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?
@THQ finally dissolved, assets auctioned off
RIP. I’m curious as to how Metro will do, I saw them as a possible lifeboat for THQ.
Jonah, I think the release date for the games in development will be delayed. Those devs rely on money from the publisher, and even the ones that did get bought, their HR/payment systems will be disrupted.
We have a similar saying, going “Each kick in the arse forces you to take a step forward”.
@League of Legends Team Solo Medbi players receive lifetime bans for anti-Semitism and abuse
Ok, it’s a start. But as I said in a previous discussion, it won’t change that person. Sure, it makes the LoL garden cleaner, but it won’t do much for the real world.
@Sony fined 250K GBP for April 2011 hacker intrusion
Well deserved fine. I’m curious how the appeal will work. I agree with Jonah, the fine is small, but Sony has to appeal, even so that it doesn’t appear to be giving up. ‘Cause if they do, they’ll find themselves drowned in lawsuits.
@QOTW
Anything that can be obtained also by grinding. If it can’t be obtained by grinding then it must be a temporary upgrade, like EA’s Battlefield Heroes renting weapons.
Now I know I keep mentioning World of Tanks, but that visit at my brother’s was quite an eye opener. The microtransactions there revolve around buying ingame credits for fuel, ammo and repair points.
Now, you can also obtain those credits by playing the game. So what my brother does is to use a medium class tank for grinding up credits – it’s cheaper to operate – then fight a few battles using the high end tank. And although this sounds tedious, he enjoys a lot even the matches that he plays with his medium class tank. So, in his case, the experience provided by playing free is very enjoyable.
That flu made Jonah sound his age. How strange.
@THQ no more
A bit sad. They published some good games. A decade of gaming history down to the archives. Hell, we lost a lot of studios since the crisis. Midway. Ensemble. 3D realms. Let’s just hope once the next gen kicks in there won’t be just EA and Valve out there.
@Gears of War 3 microtransactions
Oh I am sorry? Did I spell Dead Space wrong? Silly me. I understand when a free 2 play MMO needs microtransactions. Servers and all that. But Dead Space is a full retail game and you will have to shell out full price for it. Mooching more cash of you once you pay them is just ignite.
@Disney
Don’t care. I want Kingdom Hearts where you can play as Darth Vader and Spider-man.
@Court slightly inconveniencing Sony for gross incompetence
Man that’s bad. I hope that slap on the wrist won’t turn into a bruise. I mean, it’s all the subscribers fault anyway. If they wouldn’t subscribe for PSN there wouldn’t be any account details to steal in the first place.
@QOTW
I prefer cosmetic microtransactions. When you pay for your character to look fancy but not actually be any better than an average player. Microtransactions can ruin competitive games. I have been playing Dust 514 recently. It’s unfair when you get dominated by a kid whose daddy has a fat wallet. In the end, it puts you off playing the game.