I've said this many times and been of this feeling for quite sometime, and I've finally decided to put it into text and on the internet. Of course we all know that the ESRB is the board that rates video games for content (as the MPAA does for movies). The problem is, well, they're very bad at it. I think it's great that they try to give parents an idea of what's in a game and what to watch for, but they keep putting out bad representations and strong inconsistencies. Needless to say, it needs some serious fixing.
Halo is one of the best examples of these inconsistencies. The whole series seems relatively innocent to me, compared to many games out there. There is relatively little blood in the game, and where there is it is of a very cheesy and fake style. There is hardly any bad language at all in the series, and sexual immoralities are nonexistant. There are plenty of T rated games that I think take a much more "mature" person to play than Halo does. Call of Duty, even, seems more intesne and such than Halo (yes I know 4 was rated M but I'm talking more about 2 here). It surprised me that Halo 1 was M, but by the time 3 got around I was really pretty surprised that the series was still holding t he M rating. I think bungie got jipped big time on that rating.
Another glaring example against the ESRB is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It was originally rated T byt the ESRB, then all of a sudden they decide to change it several months after it hit the shelves! The reason is even worse. They changed the rating because of a mod to the game that could be added on the PC version to add nudity when the player removes the equipment from a downed NPC. A mod! What's even worse about this is that they changed the rating on both the PC and 360 versions, even though the 360 version was completely unaffected by this. The game also held the rating on its PS3 release. Honestly I think this is incredibly stupid and a glaring demote on the ESRB's record.
My final point in this is what the ratings imply. A T rating should be somewhat analogous to a PG-13 movie rating, should it not? Problem is, the whole rating system seems to be off a level. I tend to see T rated games as being similar to PG movies in terms of content. Likewise most M games seems similar to PG-13 movies, with just a few of them really falling off into that R category. Why is this?
Case in point, the ESRB needs a serious overhall. With so many messed up things I can't believe they still hold as much prestige as they do. It amazes me that sometimes they don't even pick up the game and play it before they rate it. Many games are rated purely by a form submitted by the developer listing things that may be questionable. This is a very bad system that needs to be repaired soon so it can do what it was actually designed to do.