Tomonobu Itagaki Feels Ratings are Good for Gaming Industry

Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki and self proclaimed “Gaming’s Rockstar” has recently stated that he personally does not feel feel “censored” by ratings boards, and believes that organizations that strive to classify games into a rating system are “positive for videogames as a whole”.During the interview, Itagaki brought up the recent Manhunt 2 controversy. “First of all,” he says, “it’s very difficult to classify what people find offensive or what people find to be too violent only in words – in rules and regulations. The second point is, that being said, I don’t believe the adage that the artist should be able to express whatever he wants is necessarily applicable in this case, because we’re creating entertainment. And entertainment shouldn’t include things that make people feel uncomfortable or extremely upset. The third point would be that people out there that want to create something that is very far removed from societal norms and the moral sensibilities of the general public … They’re unfortunate, and I don’t want to be grouped in with that group of people.”

Says the man behind the Dead or Alive games…….

Itagaki also stated that because of the fact that the ESRB and the PEGI are working to understand public reactions to violence and rate games accordingly is “something that’s good for the industry”. He then uses an example of how different people respond to decapitation – a feature that was removed from Xbox title Ninja Gaiden in PAL territories.

“Some people might think of decapitation as being excessively violent,” he admits. But say from a Japanese perspective, when you decapitate someone you’re killing them instantly. So from a Japanese perspective, with the sword, when you decapitate somebody you’re basically giving them a very quick and easy death.” Itagaki went on to mention that he believes that “belly slits” should not be included in video games because such a maneuver would cause the fallen to die a “slow and agonising death”.

Itagaki feels that there should be specific guidelines for a developer to follow, and while he supports the ratings boards, he has never felt censored by them. “I understand that from a player’s perspective, it might look like there are these organizations out there that are keeping the creators from creating what they want to, but I never feel like I’m being censored in the strictest sense.”

During the course of the interview, he made a few other points and one of them was the terrible job that the ratings board was doing in Japan. You can get more of the interview by clicking on the link at the end of the post. However, before I wrap things up, I wanted to mention that it took me forever to find a picture of Itagaki without his signature sunglasses on. Supposedly, he wears them to keep from being “read” during poker games, but if that were true, he would take them off in public, right? Anyway, I finally found one and I posted it below. He sure looks strange without his facial attire, but then again, maybe it is because we are so used to seeing him with them on.

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz