Today I’m starting on something that has to be done for every project: the ESRB ratings submission. As most of you know, that means I have to make a list of anything objectionable in the game, along with video footage and a build of the game, so that the ESRB can decide what the game will be rated. This normally doesn’t take too much time at all. Contra 4, for example, involved some gunfire, aliens blowing up, and an intestinal tract composed entirely of human corpses. Nothing too crazy. However, I’m obviously on the Silent Hill series as well, and that makes things a little more complicated.

A lot of people seem to think the ESRB makes judgment on what you can or can’t include in a game – that’s not the case. They’re not there to dictate content, just to look at what’s in the game and decide how serious that is, and how appropriate it is for different ages of gamer, according to set guidelines. It’s not hard to figure out what your game will be rated (SH:SM is most likely a Mature game), but you have to be honest and track down all the content pertinent to the rating. In a game like Silent Hill Homecoming that’s a tremendous undertaking… yet in Shattered Memories we have the Psych Profile system, where the game watches you and changes based on who you are. That adds a new element of stress to creating the ESRB submission. Silent Hill can show a lot of different horrors to a lot of different people—and I get to account for them all. Yikes!

It’s one thing to work with a developer to create a system where each player sees something different… and another to try and remember all those little variations and remember where to capture video to find them, and how many twists on a single element exist, etc. It’s one of those stressful situations where it’s just so much detail it’s hard to know where to start.

The kicker is that at my previous job, the company primarily released RPGs about demons, and I had to do a lot of ESRB submissions on that series. Since being at Konami I’ve been in charge of the submissions for both Origins and Homecoming. I just can’t catch a break with these! It doesn’t help that I feel a bit dirty after digging up all the “worst” parts of a game for display. Takes a few showers to wash the submission off.

Well, at least now you know we didn’t skimp on the mature content. Sigh.

To take Silent Hill in the opposite direction, from “objectionable content” to “adorable stuffed toy,” here’s a picture of the Pyramid Head doll that Konami’s Associate Web Manager, Dani De Wald, made for my birthday. It’s hard to imagine this little guy brutalizing two hand-woven mannequin demons, isn’t it? It was a pretty good birthday, and the best one that I’d had in a long time. Brandis Dutton (Head of Customer Support), got a bunch of my friends together for a party at work, a big dinner out, and then a night of Rock Band at Simon Lai’s (my Contra 4 partner-in-crime) house. It was kind of a Konami-and-friends shindig.

So, personal gifts like Pyramid Head here are really special. First off, whoever made or commissioned them put some effort into creating a gift just for YOU. So it’s different than a gift you ask for or something they got off your online wish list… they associate whatever that gift is with some specific quality of yours. And then, of course, you appreciate the gift in a different way because someone poured a bit of themself into it. It makes it easy to associate that gift with the circumstances surrounding its giving. I know whenever I look at Pyramid Head I’ll remember my awesome birthday (as well as James Sunderland’s crippling guilt, but mostly the first thing).

Silent Hill is a mysterious place; maybe all of this will make sense one day!

Oh wow, I was about to finish this blog and I got a new vocal song from Yamaoka-san! This one’s called “When You’re Gone” …and I think you’re going to like it.

-Tomm

source: SHSM Blog – Now I know ESRB’s, next time won’t you play with me? | 07/18/2009