Ueda: DOA: Paradise Isn't Softporn

The ESRB (American rating board) recently caused a stir when they used some pretty ridiculous words to describe the upcoming PlayStation Portable title Dead or Alive: Paradise including "creepy voyeurism" and "cheesy" - even going so far as equating it to "softporn".

This is the same rating board that described Dead or Alive: Paradise's preceding title, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 on Xbox 360, with the more reasonable "Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Simulated Gambling".

Considering Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 was for the first title to sport individual breast physics, it makes me wonder how Dead or Alive: Paradise is deserving of the board's bizarre comments.

Now, in a statement to Eurogamer, Dead or Alive: Paradise director Yoshinori Ueda is firing back at the American censorship office.
"We're certainly not trying to degrade women. They have beautiful bodies. We're trying to show off the beauty of their bodies but we're not trying to be degrading about it - we're trying to show that they are beautiful characters." Ueda told Eurogamer "It's not that we were trying to make softcore porn. That's definitely not the goal."

See? They aren't out to degrade women, or create softcore porn - just show off the assets of their well-designed female characters. Albeit on a handheld with fewer polygons than the previous platform, Xbox 360.

As for the NZ/AU rating, the Australian OFLC offered up a more reasonable description while giving it the same rating: M "Consumer Advice: Sexualised gameplay and simulated gambling".

Keep it locked on NZGamer.com

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