on what is probably one of the most hilarious ESRB rating summaries to date. The ESRB later yanked the summary for Tecmo's PSP title Dead or Alive: Paradise, replacing it with one that fit the organization's usual standards of objectivity.

"The rating summary for Dead or Alive: Paradise was posted to our website in error," ESRB spokesman Eliot Mizarachi told GamePro. "We have since replaced that version with the corrected one. We recognize that the initial version improperly contained subjective language and that issue has been addressed. Our intention with rating summaries is to provide useful, detailed descriptions of game content that are as objective and informative as possible. However, they are ultimately written by people and, in this case, we mistakenly posted a rating summary that included what some could rightfully take to be subjective statements. We sincerely regret the error and will work to prevent this from happening again in the future.”

In other words, the text went from "This is a video game in which users watch grown women dressed in G-string bikinis jiggle their breasts while on a two-week vacation," to "This is a collection of mini-games, based on the Dead or Alive game series, in which players assume the role of a bikini-clad female character on vacation on a tropical island." Big difference. Below is the full text.

Before revisions:

"This is a video game in which users watch grown women dressed in G-string bikinis jiggle their breasts while on a two-week vacation. Women's breasts and butts will sway while playing volleyball, while hopping across cushions, while pole dancing, while posing on the ground, by the pool, on the beach, in front of the camera. There are other activities: Users can gamble inside a casino to win credits for shopping; they can purchase bathing suits, sunglasses, hats, clothing at an island shop; they can "gift" these items to eight other women in hopes of winning their friendship, in hopes of playing more volleyball. And as relationships blossom from the gift-giving and volleyball, users may get closer to the women, having earned their trust and confidence: users will then be prompted to zoom-in on their friends' nearly-naked bodies, snap dozens of photos, and view them in the hotel later that night. Parents and consumers should know that the game contains a fair amount of "cheesy," and at times, creepy voyeurism—especially when users have complete rotate-pan-zoom control; but the game also contains bizarre, misguided notions of what women really want (if given two weeks, paid vacation, island resort)—Paradise cannot mean straddling felled tree trunks in dental-floss thongs."

After revisions:

"This is a collection of mini-games, based on the Dead or Alive game series, in which players assume the role of a bikini-clad female character on vacation on a tropical island. Players engage in daily activities that can include hopping across floating pads on a pool and beach volleyball. Players earn credits after each activity that can be used to purchase new outfits, accessories, and gifts to give other female characters on the island. Players can earn additional credits at the island casino as they wager credit in slot machines and in games of poker and black jack. Some purchasable outfits include string bikinis, one-piece thongs, and sling bikinis. Sling bikinis and thongs often provide very little coverage of breast and bare buttocks. Throughout the game players can view characters engaging in variety of activities—pole dancing, stretching, gyrating to music, and climbing trees. Characters are frequently displayed in compromising position (e.g., buttocks up in the air, legs splayed open, straddling tree trucks, etc.) during these activities. These scenes can often feel voyeuristic as players control the camera to rotate, pan, and zoom in on various body parts as they photograph the characters in different poses."

They also forgot to emphasize that this "creepy voyeurism" game is a portable title. The ESRB should issue a warning: Avoid the guy on your next flight with a copy of DoA: Paradise and a large book over his lap.