Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One sci-fi first-person shooter Halo 5: Guardians will have something that no other game in the main Halo series has received: a "T" (for "Teen") rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board in the US.
While spin-off games in the series like the RTS title Halo Wars and the more recent top-down shooters Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Spartan Strike have been given the "T" rating from the ESRB, all of the main Halo FPS games have received the more restrictive "M" (for "Mature") rating until Halo 5: Guardians. Here's the specific content description from the ESRB:
"This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of a super soldier (Locke) searching for a missing character. Players use pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers, and futuristic weapons to kill alien and human enemies in frenetic combat. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, explosions, and occasional blood-splatter effects. Characters can also use "assassinations" to kill characters by snapping their necks, or by stabbing them with bladed weapons. The word "a*s" appears in the dialogue, as well as occasional taunts/insults (e.g., "I have copulated...with your genetic progenitors!"; 'Your father was a filthy colo and your mother was a hole in the wall!')."
The "T" rating means that Microsoft has less restrictions on how it can advertise and market Halo 5: Guardians in the US, and of course retail stores that sell games won't have to ask for ID if someone aged 13 to 17 comes up to the register to buy the game. Halo 5: Guardians is due for release on October 27.
Check out the regular Halo 5 Guardians edition at Amazon ($59.99)
Check out the Halo 5 Guardians Limited Edition at Amazon ($99.99)
Check out the Halo 5 Guardians Collector's Edition at Amazon ($249.99)
