ESRB gives Red Dead Redemption an "M" rating

In what is probably the most obvious news of the day, the ESRB has handed Red Dead Redemption an M rating for its mature themes.

Robbins fly and eat worms too.

Apparently, as expected, it has some blood, violence, nudity, naughty words, strong sexual content, and opium use.

Here is the ratings summary:

This is an "open-world" action-adventure game in which players assume the role of John Marston, a reformed criminal on a mission to capture the remnants of his old outlaw gang.

Players roam Wild West environments and perform various missions for criminal figures and law enforcement: destroying bridges, helping individuals in distress, delivering packages of drugs (e.g., opium), capturing outlaws, and eliminating rival figures.

Players use shotguns, pistols, and rifles to kill enemies in realistic gun battles. Players can engage in melee-style hand-to-hand combat and trigger slow-motion effects by shooting enemies at close-range or by targeted shooting (i.e., aiming for body parts).

Blood often spurts out of characters when shot; head shots and knife attacks result in much larger sprays. In one sequence, a bloodied and mutilated corpse can be seen hanging from the rafters of a barn.

Players have the ability to shoot pedestrians in the game; however, a "Wanted Level"-penalty system discourages these acts by triggering a law enforcement response.

The game contains a scene in which two characters have sex on a table; there is a brief instance of female nudity. One sequence depicts a man injecting himself with a syringe filled with cocaine. Language such as "f**k," "c**t," and 's**t" can be heard in the dialogue.

There ya go.

Red Dead Redemption is out in May, and lucky UK'ers can get 400 MSP just for downloading a video of it on XBLM.