Australia's OFLC wants to classify iPhone, mobile games

I swear man, the Australian goverment seems to br taking babysteps to Communism, i guess the same could be said about Germany as well, in terms of cencorship. Almost as bad as China - see the hilariously pedantic censoring of world of warcraft(they actually friggin banned skeletons and bones)

It's Australia, not America. I'm not even Australian.

Perhaps because of the immense popularity of said model, it's usually considered to be it's own platform, or on it's own level.

If the Android or Pre were as popular as a mobile phone+gaming handheld then I'm sure they'd have more of the spotlight.

I don't think it's bashing, necessarily, but then again, do you really expect a blog about video games to be sympathetic towards a government-run ratings board that doesn't take video games seriously?

If the ESRB is allowed into iPhone ratings, they will destroy the entire industry. ESRB ratings cost several thousand dollars, which will murder independent development entirely. There's a reason the XBox Indie games don't use ESRB ratings: there'd be no indie games whatsoever.

The ESRB doesn't give a crap about children, they just want the increased revenue. iPhone already has a functional self-developed system, and the ability to restrict access. There is no reason for the ESRB to get involved.

In Australia, the situation is different, as they don't have any free speech rights and have a government run censorship system with legal control, instead of a private, voluntary body.

The media industry should just stop selling things to Australians. A nice boycott of the country would be good for it.

@Kyle

True man, i agree. Im just getting a little sick of every day a new article about australia where every comment is: "OMG teh australians are pussy naziis!!11!"

@ xaiax

You have no idea what you are talking about. Stop talking you sound like a fool.

I am aware of the specific individual responsible for this idiocy, but economic boycott is effective at getting jackasses like that booted.

And Australians do not have legally protected free speech. It is completely absent from the .au constitution.

xaiax, I think ESRB rating for iPhone and indie apps is a great idea. For most indie devs, the ESRB rating will cost 800 - 1000 dollars, which is pidgion feed compared to the rest of the development costs.
Yes, it does raise the entry bar a little - but it should also raise the quality bar, and removing crap and the flood of 99c apps from the app store might actually make it useful again.

while you are right that australia does not have explicitly protected free speech, in practise the judicial arm of government has invalidated most laws which violate this. in addition they have implied a constitutional right to freedom of political communication. what im trying to say is that in general our lack of a bill of rights has not hindered us. also, the refusal of a classification does not make it illegal to own, but to sell, it is still obtainable (via importation). as a side note, it is very likely that we will have a bill of rights as a reccomendation has recently been made to parliament for one.

but im just as annoyed at everyone else that we'll be recieving an edited copy at retail.

AO doesn't make a game unavailable for US release. Major brick and mortar retailers simply chose to not carry AO games. If GameStop chose to carry AO games, no law is stopping them. Retailers do so for PR purposes, just like how you don't see porn at Best Buy.

No, V1L3 is right, the platform holders do not allow AO games to be released on their console. AO is PC only.

Then it isn't a US thing, making his statement false.