Epic Games' Gears of War 2 will feature filters to make the game more family-friendly according to What They Play, the self-styled "parents (sic) guide to video games."

The site reports that Gears 2 will sport filters to ease up the level of both blood and violence. Microsoft has apparently told the site that a violence filter "turns the blood into sparks", while a language filter, "takes out all the swear words."

Gears 2 has been rated M (for 'Mature', or 17+) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board in America.

At first SPOnG was a little horrified. Gears is, by its very nature, a gory and 'adult' franchise. But... well, why not? The gore and the cuss words are still there if you want them. Why shouldn't younger audiences be able to play it without them? This could be a step in the right direction for getting violent games to be more accepted in the mainstream and, of course, getting publishers fatter sales figures.

You can find out more about Gears 2 on SPOnG's dedicated game page.

^{Source: What They Play}