This is a huge shock to me!!! Considering that the first to are "T", and I always thought that when it came to the games and movies they could only make it PG-13 or "T". I wonder what it is that makes this game rated "M"?

RIP other thread. As I said Arkham City was borderline and PG-13 now is basically R from 10-15 years ago, just no fucking F Words. Also parents don't seem to care about the game rating system anymore, plenty of 6-16 year olds play Call of Duty.

Oh no whatever will we do...

(I can only assume most of us here are older than 17)

All I'm saying is that I'm surprised that DC would allow Rocksteady to keep M. Its not like Batman is Watchmen where the only way to tell that story is by making it a R rated, or PG-13.

Makes sense. Arkham City was basically M. Especially the Hush sidequest.

@watchmen877: M is not R and the cultural perception of M vs R has changed dramatically over the past 10 years.

If I had to guess what pushed it over the edge I'd put my money on something sexual.

@onlykris: Arkham Asylum and City both had plenty of sexual stuff with Harley and Ivy and they were still T.

@corevi: But this is sexier. At least...at least two times more sexier.

I remember when an enemy grunt basically called Catwoman "a bitch" during an encounter and I went like, "Woah, woah, hold on a sec...that's allowed in a T-rated game?!"

@gaspower: That happens literally within the first minute of the game.

I heard someone say it might be because of Red Hood DLC? I don't know anything about Batman comics so I don't know who that is.

@corevi: By the way, I'm pretty sure the Arkham Knight is Hush, right? I mean it was pretty much teased in Arkham City.

@gaspower: I'd be sorely disappointed if Hush wasn't a primary antagonist given how much time they spent in both Asylum and City building him up with no actual encounter.

Bitch is a somewhat incorrect term to address a literal cat lady.

1. Halo has always been M, and I honestly never understood why. They aren't dropping a ton of F bombs or anything in there, and when it comes to the actual violence part, it's not that much worse than the T-rated Bad Company.

2. The ratings system and the ESRB has always been terrible at actually nailing what exactly a game should fall under. It's one of the reasons I hate ratings systems altogether. I mean, how is it that Transformers (the terrible movie) gets PG-13 when they are using a woman as a sexual objectification and saying "shit" chained together over and over? How was Dogma going to get NC-17 because of the Golgothan shit demon?

3. Don't care what the rating is. I want to play it. Then again, I never finished City and I still haven't touched Origins. Asylum was still the best, hands-down. It was just the right amount of space, storyline, gameplay, and collectibles IMO. City got too big too fast, and every time I watched someone play Origins, I felt like bile was starting to churn up in my stomach to be exited from my mouth. Nonetheless, I still want to see what Knight has going on for it.

Whoa, that's actually crazy

Does that mean Batman can say "fuck"

@corevi: Well, he should be right? I mean at this point we know he is Bruce Wayne's doppelganger in Arkham City. There is no way in hell they're letting that slide without any pay off.

The meanings of ratings have changed a lot, and will change a lot. Movie rating over time have changed meaning...and not for the better. And I expect the same will happen for games. In ten years games that were T rated will be M for sure...they will probably as some sort fo crazy T-17 rating thus making M-Rating a scarlet letter to never have.

Rating are as much of a tool as they are a barrier. People can use them well or poorly, and in some cases people will use them well in one way and poorly in another. My sister is afraid to allow her 12 year old son to play CoD, but will let him play Destiny. Hey, I agree Destiny is seemingly a less violent seeming game even to me...but is there REALLY a substantive difference that holds up to thoughtful analytical scrutiny?

@monkeyking1969: Destiny is sci fi fantasy. You're fighting space wizards on Venus not terrorists in the middle east.

@monkeyking1969: There were moments in some campaigns of the past COD games (starting from COD 4 onward such as the airport scene in COD 2, the Russian roulette scene in Black Ops, etc.) that were pretty disturbing which if I were a parent, I'd have second thoughts exposing my kid to that but that's just me though.

I'm honestly surprised the last two weren't.

can't wait for batman to call someone a motherfucker and blow him up with his bat tank. what is batman about again?

@getz: Fuck ya it fuckin does!

Well, I'm glad they're not taking any short cuts for the sake of a broader audience.

Yep, sounds about right. They were one pool of blood away from an M rating with City as it was. The question is, will they top Two Face's "Two guns, bitch!" for Jesse Pinkman-esque hilarious profanity?

Again killing, is killin'. If you really are trying to say something to you child about what they play you need to have a discussion about reality and fiction and about people dying and what that means. At a certain point with kids ,you should just be talking to them about ANYTHING they play instead of saying "this is okay and that is not" because that DISCUSSION is important even about space wizards. Space wizards is just an allegory for real people...it all means something.

Penguin better have a dope ass top hat.

I'm happy that they aren't holding back for the sake of pandering teens.

The story is what the story must be.

Is this because of Bat-nipples?

That batmobile is explicit.

Do people even pay attention to ratings?

Tanks are not for kids. That is all. thank you

Rocksteady did not set out to make it M. They were aiming for T. So it wont be all raunchy or anything. Probably just a little more violent then previous ones. They came out and said if they changed stuff to get a T it would affect the story and they didn't want that. My guess is the villain does some stuff that makes it go over the T edge.

As someone who isn't American, all 3 Arkham games thus far have been a 16+ PEGI rating, which is basically an American R (I think), so I guess they won't change here. Euro ratings boards have always seemed a bit harsher on violence than the US, but then we're more lenient on boobies so it balances out I guess.

The batmobile going in and out of buildings is just too erotic for american audiences.

Shit so I guess it will be banned here in Australia, was looking so forward to playing it too :(