Ahh, the old Nintenduh iz 4 duh k!dd!eezzz argument, all prettied up.

Maybe a better measure would be the quantity of those T and M-rated games sold on the PSP vs. DS. The number of titles tells us nothing about who the consoles were bought for.

And an FYI, I own all the systems. I'm not a Nintendo fanboy...I'm a logical-arguments fanboy, and this ain't one of them.

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also, how many of these systems are for females?

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Sorry Stash, but this IS a logical argument.

Sales are irrelevant if developers aren't putting any of those types of games on the system.

In addition if he wanted to encompass the world in this debate, he'd just have to point to the porn titles in Japan that are on the PSP.

This isn't necessarily Nintendo's doing, but the fact that the developers aren't putting the mature rated games means that Nintendo is not the mature-oriented system.

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I agree this is a valid point, but as usual you have someone saying they are not a DSFANY boy but they seem to take every point made for the PSP and try to twist it back to the DS. Hasn't sont themselves stated they are not targeting the same audience? I think this is really great for the PSP as the system really can work for all ages, whereas the DS will continue to target children. I do think that there are many developers who see this system as a great system for the younger crowd and keep making games for all ages.

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But the japanese porn-games still didn't make it to europe or the us. Too bad :-)

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No, it's very true. However, from a complicated, psychological standpoint, kindly tell me how/what gets authority over determining what which group wants?

Technically, one whole hour of mindless, classless porn will most likely be classified as something for very mature audiences. Does this logic imply that an intelligence hungry mind (mature, even), looking for a challenging plot will start playing Porn Pipe, instead of FF6?

Not trying to argue against the notion that PSP does entertain the demographic of hardcore gamers, and even those with a nastier blood-lust. However, to imply that ESRB ratings are categorising demographic, rather than marking the 'limits' for the demographic of players is going a tad bit far. It's a little more complex than the whole 'shoe size' analogy.

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I like my PSP so much more then my DS and that is because there is more games to pick from. That I want to buy. I almost wonder if the PSP had less games if more people would want the PSP. What I am saying is the DS sells well on only Mario games and Nintendogs. So say because those games are the big sellers people go out and buy them. But on the PSP you have lots and lots of great games so not every one is getting the same one.

Every one is buying one game great game over the other great game. Because they do not have the money to buy every single great game. As with the DS the big games are NSMB,Nintendogs,Mario Cart,Poenix Wright and so every one buys those games and not many more.

But when you look at what the PSP offers every one will buy a couple of these and not them all. Like GTA,MGS:Po,
Monster Hunter,Daxter,Killzone,Tekken,Syphon Filter and Lumines. Plus there is many more to pick from too so in some ways there are lots of great PSP games yet they do not sell really well because not every one is buying that game.

So with that being said I think the PSP is doing well for what it has more choice and I for one like that. Plus with having M games are great news for older people. So I can't wait to play 300 that games looks like it is a PSP version of God of War. So having more then just E games are great news if you are aloud to play them.

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It's clear developers make video games based upon the demographics of any given system. With that said the type of games made for the PSP obviously includes a significant number of mature and teen titles because of the target demographics for the system. Conversely, games made for the DS reflect its target demographics.
So it is quite evident the PSP is intended and marketed for older gamers versus the younger gamers the DS focuses on.
And if someone still doubts this logic, remember Nintendo has been the king of handhelds for nearly 2 decades almost entirely because of children.

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I like my PSP so much more then my DS and that is
because there is more games to pick from. That I want to buy. I almost wonder if the PSP had less games if more people would want the PSP.

What I am saying is the DS sells well on only Mario games and Nintendogs. So say because those games are the big sellers people go out and buy them.

But on the PSP you have lots and lots of great games so not every one is getting the same one. Every one is buying one great game over the other great game.

Because they do not have the money to buy every single great game. As with the DS the big games are
NSMB, Nintendogs, Mario Cart, Poenix Wright and so every one buys those games and not many more. But when you look at what the PSP offers every one will buy a couple of these and not them all. Lik GTA, MGS:Po, Monster Hunter, Daxter, Killzone, Tekken, Syphon Filter and Lumines. Plus there is many more to pick from too so in some ways there are lots of great PSP games yet they do not sell really well because not every one is buying that game.

So with that being said I think the PSP is doing well for what it has more choice and I for one like that. Plus with having M games are great news for older people. So I can't wait to play 300 that games looks like it is a PSP version of God of War. So having more then just E games are great news if you are aloud to play them.

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I dunno. I mean i know that they're deffinatly for two different age groups, but i liked both GTA and Locoroco. Im 17, but i found both about the same fun-factor. Does this mean that since Ratchet and Clank is more of a kiddy game it wont do good? Daxter did good(i think) and its a semi-kiddyish game.

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To put what I am saying very directly - ESRB ratings =/= official and/or proper measurement of demographic profile/demographic needs. It's more a warning limit for consumers, taking a very generalised demographic profile into consideration. There.

And yeah, PSP goes have a greater range of games, and I like the fact that I can get more out of it.

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In a sense, this illustrates the primary problem with PSP games: a lack of games designed to be played in "portable" situations. Most games that involve "sexual themes" and "strong language" will have a relatively submersive environment that is better played sitting down in a long session, rather than in bits of less than an hour. The blood and violence, I suppose, can be a part of a fast-playing fighting game, but I don't think the high number of M-rated games is overwhelmingly due to fighters.

For example: you can't make Lumines M-rated, unless you add some gratuitous game-unrelated crap.

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The overwhelming majority of M games on the PSP are FPS, even Midway Arcade Treasures is M rated due to the Kewl blood in the MK series.
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/search.jsp

I think the the perception albiet mainly from the DS crowd is the assumption that you have to have a fast quick game to be enjoyed or to be the proper venu,this is such a load. You can have a game that is huge and take many many hours to complete and be completely immersive, it's a new thing called PAUSE. I mean say you have only 5 mins to kill but the level will take an hour to beat, are you saying that you can't get enjoyment for the 5 mins that you do have to kill and then PAUSE the game and move on? I for one welcome huge games as well as faster paced games on the PSP, I am glad that it can handle both so well.

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Kade Storm,

I think your missing the point. ESRB ratings in this context are indicative of the type of content available on a give console, regardless of the fact the ratings do not provide a direct correlation to actual customer demographics.
Acknowledging this it is easy to see a system targeted towards families and children will have decidedly less mature content available versus a system that targets hardcore gamers.
That is not to say DS games do not have universal appeal -- sales of the system clearly indicate otherwise. I would say Nintendo's family marketing style tends to target children more so than older, hardcore gamers.

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The problem with the argument posed by the blog posting is that it still makes two gross assumptions: First, that "mature" and "adult age" are synonymous, and second, that adults overwhelmingly prefer M rated titles to the exclusivity of E rated titles.

When it comes to ESRB ratings, a game having an M rating in no way defines the audience. In fact, it could be argued that having an M rating only increases the number of kids who play those titles, simply because of the illicit pleasure of playing a game that is "mature" even if they are not mature themselves.

Kids like to blow things up because they think its cool. They like the gratuitous blood and jell-o filled bikinis because those are things that are forbidden to them. They don't like to do puzzles because they are already forced to think too much at school. Most adults have grown up past the fascination with blood (because they know it comes with pain) and boobs (they either have them or have access to them in real life). Many adults want to be entertained, to think, to enjoy a story. These can be done in a game with or without the blood and boobs.

Your personal experience may be that you (as an adult) prefer game genres that are inherently rated M. My personal experience is that myself, my wife, my siblings, and my friends (all adults) prefer game genres that are inherently rated E with the occasional T or M rated game thrown in. Everyone has their personal preferences regardless of age, so trying to extrapolate the age of console owners based on the "maturity" of available games is a flawed argument at best.

As for GTA vs. LocoRoco sales, there are many reasons for the sales differences such as brand recognition, advertising campaigns, and genre preference. Somehow I doubt that adult PSP owners chose not to buy the game simply because it was rated E.

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By the logic of the first post, I am left to assume that Mr. Yoon only watches R rated movies.

"PG-13?! Lord of the Rings is for KIDS. I'mma watch Gigli!"

Just because something is deemed unsuitable for "immature" audiences, does not mean that it is inherently mature.

In alot of ways, SimCity and Civilization are more "mature" than Grand Theft Auto.

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I am not missing anything, zjoe. ESRB ratings are a relative gauge for assigning limits, and of course, for the laycrowd-us folk. Developers don't sit back with their trouser buttons open behind some door (sorry had to toss that in), pondering their fate through something as rough and general a friggin' ESRB rating. Consider the example above for the Midway Arcade games. "Okay, dudes, we gotta' make something that'll appeal to some horny shmuck - our target demographic are horny men, who haven't been getting a lot of 'it'!" - "Right-o, boss! How about we toss in a mini-MK game! Those things evoke M-ratings, therefore, they'll probably satisfy male sexual energy as well." Is MY point getting through now? I feared you people would just read the first line of my comment and automatically assume at has a n eletrically one-sided polarised condemnation of ESRB as any sort of gauge, much like how most believe that ESRB is the gospel of every single demographic down to the micr-demographics.

An M rating is a generalisation; developers have to look in much deeper into this very confusing clump to find their 'target demographic'. Pick your poison? Vulgar language? Nude scenes? Blood? Gore? Excessive Violence? All of the above, and more - M rating.

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OK guys, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The ESRB ratings mean AGE, not INTELLECTUAL MATURITY.

The DS (and in a greater sense, Nintendo themselves) cater more to the younger crowd. Simple demographic fact. Doesn't mean that the DS, GBA, Gamecube, N64, SNES, NES, etc. haven't had some great games. But they HAVE had more 'kid stuff' like a port of Kim Possible or Spongebob Squarepants (yes, there's a Spongebob on PSP). The DS has also snared more female gamers - in part from their kid-friendly image. Females tend to be more appreciative of entertainment and media that is kid-friendly and/or with cute & stylish characters.

The PSP caters more to the PS2 crowd. 18-35yo males. Lots of action, explosions, blood, etc. -- Which isn't to say T or M rated games can't be good, or fun, or intellectual.

Whole lotta B&W logic getting bandied about here. Fanboyism is a great polarizer, apparently.

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I am an adult. I do not own a psp. None of the psp games satisfy my needs in games, but the ds does. It depends on the person. I don't care about ratings all I care about is if the game is fun or not.

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I've got to come in against the gist of this article. The argument that "our games have more M's and T's and therefore we are more diverse" just doesn't hold water with me. E does not mean "suitable for children." It's E for EVERYONE. Why does making games that are more suitable for a larger percentage of the population, coupled with the stated idea of reaching out to an audience of diverse ages, seem to be lost on everyone as they denounce the DS as just for kids?

And really, the key argument here should be about the quality of games, along with their ratings. You shouldn't be looking at the ratings of the games available so much as the ratings of the games that are being played. For myself, the only games I've found for the PSP worth buying and keeping have been Lumines I and II. I've also been eying Ace Combat and Loco Roco, but so far it's just the music puzzlers that I've decided to keep. The average rating for my PSP games - E10+. My DS library, about 6 times the size, keeps about the same average, with titles varying between the E of NSMB, Tetris, and Pokemon Ranger, to the E10+ of Contact and FFIII, and the T for Metroid and both Phoenix Wrights. Frankly, I've found more titles I feel happy with spending my money on.

Why does ratings seem to matter? Do people go out of their way looking for that Big Black M on games? Since when is staring at tits and massacring AI targets a more mature activity than saving princesses from a villainous dinosaur tyrant? More adult maybe, but hardly more mature.

I'll admit, my tastes differ somewhat from the "mainstream" PSP audience. It seems many want to feel that their sleek black handheld is edgy and cool, and therefore plays games that would be approved by the local football team. Interestingly, I'll bet in 10 years that no one on the football team will remember the name of the guy from Grand Theft Auto (any of them). But they'll all recognize Mario from a mile away.

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