Bionic Commando

Ladies and gents... hot off the presses, the official BCR ratings have come in!

North America (ESRB) - M
Europe (PEGI) - 18+
Germany - 16
Australia - M
Japan - B

As you can see, for a 2D side scrolling action game, this puts us into the "older" crowd.

It was a tough decision to make, but it came down to either paying homage to the original game and taking the higher rating "hit", or to watering down one of the most important scenes of the original.

We've come this far in recreating the game so we may as well go all the way. Of course, this cuts us out of a larger target audience, which is just one more challenge to making the game profitable.

It's a gamble and again, this along with the $10 price tag is not the best business decision. But then, one of the things that made those 2D games so great was their innovation. And innovation is founded upon taking risks. No doubt, when the original team made an infamous dictator as the original bad guy and showed his demise in explosive 8-bit glory, they too were taking some serious risks.

So, I guess, as a fan of the game and a budding producer, the best way I can show my respect for them and their innovation is to follow right in their footsteps.

It's been 20 years but it's time to go back and push that envelope all over again.

I guess history does repeat itself (which is not necessarily a good thing for Master D).

If you have some extra time on your hands, check out the communicator which has been updated to reflect this new news. Also, check out the new podcast today, and its follow up on Insomniac Games' podcast, the Full Moon Show, on April 17th, to hear a bit more about the ratings and development of the game.

Cheers,
Ben

PS: If we don't see some great mixes of the scene in question on Youtube after the game launches, it will be a damn shame.