OCT. 6, 2008 • Sega is working closely with the ESRB to ensure that its violent MadWorld game for the Wii gets no worse than an M rating when it releases next March. The publisher may not release the title in other markets until it examines consumer reaction to the U.S. release. Sega already doesn’t expect to market MadWorld in Japan, or other territories where extreme violence is an issue.
Impact: MadWorld is a black and white comic book-style game. The only color that appears in the game is red, for blood. It is sort of like that old joke about newspapers (what is black and white and red all over). For those that can get past the violence, MadWorld is one of the best looking games for the Wii. The question is how will the Wii demographic react to the type of violent title that is commonplace on the Xbox 360 and PS3. MadWorld will be an interesting test for mature content on the Wii.
