My guess is Origins will release around the time that Movie 2 does in April, or sometime thereabouts.
So games with "gambling elements" will now always receive a PEGI 18 rating; this applies to any new releases including older games being released on a new platform. Given that previously the gambling descriptor has been applied to games that have any sort of playable slot machine or casino games (Pokémon, New Super Mario Bros, etc...), could this pose a problem for the Origins Collection with the slot machines in Casino Night and the bonus stage in S3&K? I doubt SEGA would want to release this with an 18 rating, but then again what could they even do to solve this besides removing the slot machines entirely (which fans will no doubt complain about).
Playing devils advocate here, but since you have a chance of losing 100 rings, couldn't the argument be made that you are wagering up to that amount?
according to the article "any games featuring moving images that teach and/or glamorize the use of games of chance that are played/carried out as a traditional means of gambling” deserves an 18 rating. Sonic 2 clearly glamorizes slot machines which are a traditional means of gambling.
SEGA Ages Sonic 2 came out in February 2020.. I don’t know when this rating thing took effect but I do believe that it shouldn’t apply to much older games like this one
I think the thing that kinda sets Sonic 2, Forces, or I guess Mania's means of "gambling" apart is that they're not much more than obstacles or things meant to distract, and have effects that can happen anywhere else on that same stage. Not sure about the Sonic 3 one, tho.
Seems PEGI gave some clarification. Joe Merrick on Twitter: "So, I just got some clarification from PEGI regarding this. It seems if an older game that was rated 12+ is re-released, it would retain its age rating. However if it had upgrades, modernised, or reshuffled it'll need to be re-rated in which case would have it" / Twitter I still don't feel too sure where gambling in Sonic levels lands things...
That makes sense. Re-releasing the original Ghostbusters on blueray doesn't change it's PG rating. What doesn't make sense is the fact that only the contents that lead to the highest rating are mentioned. So if a game has sexually suggestive content or language, but also has a scene where you play a round of black jack, All you get is a rating of 18 and a note that says, "contains depictions of gambling". If you have more reasonable sensitivities, you end up not getting the whole picture about the maturity level of the game. As for Sonic 2 being remade. It seems to me like Casino Night zone is glamorizing slot machines.
If they really are going to rate a game with imaginary blue hedgehog, racing through imaginary world's with casino elements as 18+ game... ...then the state of the world we live in is truly tragic.
I’ve never felt like gambling because of Casino Night, Casinopolis, Casino Park or any other depiction in media but I agree they definitely glamorize gambling...they’re literally giant casinos. I don’t think it’s offensive but I understand giving it a new rating.
The way I see it, if it doesn't touch your actual bank account (like microtransactions and lootboxes), then it's probably fine.
If Casino Night Zone was real and I could roll into a ball and flip into giant slot machines, I'd love to gamble. :P
One other point I forgot to bring up in the previous post: one thing that I think makes CNZ's slot machines different from real gambling is that there's a hard limit to how much you can lose. Actual casinos will let you gamble on credit, explicitly for the purpose of getting more money from you than you actually have. In Sonic there's no negative rings or debt of any form, so once you hit 0 rings, you cannot lose anymore until you gain. Whether that makes it better, worse, or neither I'm not sure, but I thought it was worth pointing out.
It's a sort of simulator. It doesn't need to be faithful to reality. It's enough to generate the image in the player's mind and incite him/her down the path of gambling.
Meanwhile in NBA 2K20, literal slot machines that you pay actual money to spin. Rated 3+ because the prizes are characters.
