Apple bucks Unpleasant Horse

Earlier this week, Bejeweled creator PopCap Games announced its intention to launch its new, "edgier" game label 4th & Battery with the free release of Unpleasant Horse, but it appears that the game is just a bit too unpleasant for Apple. In a Twitter update today (which was captured by Joystiq before being deleted), 4th & Battery said that Unpleasant Horse had been rejected by Apple due to "mature content."

"WTF? Apple rejected Unpleasant Horse cuz of 'mature content?' We thought horses dying in meat grinders was wholesome family entertainment," the nascent label twittered. In a tweet that is still live on the site, 4th & Battery said, "Anyhoo, we still love Apple. Honest. We even had (and liked!) a Newton back in the day. Hope we get an appropriate rating for the game!"

Apple's rejection is a badge of honor of sorts for 4th & Battery, whose stated mission is to be "a purely experimental, creative label with none of the typical concerns like schedules, profitability, or even target audience." When it was announced, PopCap said that its new division would occasionally release games that firmly fall within the M-for-Mature rating.

Unpleasant Horse is such a game. It sees players assuming the role of an evil, winged horse that takes its pleasure (and earns points) by "destroying small birds." The titular Unpleasant Horse also seeks to clip the wings of other Pegasus-like creatures so they fall from the sky and into the "perpetual meat grinder" that is the ground.

For more information, check out 4th & Battery's extended Q&A with the Unpleasant Horse team.