ESRB?

[psydswipe]

Question on the ESRB ratings since I've submitted a few on edits. I've been using ESRB.com but now I've noticed they don't always match what is on the original box. It appears they switched all of the K-A ratings on their website to Everyone. So is it wrong to submit Everyone as the rating if the box has K-A? Of course, you have to find the box first but maybe it's better not to fill it in if it cannot be confirmed from an image? A couple of examples are Arena: Maze of Death and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, both for Sega Game Gear. Always a possibility a box image is wrong, though I don't think that occurs too often.

[scott]

Yeah, the rating that we list should be the rating on the box. If they update the ratings on subsequent releases, then those would receive the updated rating.

[scott]

Also, Some games have rating variations to them. I know one of the Mega Man games for Game Boy has both a K-A rating and a version with an E rating. Then there is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which I believe have an M and an AO rating.

[jonathonstriker]

yo scott, M and AO are two different ratings. GTA: San An had that prob because of the "hot coffee" incident that led to its recall, and while the box may say M, this is probably one game that should have a duplicate to reflect the older version that had the "mod" and got recalled as an AO, and the re-released true M rated game.

As for the K-A rating, like you said with mega man, K-A was the old rating before it got changed to E. I think both should be acceptably, and maybe even just put something in the rating like "E [Everyone] (K-A [Kids to Adults])". Maybe that is too confusing, but technically, all K-A games are now E games, and will reflect that if and when it is re-released.

[scott]

@jonathonstriker Oh yeah, I know AO and M are two different ratings. I was just trying to make a quick explanation.

The Mega Man game I was talking about was Mega Man II for Game Boy, which was originally released without a rating, then it was released as a Players Choice title and rated K-A, then it was re-released again with the Players Choice, but with it updated to an E rating. Thus causing two variants of the Players Choice version of the game. Which would then be listed separately.

[jonathonstriker]

I see. I still think it is redundant since E and K-A are technically the same as far as the drop box option, but I see your way too, so I guess that is cool.

[matt]

All of our items needs to list what was printed on the box. If it was K-A at that time, K-A it is. Just trying to keep things as accurate as possible regardless of whether they have been updated since then.