Violent Comic iPhone App Murderdrome Banned From App Store, Authors Want a Rating System

When the guys at Infurious Comics created Murderdrome (Death Race without the cars, looks like) and submitted it to the App Store as a free download, Apple told them that it did not “satisfy their ‘community standards.’” Apparently, a super-cartoony depiction of someone getting decapitated and having his head used as a handball was enough to ban the app from the store for being too “adult.” And now, the comic’s creators want something that makes a lot sense–a content rating system for iPhone apps.

While it may not make sense to rate every calculator app or variation on Breakout with an “ok for all ages” badge, as App devlopers continue to evolve what the definition of an iPhone app is (here, an 8-panel, episodic comic), for Apple to effectively censor content with their shadowy app approval process is not going to make a lot of people happy. Gadget Lab makes a great point that there are a ton of adult themed podcast floating around in the iTunes store, also free–why can’t an iPhone comic be a bit more risque? [Infurious Comics, Tech Radar, Gadget Lab via CNET]