I think that some of the swears are added in there to make it more 'adult'. Look at the console game BMX XXX, with its 'Keep it Dirty' moniker. The game is supposed to be incredibly juvenile, with cuss words and nudity, and everything that a teen with his hormones raging might find appealing. The real problem here is that with all the nudity, nasty 'comedy', as well as just the concept of a 'dirty' BMX game, people do become desensitized to disgusting stuff the world puts out.
Shooters, on the other hand, are generally not very objectionable. Look at Deus Ex. That game, while having a modest amount of blood/gore, didn't exactly put an emphasis on killing and death. It was a shooter with intelligence, unlike Quake or Doom, or even Wolfenstein. You chose a path through the adventure, while finding ways to either kill or not kill. It might be best in a situation to just subdue an enemy with the butt of a gun, or with a tranqualizer dart.
The much anticipated XIII, based on a French graphic novel, doesn't even look particularly violent for a shooter. It's plot is that you wake up on a beach with the number XIII tatooed on your chest. Soon, you find out that you might have assassinated the president of the United States. This plot, believe it or not, is much like that of The Bourne Identity, and it should be treated as such. But, of course, the stinking ESRB, with its' fake ratings (which they are. Do a little research on it.), has to rate the game Mature, for 'Intense Violence' and 'Blood'. C'mon! The game is cel-shaded, for goodness sakes'! The blood looks just about as unrealistic as possible, without straying from red in the spectrum of color!
Basically, I think that these people, who rate games, do not, absolutely do not, know what they are talking about. Any shooter with blood, it seems like, that was released after the tragedy at Columbine High School and 9/11, is rated Mature. Even games that weren't originally rated as such, like No One Lives Forever, or Dungeon Siege, or even the new Rainbow Six games, have been re-rated as Mature. This makes absolutely no sense, and it needs, desperately, to be dealt with. But it won't, of course.
It really is a shame. All these great games are rated Mature, and for what? Halo was even originally rated Teen, if you look at the old ads. Just a sprinkle of red pixles, and you've got yerself a gen-u-ine Ma-ture ra-t-ed vid-eo game, mister. Well, whatever. I've given up fighting that system. There's no hope for a change nowadays.
Shooters, on the other hand, are generally not very objectionable. Look at Deus Ex. That game, while having a modest amount of blood/gore, didn't exactly put an emphasis on killing and death. It was a shooter with intelligence, unlike Quake or Doom, or even Wolfenstein. You chose a path through the adventure, while finding ways to either kill or not kill. It might be best in a situation to just subdue an enemy with the butt of a gun, or with a tranqualizer dart.
The much anticipated XIII, based on a French graphic novel, doesn't even look particularly violent for a shooter. It's plot is that you wake up on a beach with the number XIII tatooed on your chest. Soon, you find out that you might have assassinated the president of the United States. This plot, believe it or not, is much like that of The Bourne Identity, and it should be treated as such. But, of course, the stinking ESRB, with its' fake ratings (which they are. Do a little research on it.), has to rate the game Mature, for 'Intense Violence' and 'Blood'. C'mon! The game is cel-shaded, for goodness sakes'! The blood looks just about as unrealistic as possible, without straying from red in the spectrum of color!
Basically, I think that these people, who rate games, do not, absolutely do not, know what they are talking about. Any shooter with blood, it seems like, that was released after the tragedy at Columbine High School and 9/11, is rated Mature. Even games that weren't originally rated as such, like No One Lives Forever, or Dungeon Siege, or even the new Rainbow Six games, have been re-rated as Mature. This makes absolutely no sense, and it needs, desperately, to be dealt with. But it won't, of course.
It really is a shame. All these great games are rated Mature, and for what? Halo was even originally rated Teen, if you look at the old ads. Just a sprinkle of red pixles, and you've got yerself a gen-u-ine Ma-ture ra-t-ed vid-eo game, mister. Well, whatever. I've given up fighting that system. There's no hope for a change nowadays.