This week’s episode features more news about the next generation of consoles, while the Gaming Flashback takes a look at the unfairly overlooked arcade racer Blur.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
The new episode was recorded last Wednesday but only posted now due to server issues. In this edition, Jonah, T.J., and Scott all geek out about Civilization VI. They also weigh in fully about the newly revealed Nintendo Switch, and speculate on whether it’s going to be a purchase. (Short answer: depends on how much it costs.)
This week’s news items include:
This week’s Question of the Week: “Are you ready for VR?”
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?
Gaming Podcast celebrates another major milestone, this time on February 2 — so expect some Groundhog Day jokes. This month has no Gaming Flashback, but there’s a lot of show in this sexcentennial podcast.
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