Zen Studios alters classic pinball art to protect family-friendly rating

[vikingerik]

I wonder why many RAP-Songs have very exclusive rights (rap*** women, ki***** cops..., no Problem, part of a special, worth protecting "culture"?). Most Kids "enjoy" these garbage, but bikini-ladies and a Smoking fisherman in pinball got to be censored? Very strange and rediculous.

It's perfectly legal to include any of that. It's not government censorship, it's not a legal issue. The ESRB is a private entity, its ratings and regulations have no legal force. Whether to include objectionable elements is a commercial decision by the producer.

 

[The loafer]

I really hate our present time of censorship and fu***** political correctness so much.
Wish I had a time-machine-travel to the 70´s!

I wonder why many RAP-Songs have very exclusive rights (rap*** women, ki***** cops..., no Problem, part of a special, worth protecting "culture"?). Most Kids "enjoy" these garbage, but bikini-ladies and a Smoking fisherman in pinball got to be censored? Very strange and rediculous.

If Disney had a licensed game with any rap songs in them, they would be neutered too

 

[Rayder]

I think one of the problems is that many outlets won't sell a game if it's not ESRB rated. But one thing I don't understand is why Zen is so stuck on the rating PFX3 has now (whatever it is....I'm 50, so it doesn't matter to me) and why can't they just let it bump up a notch so they don't have to censor old classic pinball games that have existed for decades.

 

[bavelb]

Mostly cause they have a licensee who do not want to be associated with a non-E rating.

No matter how much suprised they were about the demand for the Williamspack, they dont want to kill the goose with the golden starwars/marvelleggs.

 

[kinggo]

or maybe just separate two products and stop kissing ass of the mouse. It's quite simple for me, before williams I was not interested in Zen pinball games and now after this I'm again not sure that I want to support this BS with my money.
After all, if done right, profanity is !"#%#&%/ multi practical on so many levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-_8jHUKSI

 

[Silverball67]

Yep! Separate the Disney licenced tables (name it Disney-Pinball). Disney is - by the way - one of my most disliked companies in Entertainment. Just think about, what they did with the Star-wars Franchise and the "Marvel-Inflation-Overkill". I´m so saturated with the "Mouse".

 

[Sean]

or maybe just separate two products and stop kissing ass of the mouse. It's quite simple for me, before williams I was not interested in Zen pinball games and now after this I'm again not sure that I want to support this BS with my money.
After all, if done right, profanity is !"#%#&%/ multi practical on so many levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-_8jHUKSI

I like a handful of the Marvel tables, but yeah, unless they’re seeing major sales overlap I’m not getting why these are all in one app other than ease of development, but given this is a bigger outfit than Farsight, you’d think a separate app would afford more flexibility.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

On Android (and I assume iOS) Zen do sell their tables as separate apps.

Individual DLC can be submitted to ESRB for separate ratings per DLC. But if Disney swear by ESRB ratings and won't allow their licenses to be used in any game where there is an "inappropriate" rating on any DLC, what can Zen do but comply with Disney who I presume is their biggest cash cow?

Farsight I presume didn't care that they got rated T, since they (1) had a good idea who their audience was, (2) know ESRB isn't enforceable, and (3) weren't beholden to Disney (would it have been different if they'd managed to get Indy or the Star Wars tables?)

 

[shutyertrap]

Disney is - by the way - one of my most disliked companies in Entertainment. Just think about, what they did with the Star-wars Franchise and the "Marvel-Inflation-Overkill". I´m so saturated with the "Mouse".

Okay, I'm thinking about what they did to Star Wars; gave me four movies that were in every way better than the entirely without studio interference prequels Lucas made. Yep, that sure sucked. And Star Wars merchandising pretty much taught every other studio how to do it, and continued to do it even without movies coming out and way prior to Disney taking control. But still, Disney ruined Star Wars, that's the argument, right? I suppose they were responsible for the Star Wars Holiday Special way back when too? Thanks, Obama.

I was very skeptical of the Marvel output during Phase 1, but I've since come to view all subsequent movies as a TV show I watch on the big screen. It really is remarkable how it's been one big serialized story and I don't think that was Disney's choice. My only concern with them handling Marvel (who remember was a fractured mess for a very long time with movie licensing) is risk aversion. That's both in story and content, and it's something Fox went rollercoaster like with handling X-Men. But the saturation of super hero movies? It's pretty much them and Warners handling DC, and Warners has done a piss poor job on their end.

 

[zmcvay]

Okay, I'm thinking about what they did to Star Wars; gave me four movies that were in every way better than the entirely without studio interference prequels Lucas made. Yep, that sure sucked. And Star Wars merchandising pretty much taught every other studio how to do it, and continued to do it even without movies coming out and way prior to Disney taking control. But still, Disney ruined Star Wars, that's the argument, right? I suppose they were responsible for the Star Wars Holiday Special way back when too? Thanks, Obama.

You kinda learn to ignore these comments after awhile. I've been hearing about how (fill in the blank) "ruined Star Wars" since '83. And that's probably because I was only 4 when the Christmas special came out.

 

[shogun00]

or maybe just separate two products and stop kissing ass of the mouse.

Yep! Separate the Disney licenced tables (name it Disney-Pinball).

It's possible that they can't. For all we know, there might be a contract clause/agreement with Scientific Games to have all of the Willams/Bally table in PFX3.

 

[Moosebox]

Did Zen admit that Disney is the cause for all the censorship, or is this all just conjecture?

 

[shutyertrap]

Conjecture, as Disney was not named. All that was said was that they had licensing partners they had to consider too, and from there the assumption was that Disney was the obvious culprit. However, Zen has repeatedly mentioned the ESRB rating as being the main reason for censoring.

 

[Zaphod77]

The issue seems to be that they are big enough for the ESRB to actually pay attention, and that they picked a free table that needed to be censored.

 

[Moosebox]

Conjecture, as Disney was not named. All that was said was that they had licensing partners they had to consider too, and from there the assumption was that Disney was the obvious culprit. However, Zen has repeatedly mentioned the ESRB rating as being the main reason for censoring.

Ok, that's what I thought, but all I see on here and the Steam discussion is that it's Disney putting pressure on them. When the only thing I know Zen has said is that they were fined before by the ESRB, and they don't want to go through that again and took the necessary precautions.

Hopefully they figure something out, seems like just releasing DLC with a T rating is the easiest thing to do so they can have the full Williams/Bally catalogue to choose from.

 

[shutyertrap]

Ok, that's what I thought, but all I see on here and the Steam discussion is that it's Disney putting pressure on them. When the only thing I know Zen has said is that they were fined before by the ESRB, and they don't want to go through that again and took the necessary precautions.

Hopefully they figure something out, seems like just releasing DLC with a T rating is the easiest thing to do so they can have the full Williams/Bally catalogue to choose from.

There actually is news on this front, I just can’t say anything yet. Did an interview with Mel for the BlahCade Pinball Podcast and all will become public when it can be released in 2 weeks.

 

[wilbers]

There actually is news on this front, I just can’t say anything yet. Did an interview with Mel for the BlahCade Pinball Podcast and all will become public when it can be released in 2 weeks.

So the assumption that the big news from your Mel Kirk interview would be the announcement of which tables will be in Williams pack 2 is wrong, or at least incomplete.

 

[shutyertrap]

So the assumption that the big news from your Mel Kirk interview would be the announcement of which tables will be in Williams pack 2 is wrong, or at least incomplete.

We cover everything that has been a topic of conversation since Mel came on the show and announced Volume 1. So of course, with all the chatter devoted to censorship, we get into that too.

 

[kimkom]

Do we have a definitive list of art that should be amended for the Volume 1 tables?

 

[shutyertrap]

Do we have a definitive list of art that should be amended for the Volume 1 tables?

Looking to double check they put everything back to normal? Hehe. On this site, no. From that Ars Technica article there was this about what was altered...

Pinball FX 3's digital recreations of the iconic Medieval Madness, Fish Tales, and Junk Yard tables feature many modifications to the original playfield, backglass, and side table art. Scantily clad women have been covered up with additional clothes or obstructions. Bloody swords have been cleaned. Cans of beer have been relabeled to be cans of soda. Characters smoking cigars have had the "pertinent items" (as the game's legal notice puts it) removed from their mouths.

Think of it as a game of Where's Waldo!

The non edited versions still aren't available for us to look at in the beta, so I can't even tell you that way.