The Video Game Critic

[QUOTE=mako]I haven't been following Nintendo's growth much but Conker's Bad Fur Day is a rather lackluster platformer. It may have its fair share of humor elements but forcing the player to re-do the same exercise for three or four times really gets monotonous. Basically, Conker had the potential to become a worthwhile platformer but alas that's not what we received.[/QUOTE]

Conker's Bad Fur Day was one of my favorites of all time.  I still have fond memories of fighting an opera-singing pooball with corn for teeth, and all the clever movie parodies.

Rare had to fight tooth and nail with Nintendo to get Conker released apparantly.

Rare had to fight tooth and nail with Nintendo to get Conker released apparantly.

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I know, but that's something I don't get.  Nintendo basically didn't want it but eventually allowed it to be released for the most part uncensored.  But Microsoft clearly wanted it for their XBOX, yet the game came out with a few parts censored (such as some of the pooball's profanity).  Is it just because Microsoft wanted to reach a wider audience with a lesser rating?

Since we have nixed anything dark or violent as being mature what exactly makes a game mature?  Being bright and colorful with lots of collecting coins?  I'm sorry but gears or ghost recon are mature game, especially ghost recon since it's quite tactical. 

I think when something tries too hard to be mature it often ceases to be mature. Gears of War is a great example. The dialogue is sophomoric. Sure, soldiers are going to swear, I accept that. But sometimes the Gears folk use language that sounds more like what I would hear in a college dorm than in a military barracks.

My wife made a great comment about the Gears of War characters: the constant vulgarity makes them seem less heroic, and I would agree.

It isn't about any hard and fast rules, SSX. I think many of us feel that sometimes game designers and writers (writing for games is such an important skill, yet it is still in its infancy. Only BioWare does it really well on a consistent basis) over-compensate which comes off as ridiculous.

For what it's worth, here is a list of games that I think would count as truly mature, not based on rating but on substance:

KOTOR I and II

Fire Emblem (Sure, it is a cartoony presentation, but the plot and dialogue are surprisingly well written)

Oblivion

Marrowind

And there are many games that are "sort of" mature with elements of camp (which is what most games are). Some are more balanced toward maturity while others go the other way.

-Rob