Ever think it's a bit odd that a girl in a bikini can be shown on daytime TV no problem
- but, when a game does it, it's suddenly a big issue?
Well, today we'll be taking a special look at this and some of the other contradictions
between these different mediums.
First up.
Picture the scene... you go into a convenience store and walk past the magazine aisle, you
glace at the magazines at what do you see?
Now, in most parts of the Western world you're gonna see plenty of this.... tits, ass and
lots of it.
Even 'sports' magazines can feature a sexy, half naked girl on the cover.
Heck, sex sells so this stuff can be found everywhere...
Now let's change things us and go to the local video game place instead.
Let's take a look at what games they have.
Ok, so they've got a Senran Kagura game - cool.
This is one of those very fan service-y action games from Japan - and, naturally, the girls
on the cover are quite suggestive and are wearing bikinis... but, something is a bit
off...
Taking a closer look we can see that the girls are actually wearing two layers of bikinis
- kinda strange right?
Looking again at one of the magazines from earlier and seeing just how sexual things
can get, this might seem really out of place for those of you familiar with the lewd nature
of the game.
So what's the deal here?
Well, over in Japan, it's different.
Here we have the girls' chests as the focus point of the cover, as should probably be
expected.
So why wasn't it like this in the US release?
Censorship - that's why.
And this is a type of censorship that seems to only be such a massive problem with games.
Earlier in year, Censored Gaming contacted Tom Lipschultz, one of the localisers who
worked on Estival Versus, for more info.
Tom explained that there are certain rules restricting what is allowed to be shown on
video game box art.
This isn't a problem for things like reversible covers, which can't actually be seen on shop
shelves, but when it's on the front cover, many things can't be shown - including girls
who are dressed too provocatively.
One of the worst offenders of this is none other than the ESRB - the video game rating
system for American video games.
Video game covers actually fall under what is known as the ESRB's "Principles and Guidelines
for Responsible Advertising Practices".
This is a big long list of rules that publishers must follow when advertising games in commercials,
trailers and, as discussed, box art.
There are 5 categories of restricted content: Violence, Sex, Alcohol and Drugs, Offensive
Verbal or Bodily Expression and, last but not least, Insensitivity to Religious Beliefs
or Physical/Mental Disabilities.
Taking a look at the sexual category, we can see that what they call "graphic and/or excessive
depictions of nudity or sexual situations" are banned.
The ESRB describes this as including "overtly sexualized depictions of a character's body
parts, such as breasts and buttocks".
This is the reason why covers are so often changed when released in the West.
Going back to Tom's message, he also explains that this why Onechanbara Z2: Chaos ' box
art is different in the West compared to Japan.
And this is despite things like this being allowed to be displayed on shelves with no
issues.
In fact, in counties such as the UK, you'll even be able to find full-on porn magazines
on the top shelf of most convenience stores.
It's not just stores either.
There's also the sexual content that'll be able to find in everything ranging from billboards
to music videos.
TV commercials are also a big example of this massive contradiction between how games are
treated.
And this isn't even getting into all of the other contradictions that exist in the world
of video games, compared to real life.
The reason for why games are treated so much harsher is not well understood, but, during
the process of making this video, Censored Gaming decided to send the ESRB an email asking
why such strict rules exist.
If we hear anything interesting back we'll be sure to let you all know.
But, what are some other big contradictions between games and things like TV?
Suggest your ideas in the comments below and until, next time, thank you for watching.
For more infomation >> video qc1 - Duration: 3:31. 
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