Gears of War 2 Features Both Language and Violence Filters

What They Play Reports: "Sure to be one of the biggest games of this year, Gears of War 2 for Xbox 360 will no doubt be at the very top of the vast majority of kids' pester-list this holiday. The original game was incredibly successful, but it earned it's "M" rating for plenty of blood, violence, and strong language. In our report on the first game we found that, "Shotgun blasts tear the heads off enemies, while machine guns, and pistols tear through flesh until the blood of the victim sprays crimson. Of particular note is the gun with the chainsaw attachment that allows the player to cut through foes in such a way that the blood splatters against the television screen, obscuring the player's view of the action for a few seconds."

Gears of War 2 will be released on November 7, but has already received an "M" rating from the ESRB, for "Blood and Gore," "Intense Violence," and "Strong Language." For many families, that may immediately eliminate it as a possibility as a holiday gift. However, a new point of negotiation will become a factor this year; Gears of War 2 includes filters for both the violence, and the language. Microsoft informs us that the violence filter "turns the blood into sparks," while the language filter "takes out all the swear words."

[Buju]

i think the idea is pretty good, but kids will just turn this feature off if their parents aren't around.

[power of Green]

Their mommies still purchased the game in order for the kids to tamper with the settings, assuming they can. There could be a possible parental control update coming this fall and who knows, maybe the parent can control the game's setting through the dashboard. What would be the point when the kind can just turn it on or off at will lol.

[f789790]

So they will buy it for them

[n4gzz]

No worries for me, over 26 yrs :D

[Breakfast]

...whats gears, without the blood and swearing?

But, who cares...i think ill buy two more copies after this announcement.

[Tacki]

I just imagined cutting up some Locust with sparks flying Power Rangers style.

I suppose it's a welcomed feature by parents though. But really I think most parents who know of the game ratings will still see that "M" and think it's not right for their kids. I don't it will say anything on the box about that. Then again you never know. But for something like this the kids would really have to be the ones to let their parents know about this feature. I don't think this will be a HUGE boost in sales or anything. It's already guaranteed to be a monster in that department. It's irrelevent to me... but it's a feature that could benefit some. Really I think they should have this type of thing in more games. Even if it doesn't translate to that many more sales... it's still good for those who'd prefer to filter out such content. Especially since some people do have small children and get this game for themselves. I'm sure there's parents out there who'd rather not play this game in front of them due to the violence and/or language.

[geda]

i'm impressed actually, even if they said the violence is slapstick, it still seems glorified IMO

[jcgamer]

however, Little Jimmy will still figure out how to play it unfiltered...

"Whoo, Yeah baby! This my type of Sh!T...ERR...stuff" - Cole Train

lol

[poopsack]

seems like a nice idea but really what could they substitute it with? As said above, power ranger sparks? with the locust screaming Criminey!

[Ghost_Helmet]

im going to make your blood ... uhh i mean sparks fly

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

put a parental control setting on this. Like, once those settings have been activated make a password and stuff.

Or better yet, don't buy your 10 year olds M rated games!

[Timesplitter14]

While this would be a good solution, I don't think M rated games would have any effect on kids. They didn't on me at least

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

Yes I realize that on most kids they won't have any effect. I remember playing some bloody gorey game at the age of 10, and I loved it. I realized it was just a video game.

But parents should have enough common sense to know when to, and when not to buy m rated games for their kids.

It's why every idiot blames video games for violence.

[darkside]

so this is how the game is going to be emotional!! XD

[Tyrael]

CENSORSHIP IS A CANCER

[Timesplitter14]

couldn't agree more.

It makes me feel like a lab rat. You can't become a grown up adult if everything around you is censored to make things look happy. I grew up watching violent stuff full of bad language. Now I'm a perfectly normal and pacific person

[cyclindk]

Could this be the loophole necessary to quell the advocates of video game censoring? As long as devs include this option, would that leave the possibility of making video games as obscene or profane as they like, I hope so.

Default settings: tame

Hardcore setting: hardcore

Obscene setting: close your eyes, you're about to be sensory fuwked.

[cr33ping_death]

"Chuck yeah"

" what up witches"

" darn!!!!"

damn i have to play it filtered to see what they replace the bad words with

[PoorDroids]

So? Gears 1 had these.

[DevastationEve]

gears had a feature similar, but it didn't do to much. check out the first encounter with the berserker on both censored and uncensored. it's just hilarious how they managed to change "oh man! we're f8cked! we're F8UCKED!!!" to "the hell is that...getting outta here, ooooh. gules!!"

wtf is GULES?!

[ShiftyLookingCow]

Oh fu(k. Damn it. We lost fu(king communications! Fu(k the Locusts, go to hell. -> Oh freak. Darn it. We lost freaking comunications! Freak the Cookie Monsters, go to heck.

[4D_4_Life]

I don't think gears 1 had the language filter, but the gore filter yes

[Timesplitter14]

THANK GOD they did that. Or else half of the world would've turned into blood-thirsty killers

[PistolPumptMonk]

Blood into sparks sounds a lot cooler than no blood at all. Still if there were three options: regular violence, sparks, or super violence, it would be a no brainer.......

Do I even have to tell you? ;)

[Bill Gates]

.

[MasterNexLev]

Listen guys! I have been going to this site for YEARS and this is my first time I have been compelled to post.

I live in a small apartment with a wife and kid. I like gears of war 1 and looking forward to part 2, but I never had any intention to buy it because of all of the blood and more importantly, the strong curse words in the game. I really do not like that about games, especially when they are high quality games that I really want to play. I played and beat Gears on my friends 360 (before I had a 360) and once I beat it, I left it alone. Gears was so fun though (except for the F-Bombs), I was just going to rent Gears 2 and beat it and return it. The ability to turn the cursing off means that I can actually play the game without cringing all of the way through it. And if I want, I could play the game without headphones as well. This is just great news to me.

Now,I think that I will actually buy this game. I have never bought a game when it first came out in my entire life. I would have bought Halo 3, but I just got my 360 Elite in March of this year. I am a casual gamer being slowly converted into closer to a hardcore gamer. Stuff like this will make that process go even faster!!!

I must say that I am really excited.

[otherZinc]

However, I'm a HARDCORE GAMER and I applaud this move by Epic. This allows my kid to play Gears 2 in his room when my wife & grandparents are over & my daughter hanging around my son. The words in Gears are very strong but the game is so great I'd hate to not let him play when he wants.

Now my son & I can play Gears 2 co-op on line (in his room, me basement) with the tv & stereo turned up a little with the wife in the house.

I cant express how truly excited I am about this decision, I'm going to wake my wife & tell her the great news!

I, however, when given the chance: Its Bawlz out GEARS 2 FULL BOAR!

[Rob0g0rilla]

For the kids that aren't allowed to play games with blood I guess. Isn't there something similar to this with Uncharted? To be honest, I don't know one kid that has a 360 and doesn't have or hasn't played an M rated game.

[IaMs12]

Well thats why they have parental codes that you have to enter a certain code to unlock it... lol but for me i knew the code my parents used all the time so i was in the clear for the TV LOL they just didnt know it :)

[Lord_Ash]

Not a bad Idea they can even makes it better if you need a password to turn it on again.

[RufustheSage]

Umm. . . .there's a violence filter in Gears 1 so that's nothing new, the Language filter seems funny though. Can't wait to here some of the dubs for that.

[SL1M DADDY]

You beat me to it. I was wondering what the heck when I read this. As if this is news really. The first Gears had this and it sold well.

[outlawlife]

everybody knows gears had the "extreme content" filter, this article is explaining that gears 2 has 2 separate filters 1 for language and 1 for blood

so it is new

turning the filter on in gears 1 was actually handy if you were host because it stopped your screen from being covered in blood and inhibiting your vision (only the hosts screen got covered in blood online)

[SL1M DADDY]

So in Gears you could turn both the gore and language off with one click and now with Gears 2 you need to click two times? Not too new to me but whatever. The point is, you could turn the gore and language off in the original, how you did it makes no difference and it amazes me how few a people knew you could do that.

[pow3r of t3h c3ll]

gears should have an anti shades of grey filter!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!

Oh and also an anti crap game filter so the game might actually not be a total bore!!!

[CreativeDestruction]

I hope they just don't have them talk in multiplayer.
It would be demeaning to hear Marcus say "Aww golly jee, I've been hit" or "Gosh darnit, my weapons jammed!"

[jinn]

Cliffy B is a genius