Oh, hey The Conduit it a good replacment for DSE, and Mecenaries 2 for GTA (maybe, [shrug])

http://www.btscene.com/cat/id/4/

I think Grand Theft Auto is the worst of them all! It has so much unnecessary violence/SC/language/drugs you should not play this game until you are 18 imo. Kids should just stick to playing Disney Games until then. http://www.disneytvgames.com

Ok, look I have 7 m-rated games. I know that's not many but I just go my 360. Ok, so if your gonna bother to get your kid AC 1, why not get them AC 2. My parents were gonna get me AC 1, when the lady at gamestop told us the games ate really similar. The only sexuality in either games is when you see enzio kiss a woman and than start to pull down her sleeves. It then goes dark. I know this implies sexuality, but you have to quickly press a series of buttons to get this to happen. So really now I have both, and that have the same blood and gore.

double post, my bad

as a thirteen year old hardcore gamer i think the alternatives are garbage. i have every game on that list, even some of the alternatives. even my brother plays modern warfare 2, and hes 9!The only people in know that object to voilent video games are my aunts, but my mom even plays halo when im not home. its not like im going to go around and start a school shooting over halo like some people.

poker calculator! it terribel!

Yes totally its true!

http://pokercalculator-free.com/

wise guy not that much sexual content in ACII it is really just interaction and heavlly inplied so that would be a 4

i would have to agree. my parents freak about any rating regardless if its movies or games, what these parents probadlly are talking about is for the little 5 year olds..... in which case it should BE A NO BRAINER not letting them play any M and most T games. My friend told me he went to see the new Nightmear on elm street and there were 4 year olds in the freaking theater........... I would have to say the should change the rating so its more clear what age group the games should be in....

and i am the same w/ behavior, youll never see me walk into a street and start shooting people.

I think the altenatives are ok . Brutal Legend is not my type ... i wouldn t recommend , remind me of submit your website ..

WHAT?!?!? These games have nothing to do with one another!!!
Parents! Here is a REAL list!
1. Assasins creed 2: Batman arkham asylum
2. boarderlands: The conduit
3. Brutal legend: Overlord (one or two)
4. Call of duty modernwarfare 2: Battlefeild bad company
5. Dead space extraction: Ghost squad
6. Dragon age origins: Final fantasy XIII
7. GTA 4: Mercenaries (Or infamous)
8. Demon's souls: resonance of fate
9. Left 4 dead 2: Section 8
10. GTA the chinatown wars: C.O.P the recruit
O.K, so they where right on a couple of games, but most of them where way off! This should be the real list!

WHAT?!?!? These games have nothing to do with one another!!!
Parents! Here is a REAL list!
1. Assasins creed 2:
2. boarderlands: The conduit
3. Brutal legend: Overlord (one or two)
4. Call of duty modernwarfare 2: Battlefeild bad company
5. Dead space extraction: Ghost squad
6. Dragon age origins: Final fantasy XIII
7. GTA 4: Mercenaries (Or infamous)
8. Demon's souls: resonance of fate
9. Left 4 dead 2: Section 8
10. GTA the chinatown wars: C.O.P the recruit
O.K, so they where right on a couple of games, but most of them where way off! This should be the real list!

these alternatives are dumb. they make no sence. its like a diet saying instead of eatin cheese cake eat dried leaves

Alot of those games are violent, and alot of the alternatives are fairly better, but Assassins cred 2 should be paired with uncharted 2! By the way, Mirrors Edge is a very different game, it is very fun, but very different.

Here is a good list

Assassins Creed 2: Assassins Creed 1

Borderlands: Oblivion

Brutal Legend: You can turn the blood and gore off!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Call of duty 4

Dead Space: Extraction: House of the Dead 2 & 3

Dragon Age: Origins: Oblivion

Grand Theft Auto IV: Mercinaries 2

Demon's Souls: It's not that bad!

Left 4 Dead 2: You can turn the gore off.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars: War Hammer

What ever happened to turning blood and language off! You can do that in many T and M games! Just sayin!

call of duty rules i have both battlefeild bad company and it sucks call of duty is awsome

If your kid wants. AC 2, get him AC1. It has less violence, less language, and no adult content whatsoever .

you guys dont get it. you know why we want the games? they are fun and our friends have it. do you think that a stupid "alternative" is going to make it ok? NO. its not the same game. a "alternative" doesnt replace what we want.

wow. thats all wow. some of the alternatives are worse than the main one like Demon's souls and uncharted 2. i have both games. in demon's souls you try to save the town of bolitaria from an evil colorless fog that spawns demons. yeah it might sound bad but i didnt hear any swear words. you can also turn off the blood. but in uncharted 2 you can snap necks, shoot people. and thers like 20 uses of sh*t, 50 of d**n, and 30 uses of sons of b*cth. overall a 10-12 year old could play both.to be honest a 11 year old could play every game hear ( but the kid has to handle blood and swearing). what is wrong with common sence

Some of the games on here are great, some aren't.

Dispite what anybody says, the real idiots are the people who are so perfect they're able to ignore their own flaws. All are entitled to opinion, and everyone is subject to correction.

Prince of Persia is a good option for AC2. Medal ofhonor is a good option for MW2. LFD and overlord?! Seriously?! I'm not even going to talk about this. Final fantasy is a better option for DA:O. Infamous would've been a better option for GTA

Modern Warfare 2
Language:6
Violence:7-8
sex:0
gambling or drugs:0
consumerism:0

I do not get why everyone panics over the rating. I am 15, I have honor roll, I behave very well and I have played rated M games. I started when I was like 10? It's not a big deal if you're MATURE enough. I played rated M , T and E games.

These alternatives are nothing like the bad games. And batman arkham asylum is not good for kids, it is scary and violent. And deadly creatures is nothing like dead space extraction. Although Batlefield bad company is a good alternative for Modern Warfare 2. But this chart has no vaule what so ever. The bad games are all M and the good games are all T. That doesn't help anyone! You should say, "well lego batman is much better for kids than Batman Arkham asylum" or "Borderlands is not recommended for kids, here is a list of T rated role-playing shooters" But clearly you are not smart enough to tell parents and kids anything that will help them! It's kind of sad to me!

The Elder Scrolls lV: Oblivion
Assassins Creed ll
Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead 2

I got him Oblivion and Gears of War 2. But I play Gears more than he does. Fun fun.

In fact, infamous is a really good alternative to GTA. Better than Arkhum Asylum which has no relevance.

my mom and my dad allow my 13 year old brother to play my M games and they buy those games for me since im 1 year short of buying it myself

I have all these games Brutal Legend, Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed 2 all of the games on this list I have about like 30-40 M rated games and I have been enjoying them and I'm only 16 my little brother likes or loves to play Gears of War 2 which is rated M for blood and gore where you can hack people up close with a chainsaw and he's only 13. I try not to look at the ratings or the violence or anything I just like to play games because of the story no offense just my opinion

@noah99

I agree with you becuase what does a M tell you? nothing you could rate a M game E also you could add a snapshot of the game to show why the blood is medium or why the innapropriate content is low so parents can decide.

@noah99

I agree with you becuase what does a M tell you? nothing you could rate a M game E also you could add a snapshot of the game to show why the blood is medium or why the innapropriate content is low so parents can decide.

the battlefield: bad company game also is having a sequel which i believe very much might be an M rated game so if you buy your kid battlefield:bad company and they like it they will very much likley want battlefield badcompany 2 wich i heard has a F bomb

The demon soul's alternative isnt for children 11 and under it has many sh*t words and Da*n words

These appear to me to be pretty bad alternatives. How does Dragon Age: Origins get replaced by a game like Braid? Try Lost Odessy or Oblivion (which may still be too violent).

@noah99

That sounds like a really good idea, except I would take out the age recommendation. I would also add a box that would read "Dismemberment: Yes or No" as well as a box for Sexual Content and one for Language. I also may replace the "Mild, Moderate, Extreme" system with a "Scale of 0 to 10" system, with zero being a non-issue and ten being pervasive and all over the title. To me this sounds like a much better system than the ESRB system. Now, isn't it sad when a thirteen year old can come up with a better system than a group of adults with college degrees. ESRB, if you're following this thread, listen to this kid, he knows what he's talking about.

Examples of My Revisions to noah99's System:

Assassin's Creed II:

Violence: 8
Blood: 7
Dismemberment: No
Sexual Content: 7
Drug/ Alcohol Use: 1
Language: 7 (English) 8 (Italian)
Average: 7

Halo 3

Violence: 7
Blood: 4
Dismemberment: Infrequent
Sexual Content: 0
Drug/ Alcohol Use: 0
Language: 3
Average: 5

heres an idea instead of having set limits on boxes (like e, t or m) have somthing like this

violence:moderate
innapropriate content: low
drug/alcohol use:low
speciffic ammount of blood: medium
average rating: low-moderate danger
reccomended age to play:9+

please comment on this (let me know whay you think) and add ideas, both general public and common sence

the reason im doing this is because most parents freak out when they see
m or 17+ in huge letters.
really ersb needs to be more specific

I don't want to drag on so ill just keep it simple, do not listen to common sense media on what age to let your kids play a certain video game. Look at what content each game has and discuss with your child if they understand it and if they are mature enough for something like this.

im 11 and im not allowed to play M games but i have played GTA and CoD WAW, 4, and MW2. i know u r all going 2 stereotype me for being a kid but i think i should be allowed to. im a straight A student, a brown belt in a karate dojo in minnesota, spelling bee winner and a "smart kid". i just wanna play M. AND YES some of you think im just a stupid kid but im mature enough trust me. MPAA lets PG-13 movies say f*** 1-2 times and lets blood spatter on the wall. ESRB says M if one TINY drop-o-blood stays on the ground and most of the time if it has any blood what so ever and says sh** a couple of times its M. but like i said MPAA allows f*** a couple of times and minimal blood splatter. im no parent but im your kids sees a violent movie like Matrix and starts running around the house with toy guns saying BAMM! "i shot you daddy and your head came off and your blood's everywhere." obviously dont let them play M games. but otherwise test them by buying them CoD MW2 and see if they say " hey dad this games M." and say "here play it for a while" see how they react to see if they can handle it and even YOU play it to see what its like. im no parent but GTA is WAAAAAAAAAY over the top with shooting people's heads off and saying you motherf***er! so please just let them try them out if they're ready for it. : )

im 11 and im not allowed to play M games but i have played GTA and CoD WAW, 4, and MW2. i know u r all going 2 stereotype me for being a kid but i think i should be allowed to. im a straight A student, a brown belt in a karate dojo in minnesota, spelling bee winner and a "smart kid". i just wanna play M. AND YES some of you think im just a stupid kid but im mature enough trust me. MPAA lets PG-13 movies say f*** 1-2 times and lets blood spatter on the wall. ESRB says M if one TINY drop-o-blood stays on the ground and most of the time if it has any blood what so ever and says sh** a couple of times its M. but like i said MPAA allows f*** a couple of times and minimal blood splatter. im no parent but im your kids sees a violent movie like Matrix and starts running around the house with toy guns saying BAMM! "i shot you daddy and your head came off and your blood's everywhere." obviously dont let them play M games. but otherwise test them by buying them CoD MW2 and see if they say " hey dad this games M." and say "here play it for a while" see how they react to see if they can handle it and even YOU play it to see what its like. im no parent but GTA is WAAAAAAAAAY over the top with shooting people's heads off and saying you motherf***er! so please just let them try them out if they're ready for it. : )

im 11 and im not allowed to play M games but i have played GTA and CoD WAW, 4, and MW2. i know u r all going 2 stereotype me for being a kid but i think i should be allowed to. im a straight A student, a brown belt in a karate dojo in minnesota, spelling bee winner and a "smart kid". i just wanna play M. AND YES some of you think im just a stupid kid but im mature enough trust me. MPAA lets PG-13 movies say f*** 1-2 times and lets blood spatter on the wall. ESRB says M if one TINY drop-o-blood stays on the ground and most of the time if it has any blood what so ever and says sh** a couple of times its M. but like i said MPAA allows f*** a couple of times and minimal blood splatter. im no parent but im your kids sees a violent movie like Matrix and starts running around the house with toy guns saying BAMM! "i shot you daddy and your head came off and your blood's everywhere." obviously dont let them play M games. but otherwise test them by buying them CoD MW2 and see if they say " hey dad this games M." and say "here play it for a while" see how they react to see if they can handle it and even YOU play it to see what its like. im no parent but GTA is WAAAAAAAAAY over the top with shooting people's heads off and saying you motherf***er! so please just let them try them out if they're ready for it. : )

double post lolwut.

@Ja13

Welcome to my world. When my I asked my grandpa if I could borrow his copy of Battlefield Vietnam (yes,he plays video games), he said:"IT SAYS T ON THE BOX! YOU AREN'T THIRTEEN SO YOO CAN'T PLAY IT"!

I agree totally! Dragon Age is nothing like Braid! And one of the only differences between MW2 & Battlefield, is that MW is newer and therefore has better graphics, you get the same violence and language issues wiht both games.

I want to say that none of the games you mentioned are in any way similar to one another.
Except maybe with the exception of modern warfare 2 and battlefield bad company and it specifies that battlefield has strong language.
I have played all of these games and your recommendations are just stupid.
You compared dragon age origins with braid. Dragon age is an action rpg where you build combo nation of characters to join your group and you make decisions that help or hurt your group. While braid is a 2d Mario style game.
However i do think grand theft auto is very inappropriate however fun it is just disgusting how inappropriate it is and you should not play it until your at least 18.

. My parents get overreacted when they see a T on the front. That means that I can barley get a star wars strategy game like Star Wars Empire At War without a very long and hard fight. This list has games that are meant for 12-15, but i'm almost 12 AND I CANT GET ANY OF THOSE GAMES. for example, i got a gift from a friend (batman arkum asyilum), and i couldnt keep it. so i officaly think this list is very wrong. I also agree with some of the other posters who at least understand that jsut looking at the game and saying no without reasherch is the dumbest thing ever. I also agree that ESRB is getting a little Coo coo.

I wish you'd stop recommending Mirror's Edge. Yes, it's a really interesting, different, mostly non-violent game. But it's really, really, really hard. And there is no "easy" setting. So kids may not have the patience to get very far in this game.

Go with Prince of Persia instead. I loved it, my 22 year old son loved it, and my 9 year old son loved it. It's also visually quite beautiful with a strong female character, the best and most natural interactions between the two protagonists I've ever seen in a video game, and you completely cannot die. When you die she saves you, every time. It's brilliant and makes taking risks and trying new things much less painful than other games. It's got some of the parkour-like feel to it that Mirror's Edge has, too.

And, yeah, I just don't get how Batman: Arkham Asylum is on your alternative list instead of on your not recommended list.

@steven12354

Your middle school has a newspaper?! Which gives better game suggestions than this biased, overprotective, soccer mom website? Lucky.

I'm 13. I have a website, a podcast, and I'm a gamer. I've played almost all of the games on the list. I'm not violent. I'm an honor student. I've been playing games like this since I'm 11. I don't know why people say "He's 12, he can't play this game!" - It has to be based off maturity, not age, and therefore a parent has to judge their child and their maturity level, and buy the game for them, or not. For example, at Best Buy the cashier told my dad that Dragon Age was rated M. He said he knew, and was fine with it. The cashier than went into detail how there is blood, zombies, some pretty dark stuff. My dad looks at him and says "Whatever"... My dad has actually introduced me into this stuff, I've watched him play D&D with his friends and some of his stuff is pretty dark, lol. My point is, it should be based off maturity. I support game ratings such as T and M to make sure that a kid can't get a game he wants without their parents approving that they should be able to play such a game. I shouldn't be able to walk into an R-rated movie, but my dad can say "Well, my kid knows that the zombies aren't real, sure, he can see the movie". That's about all I have to say now, if I get any replies I'll post more, but this article has gotten alot of gaming media attention, pretty interesting. Interestingly enough, to add, my school newspaper published "gaming picks of 2009 holiday season" - and Borderlands, MW2, Uncharted 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 were on the list. This is a middle school newspaper.

@DiEx-80

You also make several very valid points, and, I'm not suggesting scrapping the ratings system entirely. All I'm suggesting is removing the sections of the ratings system that involve rating content based on age. Parents see a big 17+ written on the box, and they are immediately biased. Sometimes they don't even look at the content descriptors and just put down the game, utter a quick "NO" and then walk out of the store. This is the easy thing to do, as opposed to the right thing to do, which is reading the content descriptors, researching the content thoroughly on websites like this one, What They Play, and Gaming With Children, checking to see if the game has filters, and THEN making a decision. That's what my parents do, and I am perfectly fine with it. Sure I miss out on the BioShocks, Resident Evils, and Grand Theft Autos, but that's because, no matter how strongly I disagree, my parents know I'm not ready for some of those games. Another reason the ESRB is not to be fully trusted, and research should be done, is that the ESRB is overwhelmingly anti-game, and as a side effect, parents are anti-game too. An overwhelmingly small amount of parents actually play games, and therefore very few appreciate them as the art that they are, vis a vis the Mass Effect Controversy. For example, you wouldn't expect a person to censor the sexual content out of a romance novel, a movie, a painting, or even a television show, but in a video game, that's exactly what they're expected to do. Also, you make a valid point about video games being a dynamic experience versus the static experience of a movie, but I would like to add that only a handful of video games actually offer a dynamic experience. Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Grand Theft Auto, and Farcry are perfect examples of dynamic games. However, there are many games that are just as linear and static as a movie. Halo 1-3 and Call of Duty 1-6 are good examples of static games. They force the player to follow a directed path and follow a specific chain of events, just like a movie. You make good points, but the fact is, the fact that the ESRB is using age as a basis for who can handle the content when a parent should be using their knowledge of their child's behavior and maturity, not their age.

@ cross_breed:

While you are making valid points, you are missing the point of the ESRB by comparing it to the MPAA rating system. It is not "severely impaired" or "broken".The ESRB is designed to tell people what is in an interactive piece of software in general. It does not keep counts or report in specifics, what is in the software. Meanwhile, the MPAA rating system is more specific because there is weight to it and has been around longer than the ESRB system, or video games for thaqt matter.

The reason the ESRB is this way is because of the differences between movies and games. With games, you are an active participant in the story. This means you CAN avoid or participate in things that are deemed questionable to society or even individuals beliefs. This can occur by the game's mechanics or by filters inside the game's options or just by whether one downloads the content or not. Meanwhile, with movies you are in a linear viewer. You have no control over the movie's story or ending. Therefore a rating system, such as the ESRB can't rate on the number of times the F word is used. That is because you can turn it off, block it or avoid it, However it will get the M rating because it is in there.

Take for example the Sims games. You CAN get patches to make nude, anatomically correct Sims. HOWEVER - YOU have to find the patch. YOU have to download the patch. YOU have to install it. Of course YOU have to pay the price if that patch is loaded with computer viruses and malware. So why doesn't the Sims games get the M rating? Because the patches were user created, not created by Maxis/EA. Meanwhile, GTA:SA got the AO rating due to that "Hot Coffee" patch because the "mod" was still in the game. All it took was somebody to work around it to unlock what the makers put in there..

As for the enforcement of the ESRB, it all comes down to a parents choice. If a parent believes there kids can play M rated titles, then let them do so. That is THEIR choice. Maybe not my choice or another parent's choice. Still it is their choice whether to use the ratings as a guide or not. This system is not perfect. However, it is better to have a guide in place so people can make an educated choice.

@ nefarious_soul

I don't expect the ESRB to rate games for individual children, I'm not stupid and I know that is completely illogical, nor am I suggesting that parents disregard ratings entirely. I'm by no means suggesting that parents should be buying their ten year olds games like God of War, Dead Rising, or Grand Theft Auto. All I'm saying is that the ratings system is severely impaired. I'd even go so far as to say broken. Maturity is very subjective, and the ESRB is attempting to make it objective. If you don't let your kids play Mature rated games, that's your prerogative as a parent. I'm just saying that when you're posting things like you are, saying "If it's rated 17+ and your child isn't 17... Don't buy it. PEROID," it sounds like you're saying that a person should let an objective ratings system decide how they're supposed to raise their kids instead of the parent deciding what is appropriate. The ESRB offers advice, but it's just that ADVICE! I'm not saying that the ESRB should never be followed, but I'm saying that it should be used as a suggestion, not a rule.