This podcast deals with the shady dealings of a Kickstarter — no Gaming Flashback this week though.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
Nintendo is the main focus of this week’s episode, but we can’t discuss the company too much or they’ll sic their lawyers on the podcast. Other than that, there’s plenty of safe things to discuss.
This week’s episode includes:
Also, learn about who won the contest, which was decided by the roll of a die.
This week’s episode has bad audio quality, but excellent audio content as the podcast returns from a virus infected layoff. The Gaming Flashback this week looks to the 2001 GameCube launch title Luigi’s Mansion, while Paul and Jonah continue to snipe at each other while Jordan giggles.
This week’s news items include:
This week’s Question of the Week, “What was your favorite controller of all time, PC or console?” Keep tuning in!
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?
