A new draft of the R18+ classification has been released by home minister Brendan O’Connor through the Australian Federal Government. The new guidelines closely match those in place for Australia’s film industry. The new R18+ rating removes restrictions on bad language, drug use and nudity; in contrast, the current guidelines forbade the classification of any adult-themed games.
O’Connor’s draft claims that the R18+ rating will allow “virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes”, and violence in games “except where it offends against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that it should not be classified.” As far as sex, the draft says, “Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is ‘simulation, yes – the real thing, no'”.
Of course, “standards of morality, decency and propriety” is still troublesomely subjective, while “simulation, yes, the real thing, no” is comicly inept for videogames, where everything is simulation. You may be able to tell when live actors are actually performing sexual acts, but when can you tell a videogame character is actually having sex?
O’Connor stated:
“The Gillard government wants to provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers. The introduction of an R18+ classification will help achieve that and will also bring Australia into line with comparable nations. This issue has been on the table for many years, without the necessary progress to make a change. We’ve recently seen several states publicly express their support for an adult only rating for games and I’m keen to reach a unanimous decision at the July meeting.”
Rather than banning games, why not punish stores for selling mature games to underage children? Or put the onus of raising children on the parents?
@Name pronunciation butchering – Actually, Jonah is pronouncing my name right, Paul. It’s a flat ‘d’ with the accent on the first syllable 😉
@Machinarium – been there, done that. I just forgot to mention it in my last comment. It’s a great game and I really enjoyed it but it’s still not Broken Sword…
@XBOX unveiling & DVR functionality – I will most likely own only one next-gen console and it will be the PS4. I don’t want to lose my trophy progress and I am a PSPlus subscriber so Sony got me. It will be interesting to see, however, if the PS4 and the next XBOX will differ fundamentally in what they offer. From what I see Sony is really focusing more on the gaming side of things and I’m all for that. Microsoft seems to want the XBOX to be the only box you need near your TV so get rid of your cable set-top box, your TiVo and whatnot. I’ll be interested to hear what they have to say on May 21st.
@Jonah’s Anti-Playstation propaganda 😉 – You are for sure more in the know as far as the game developer industry is concerned but is Sony really lying about the progress they’ve made with the developers with the new Playstation and the developer-friendly approach they say they have? Even with the awkward PS3 architecture there weren’t many XBOX exclusive titles and most of the PS3 versions of games were as good as the XBOX/PC ones (*cough* Skyrim *cough*). The launch or close-to-launch list of games Sony showed looks impressive and the list of 3rd party devs they got support from is also something that makes me wait with excitement and anticipation for the end of the year. Granted, I will not get the hardware day 1 as there’s still a backlog of PS3 games for me but I hope to get the 2nd iteration of the PS4 hardware and be happy with it.
@Leisure Suit Larry – well doesn’t this fit right into the adventure-game void I’ve mentioned before? I haven’t really played the first LSL game so this is something I’m really looking forward to. I hope it has close to none hardware requirements and will run on my laptop. I’m not investing in a gaming rig just to play a 2D adventure game.
@Nintendo strategy – There is no discussion that the majority of the games nowadays are much easier and streamlined than what we saw some 20 years ago. Do you remember Super Mario Bros. : The Lost Levels? The game that was initially released only in Japan because it was thought to be too hard for us Westerners? I played it on an emulator some years ago and I don’t think I would have beaten it without the save/load options on real hardware.
I haven’t played any of the latest Mario or Zelda games myself but from what I’ve heard and seen in gameplay youtube videos, the freedom of the player and the difficulty level have increased a lot since the (S)NES games I had played years ago. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Nintendo to focus on younger players who should not be playing Mass Effects or CoDs but that doesn’t mean that the games should play themselves. Kids have short enough attention span as it is without the games having to reinforce it. Force them to play the same level or platforming stage over and over again rather than show 10 minutes of cutscenes every 2 minutes of gamplay. When they finally succeed after two hours they will feel that they accomplished something difficult and that feeling is most rewarding.
@’Buy a Wii U’ – The Vita is enough for now, thanks. On top of that, I haven’t really seen Wii Us (how do you even spell that?) in the Best Buys of Poland. Not that I’ve been looking hard but PS3s and XBOXes are everywhere and can’t be missed. The Nintendo consoles? Not so much.
For the sake of Paul’s vocal chords this 28-year-old ‘kid’ will try to limit the length of his comments… maybe next time… 😉
@Rumour: Next Gen Xbox may actually play video games
Including DVR sounds like an interesting idea. The ability to record snippets of gameplay and share it with your friends could make for some good times. On the other hand, from personal experience, that feature only works in Halo games. Recording TV sounds like a good idea too. If only Microsoft could improve the quality of contemporary television that would be great. Recording crap programmes still makes for a crap experience.
@Leisure Suit Larry
I played Magna Cum Laude on the PC. Made the mistake of removing censorship. Seeing Larry’s 3 inch weiner was a traumatising experience. Not so interested in this remake. The whole idea of a horny video game is lost on me since I am an anime fan. I am conditioned to softcore pornography so this game will be like a pointless point and click adventure.
@Wii U!!!??? Where are U???!!!
I don’t have a problem with Nintendo bowing out of E3. The problem is that this decision sends a bad message that Nintendo has simply nothing to show. This won’t help Nintendo to shift those console units. I understand that E3 is a media event aimed at investors and journalists. But to a gamer E3 is an important event about celebrating the upcoming releases. It’s like gaming New Year. The fact that it will be a 1/3rd to short will make for a disappointing event.
@QOTW
What was your Golden Age of gaming? For me it was the later years of the sixth generation and the first few years of the DS. Back then I used to care and anticipate new game releases. Each game somehow felt fresh and new. Nowadays they all seem the same. After I got over the whole console online multiplayer thing it kind of went downhill for me. Apart from occasional Skyrim, nothing else lights my fire anymore.