Jonah goes off on a virulent rant about NBA 2K20 and the decline of the series as a whole, while offering milder criticism of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. There’s no Gaming Flashbacks, but plenty of news.
The news items include:
Let us know what you think.
The publication of this episode is a little late thanks to uncontrollable circumstances, but while Paul discusses the ending of Slicing Fractions, this week’s episode includes both a Gaming Flashback, Scramble, and a Gaming History which focuses on the Zelda series.
This week’s news includes:
This week’s Gaming History discusses rumors that raged about Zelda games – Paul is not amused.
Unfortunately, Skype decided that since Jonah’s webcam was connected, he wanted to use the webcam’s mic instead of the actual mic Jonah uses, making it sound like he’s in the next room talking to the others. It’s unfortunate, since this was the 350th episode of the Videogame Roundtable and longtime co-host Paul Nowak took the time from his busy schedule to join in the landmark episode.
This week’s news includes:
Let us know what you think.
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?
