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?
Interesting, the dynamics of the group didn’t change a lot.
@Wasteland: Fallout as the spiritual of Wasteland? It makes a bit of sense; when you started to describe the game I scrolled up again: I initially thought you were describing the wrong game 🙂
@Dashboard update gives Indie Marketplace more visibility
I wonder, is it that the indies managed to pull enough money to actually deserve the extra visibility? And by ‘deserve’ I don’t mean the politically correct version of deserve.
If you ask me, the answer is yes, they do manage to pull in cash.
… :O Baby Makers Extreme had a sequel?!
@Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 outed by Amazon France:
Activision canceled advertising campaigns on that site? Really? Didn’t the tabloid stars teach them that is bad to f**k the press?
@Electronic Arts terminates “free Battlefield 3 for preordering Mass Effect 3” deal early
Hmm … I bet it is an exploit. Dice is just the developer, it’s the publisher that calls the shots on what and how gets sold, so I don’t think it was Dice who got upset.
I say it is an exploit.
@Alan Wake on PC because Remedy “a nagging little kid” to Microsoft
Hmm, lemme guess, they [devs] caved in and opted for an XBox exclusive for a little extra cash from Microsoft. Now they ran out of that said cash and they need to make more sales …
I liked the Max Payne games and I was quite excited about the game when it was announced. Now … meh … bad decisions have their consequences, and I think the devs will feel that. I mean there is a reason why others release their games AT THE SAME TIME ON ALL PLATFORMS, not two years later.
Regarding the question of the week, I’m not in for the pixie diamonds.
The Duck Tales games for NES (both of them) are very good. They even kept the TV series theme song in the first game (thanks for that ending, by the way).
It really was like Paul never really left! I guess you don’t need even need him after all! Paul kind of annoys me sometimes, especially when he’s whining about something.
About Mass Effect 3, I was actually playing the multiplayer demo while I was listening to the podcast and I think it is great. About the animations and such: I noticed them too, but what do you expect out of a demo! I also noticed some improvements over Mass Effect 2, but most of them were minor.
-.- Pixie Diamonds, whatever. (No offense, Paul)
Oh and by the way Paul, I was kidding, it wasn’t actually hate mail at the beginning.
It’s been ages since I’ve commented, but that was a really great show! This episode and the original crew episode are two of my favourite eps in a long time… and neither of them featured Paul! Isn’t that telling? (How’s that for hate mail?) 😛
I happen to be a fan of Polycast, so hearing Dan on the show was a very nice surprise. It’d be great to have him on again sometime! (Btw Jonah, I seem to recall you making a guest appearance on Polycast a while ago. Am I remembering correctly?)
@Alan Wake on PC due to Remedy nagging Microsoft
I always find it interesting to hear details of the relationship between a Dev and a Publisher. I find the Retro Studios/Nintendo relationship quite interesting, since although Retro are a very successful and acclaimed studio, Nintendo seems to be very controlling of them.
But even more interesting is the Rare/Microsoft relationship, given the Rare staff leaving and speaking out against Microsoft, etc. It’s sad to see what Rare has become these days though 🙁
@QOTW
To be honest, Disney didn’t feature that heavily in my childhood. I do love Pixar though and they’re part of Disney. They don’t really do ‘Princes and Heroes’ though. So maybe Aladdin then? He was a hero I guess and pretended to be a Prince for a while too!
thank you Paul for not showing up in this podcast, i was away from internet connection for roughly a month and when i heard the 1st VGRT contest i was very sad because i didn’t got the chance to answer and now i got a 2nd chance. TY
@indie dashboard XBL
microsoft fixed the problem because indie games are money makers. simple as that. the proof is baby maker extreme 2, you just said that
@Mass effect + free bf3 no more
idk if it was a exploit on the buggy origin software but bf3 is still selling as crazy (unlike the Vita – you stopped giving weekly selling numbers, i was amused by that…) the “useful selling time” of bf3 is yet to be reached.
@QOTW (oh boy, must acquire fictitious currency)
the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
he is awesome dude!
he might have been friendzoned as hell but he is the king!!!! not only because he s the king, but he has the atributes to be the best king with includes a pure heart even after a public humiliation from the entire kingdom, just, no heartfeelings bro Q.Q
he is epic
@Duck tales
when you mentioned duck tales for the NES, this came to mind instantly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPkhhLC1tf8
MOON THEME EPICNESS AT IT FINEST
ops almost forgot!
Derek, Jennifer, DonDon, nice to listen to your voices again! good ol’days back
my heart is with you and your son in the battle against cancer!!!
I just wanted to mention that there are games for XBLIG that are excellent besides I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1. One of my very favorite games from last year was Escape Goat (an excellent puzzle-platformer with very nice pixel art) and there’s also Curse of the Crescent Isle (a Mario 2 style platformer), T.E.C. 3001 (a 3-d freerunner with a very professional presentation and addictive gameplay), as well as many others. Yes, you do have to wade through countless flash game knock offs such as the baby launching game mentioned on the cast, but there are genuine gems to be found.
Jonah was a guest on PolyCast Episode 118 last year, as well as the show’s newest edition — Episode 141 — released yesterday:
http://thepolycast.net/polycast/season5.php#episode118
http://thepolycast.net/polycast/season6.php#episode141