Metal Gear Solid 5 News: Ground Zeroes Gets Mature Rating from ESRB, Sniper Quiet's Silent Nature Explained?

The ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) has had its time with the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain opener that is Metal Gear Soloid V: Ground Zeroes, and has delivered an expected "M" rating for the game.

The rating shouldn't come as much of a surprise when you consider the subject matter. It's a war game after all, and the last entries in the series (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance) were also given a "M" rating.

According to the ESRB listing for the game:

"This is an action game in which players assume the role of an elite soldier through military missions in Cuba. Players infiltrate various bases and use pistols, machine guns, and rocket launchers to kill enemy soldiers. Firefights are highlighted by realistic gunfire, slow-motion effects, and large blood-splatter effects. Players can also employ stealth attacks (e.g., choking, knife stabbing from behind) and have the ability kill non-adversary characters/prisoners. One cutscene includes a depiction of blood and gore (e.g., a character's intestines exposed during a dramatic procedure to remove an object)."

All par for the course, right? Well, it looks like there's also some spoiler-iffic info in there too. The listing goes on...

"The game includes an audio file in which a female character is sexually assaulted by male characters; while there is no visual depiction, sounds of ripped clothing and struggle can be heard. The words 'f**k' and 'sh*t' are heard in the dialogue."

The MGS series has had its fair amount of "WTF," moments: torture, bi-sexual love triangles, loss of limb, etc. Hell, the back story between characters is rife with moments normally reserved for the zaniest of day-time television programs that have long since jumped the shark. But sexual assault? I think that's a first for the game series that put Kojima on the map, and I wouldn't be surprised if the scene the ESRB mentions is what's responsible for mute nature of the game's most recent cause for calamity, the female sniper Quiet.

First revealed back in September, the revealing nature of Quiet's attire (or lack thereof), caused a small uproar among gamers, even prompting a re-design from one artistically skilled fan.

Kojima and company stood behind the character's design, with Kojima explaining during a Q&A session, "What I'm really trying to do is create unique characters. One of those is, of course, Quiet. She's a really unique character; I wanted to add that sexiness to her. It wasn't really supposed to be erotic, but sexy." Phantom Pain designer Jordan Amaro said that Quiet's outfit "will make sense in time. It's not gratuitous. Trust the guy." Amaro was backed up by Quiet's motion capture actress, and basis for appearance, Stefanie Joosten, who said, "Mr. Kojima has his reasons for deciding why Quiet [is] wearing what she's wearing. Players will just have to look forward to that."

There's an apparent nine year gap between Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, so it's unknown if Quiet is the victim during the assault. Whether it is or isn't, right or wrong, expect this to come back and bite Kojima and the rest of the development team in due time.