The crew realize how prickly gamers are getting. Lootboxes may make them complain, but it won’t stop them from paying. Exclusive DLC? That seems to be a bridge too far.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
We had to take a week off due to a death in the family. My grandmother passed away from Alzheimer late last week and we had to spend the beginning of the week with the family and the events that come with the passing.
We’ll be back next week in full force. So, here is a 39 second podcast explaining it, hosted by Liam our son.
This week is full of crazy energy. We seem to have gone 100% Sony on news chatter but we level that out with some great community feedback about our question of the week. We hit a little Burgertime action in our gaming flashback and bust through some Data East company history.
Analyst says Sony Motion Control beats MS NatalThis week we’re asking the question, what is your favorite end-boss in a video game from todays games to the past classics?
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?
I have Left 4 Dead and Left for Dead 2 100% completed.