MadWorld, for the Wii, will keep the blood.

October 8th, 2008 at 12:00 pm · 1 Comment

by Eoco

Oh it’s a MadWorld isn’t it? Not really.

Crushingly poor jokes aside, a report on MTV Multiplayer has revealed that Sega are working closely with the ESRB to make sure that their monochromatic ultra-violent, blood fest, avoids an Adult Only (or AO for you hip youngsters) rating.

Funny pant suits, and new MadWorld video and screenshots, after the jump.

If the ESRB rate a game ‘AO’, they have effectively banned it. None of the console publishers will allow an AO game to be published for their console, and many stores wouldn’t stock it even if they did. Just look at Manhunt in the UK, which is releasing soon, and you’ll see just how fiddly-diddly AO ratings can be.

Apparently the ESRB regularly receives builds of the game as Sega wants to make them feel “part of the process” in the development of MadWorld and doesn’t want to surprise them, though personally I think that would be quite funny.

ESRB Person Sporting a Beige Suit: So as you can see, my book, ‘Photocopying in the Modern Workplace’, will cater to both manual and automatic loading photocopiers-

Sega: Boo! Madworld!

ESRB Person Sporting a Beige Suit: Ahhh, what a surprise this is!

[Falls of chair into a pile of A4, margined, lined, hole-punched paper each with emblazoned with a Paper Sheet ID Number]

In other MadWorld news, the game was not playable at the Nintendo’s Fall Media Summit because Sega are re-thinking the control scheme. I guess shaking the Wiimote as hard as possible in order to move forwards wasn’t such a good idea eh Sega?

In yet more MadWorld news, the Sin City lookalike may not launch in Japan, despite developer Platinum Games being based there with Sega saying they want to ensure it’s a Western success when it launches in March 2009, before it they consider a Japanese launch. Other countries that may not have their store shelves graced with fresh delicious copies of MadWorld include Australia and Germany, presumably because of problematic releases of violent games in the past.

As if three pieces of news wasn’t enough, we also have a screenshot gallery below and an embedded gameplay video. You might begin to see why an AO rating is in the balance when you see a man thrown into a jet engine, or grated along the side of a moving train…personally, I can’t wait!