It's the age-old battle that's been ravishing this planet since blah blah blah...you know the drill. We're here to try to put a nail in the coffin over this debate: Is the Nintendo Wii “Kiddish”?
It was a question that began heated arguments between the two of us, most of them ending up with someone on the floor, bleeding. Eventually Krische began to wonder the actual percentages of ratings for each console, so he decided to have me take a look at all the Wii, 360, and PS3 games that have already been rated by the ESRB as of June 19, 2007, and then tally under two categories: E (for everyone) and T/M (for Teen/Mature). I agreed to it, and decided upon using the Wikipedia articles that had a complete list for each systems library. Now, although I was supposed to only tally those with clear ESRB ratings, I would like to come clean now and say that there were a few games where it was obviously clear on what their ratings would be, so I gave a tally under the appropriate spot (i.e. a first person shooter located in Hell for the PS3, or the latest Disney installment for all platforms).
What I found didn’t really surprise me, as I’m sure it wouldn’t surprise any real gamer, or perhaps even the casual gamer. The Wii totaled to 121 games that had clear ratings, with 75 of them rated E and 46 that were rated T/M. The Xbox 360 tallied in at 214 games, 84 being E and 130 being T/M. Lastly was the PS3, which tallied in at 99 games, 32 games rated E and 67 T/M.
So what does that really mean? Well, it all depends on how you want to look at it. This doesn’t necessarily prove anything, and this article is just to show an unbalanced look at the facts. Take it with a grain of salt, do with it what you will, and afterwards we’re going to have each of us comment on what we think this really proves.
Kerr’s Afterthoughts:
The ratings are supposed to mean who can play, so when I see an E, I think everyone, not just kids. It’s not like we’re talking about games that are rated EC (Early Childhood), which are clearly targeted for children, but we’re talking about games that are rated E or E10+, and I just don’t see that as necessarily being for kids. Besides, we’re talking about the Nintendo Wii here, who’s clear demographic is to snag up the non-gamers, in fact, they’ve stated this over and over again. This is people of the mostly older ages, who are just too scared to pick up a controller. Point in case, their commercials. See a bunch of kids running around playing the Wii? Not really, you see mostly young adults and some older ones, too. ‘sall I’m trying to say.
Krische's Afterthoughts:
My general logic is this: a movie rated G would be considered to be geared towards kids; a television show rated Y would be considered to be geared towards kids. So is it not safe to assume that a game rated E is geared towards kids. However, they do all go along the same principle that they can still be enjoyed by an older audience. So perhaps this debate has no clear and concise solution. In the end, I came to a sort of revelation. What does it matter? If you enjoy the type of games on a console, then buy it! I, for example, am attracted to the gore/violence of T and M rated games. Whereas, someone else my same age may be attracted to more toned down games that are rated E. So really, just play the games you like and don't play the ones you don't.