Earlier today the Entertainment Software Ratings Board issued a "Mature" rating and description for Tecmo's Dead or Alive Paradise, citing its "creepy voyeurism" and "bizarre, misguided notions of what women really want." That description was quickly removed and reworked.


The ESRB says that the previous description, which also called the PSP game "cheesy" and opined that "Paradise cannot mean straddling felled tree trunks in dental-floss thongs," was posted "in error." While we've enjoyed the ratings board's dry (and in this case wry) descriptions of games that feature "deep cleavage" and "jiggling," this one was a little different. ESRB reps explain.


"The rating summary for Dead or Alive Paradise was posted to our website in error, and we have since replaced that version with the corrected one," ESRB spokesman Eliot Mizrachi said in a statement. "We recognize that the initial version improperly contained subjective language and that issue has been addressed.

"Our intention with rating summaries is to provide useful, detailed descriptions of game content that are as objective and informative as possible," Mizrachi continued. "However they are ultimately written by people and, in this case, we mistakenly posted a rating summary that included what some could rightfully take to be subjective statements. We sincerely regret the error and will work to prevent this from happening again in the future."

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We contacted Tecmo Koei reps to see what they thought of the switcheroo, curious to know if they'd taken issue with the ratings board's analysis of the T&A laden game.

"Thanks to Kotaku's post this morning, we saw the description given by the ESRB," Tecmo reps told Kotaku. "Tecmo has not reached out to the ESRB regarding the description, so the decision to remove/update was entirely their call."


As for the creepiness?

"While we will not deny the fact that this title offers voyeuristic appeal, we do not mention or use phrases such as 'creepy', 'dental-floss thongs', 'bizarre' or 'misguided notions' in any part of our ESRB rating submission materials," Tecmo clarified. "Upon reviewing the submission materials (both text and video), the ESRB defines those descriptions."