A light-hearted romp through the seemingly arbitrary world of video game ratings.

1) Halo 1 is M rated and contains "Blood And Gore, Violence". Uncharted 1 is rated T and contains "Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco, Violence". In Halo the in-human aliens that catch your bullets fired from fictional guns bleed purple blood. In Uncharted the humans that you shoot with realistic guns (if memory serves) don't really bleed at all.

2) Rockband (2) DLC: The Pixies song "Gouge Away". The word marijuana is censored. The Offspring track "The Kids aren't alright" uses the phrase "smokes a lot of pot" and does not get censored.

Contribute!

Well you answered your own question as far as the first one is concerned. There is very little blood in uncharted and therefore the rating is low. Just because there are alot of rating factors doesn't mean that it is worst. Tobacco is a very small factor and suggestive themes are in some E rated games, same with violence in some cases.

The rock band anomoly however is a bit harder to explain, it might be that pot is slang and if you know what pot is, your likely to know what marijuanna is and its effects. The term marijuanna is not slang and therefore very recognizable by someone (a child) with very little knowledge on the subject. It could also have to do with the context. I know in the kids aren't alright when they're talking about pot it is about the negative effects of the drug. The pixies might portray it in a different manner, and therefore harmonix felt it was neccessary to edit the lyrics.

I love playing devils advocate, it's just, so much fun :)

1) The difference here is Blood and Gore in Halo. And it's not boolean, only caring whether it's present or not, it's also a matter of intensity. There's a lot more gore in Halo than Uncharted, despite both games having violence.

2) The word "pot" will most likely fly over kids' heads. "Marijuana", however, is more provocative of a word. It's the difference between saying "posterior" and "ass". Or "poop" and...eh, you get the point. :D