Like an army of tiny beetles, the murmurs skittered across the internet late Monday night: Final Fantasy Versus XIII may have a Mature rating, the first Final Fantasy to ever carry that stamp upon its cover. Could it be true? Having no other pressing needs to attend to, I whipped out my trenchcoat from the hall closet and headed out in search of clues to solve the mystery.

Tracing all the hullaballoo back to source, I found fansite FF-XIII.net to be the first to mention the rating, clarifying that in fact there had been no official announcement, but the ESRB ratings clearly specifiy that Teen rated games must have "only minimal blood" and anything more would put a game in line for a mature rating. FF-XIII.net declared that the new trailer for the title showed The Prince impaling another character on a bloody weapon and therefore the game would earn a Mature rating if sequences such as this one were kept in.

I went back and rewatched the trailer myself, and I examined the screenshots with my Internet Matlocker Magnifying Glass™. I'm sorry to say it, but I disagree with the speculation of the Mature rating entirely. Last time I checked, there was impaling going on in Final Fantasy many a chapter ago. The graphics may be a hell of a lot better, but there's more or less just a bloody sword visible in this clip in question. Somehow I don't think this is going to crank the game's rating up to Mature.

Have a watch for yourself and see what you think. Sorry to say it, but I feel this is a case of grasping at straws. Nothing to see here, Internet. Move along. 

[Via PSX Extreme - Thanks Jonathan!]