2. Age, theme, and gender overview..
• Portal is rated T for teen. This is more of a recommendation rather than a restriction because although the game
does not feature a lot of violence, it is still unsuitable for younger players due to it’s challenging gameplay.
• Portals front cover is made up mainly of blues and whites; arguably neutral, non gender specific colours. It is very
simple, the figure displayed on the cover actually a stickman, again arguably neither male or female. The game
itself features a woman as the main character who is, surprisingly, actually in a full suit of clothing! This would
indicate that the game is aimed at both men and women. There are only two colours on the front, so to a child,
this might look boring and not very appealing. The composition of the cover might be simple but it effectively gets
it’s message across with a stick figure, an arrow, and a ring; you don’t have to read anything to guess that this is a
puzzle game. Due to the absence of guns, gore etc we also know that this is likely to be a non-violent game.
• Viva piñata is rated E for everyone. Clearly, this game has no age restrictions; it features no violence, profanities
etc, however looking at the colourful theme on the packaging we can deduce that this is probably a game more
suited (though not limited) to a younger audience.
• The fusillade of vivid, bright colours on the Viva piñata cover tells us that this is a game aimed mostly at children.
The characters seem friendly as well as almost cartoon or plushie-like in appearance. While the game appears to
be aimed at children, it is not excluding other audiences; it appears more as a game suitable for children as well as
other ages, as opposed to for children specifically. We can deduct this from complex imagery on the cover- while
the characters and the background are cartoon-looking, then still maintain an appropriate amount of realism and
detail to get away with this. We can tell that this game obviously has no gore due to the absence of it on the cover!
Even the impression of the title of the game is very friendly and kind of happy-go-lucky. The game does not appear
to be particularly gender specific.
• Dead space is rated 18+. This is not a recommendation- but a clear statement telling us that only those ages 18
and over should play this game. The game is clearly not for young kids, as the front cover itself features gore and
blood therefore it is obvious the game includes a lot of violence.
• The game title ‘Dead space’ sounds like a violent, gory game before we have even looked at the cover; this speaks
for itself really. The majority of the cover is black, and in the foreground is a gory picture of a mans ripped off
hand. This is most clearly a violent game, not for kids. Due to the vast amount of violent games on the market at
current, we would also immediately assume this is going to be another shooting game, or at least involving other
weaponry in a combat style, killing scenario. There is nothing to indicate this might be aimed toward women; the
cover is extremely dark and morbid, something more typically geared toward the male gaming audience.