Australian Attorney General Atkinson plans appeal of Modern Warfare 2 rating

*double faceplam*

As cross as a frog in a sock, eh mate!?

-__-

I hate this man.

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Atkinson is actually worse than *censored* because Atkinson's in a position where he can do something with his idiocy.

My god.

Jack Thompson has been MATING.

Calling it now. Jack Thompson with a wig and false mustache.

Stop shoehorning 18+ games into 15+ ratings. Require ID for 18+ games like the laws have for cigarettes and alcohol for anyone that looks under 25.

Its a hassle, but we'd avoid the catastrophes that was L4D2 (Check out the Australia IGN review and videos) and this supposed stuff of "getting points" for killing civilians.

This guy is the ultimate troll, except he actually has power and influence.

I encourage everyone, not only Australians, to give that radio interview a listen. If only just to hear how blinkered Michael Atkinson is, despite his good intentions.

To all Australian gamers, specifically, it should also be mentioned that the other person interviewed in the radio discussion was David Doe, founding member of Gamers 4 Croydon - a group set up to directly challenge Michael Atkinson at the next election. Show your support - http://www.gamers4croydon.org/members

It's not gonna be easy to unseat the tyrannical Atkinson (whose arrogance shines through in the interview), but at least someone has made some steps towards change and common sense.

As for MW2 being reclassified, this isn't a surprise considering Manhunt 1 had been out for months before it was retrospectively banned, chances are everyone who wanted MW2 already has it. One of the key points of the radio interview is that Atkinson himself doesn't trust the Classifications board and is on a personal crusade to ban games he doesn't like - again, another example of glaring inconsistencies in Government.

And what the hell, while I'm at it here's a personal blog plug in addition to this rant.

http://www.willooi.com/2009/10/the-australian-moral-dilemma-of-game-censorship-modern-warfare-2/

http://www.willooi.com/2009/11/modern-warfare-2-a-post-completion-discussion/

FFS, why cant politicians and the media even try to understand games? You dont fucking get points for killing civilians, there isnt even a fucking achievement. You'd think these assholes would actually care enough to see what they're talking about before they just make shit up.

As an Australian who has seen this man spread his inaccuracies and scaremongering for years, this comes as no surprise.

That is not to say that it's not important to report it though. Alexander is quite correct is comparing his views to that of Jack Thompson's. Once Atkinson was simply an advocate of restricting video games in Australia, in recent times he has completely gone off the rails. None of the statements he makes nowadays can be backed up with any facts and all of his accusations towards video games in general can be refuted within a matter of seconds.

There is a difference between him and Thompson though. Thompson was just a lawyer, but Atkinson is a Minister. He has held his seat (in the Croydon electorate of South Australia) since 1989. NINETEEN EIGHTY NINE. His constituency in Croydon love him and vote for him in massive numbers. Granted, they know nothing of the R18+ ratings issue and most likely do not care. But that is how Atkinson stays in power: through the votes of a couple of thousand of South Australian residents. As a result, Atkinson holds onto his dual seat of MP and Attorney General. As Attorney General, he can continue to be the only Attorney General opposing this rating. For some insane reason, the vote for this rating needs to be unanimous. The majority of AGs want the rating, but Atkinson is blocking it due to his own personal views.

But hopefully, he will become increasingly nutty (like Thompson) and his constituency will start to notice this before the upcoming March state election in South Australia.

infinity ward, just give your games the fair rating. it doesn't matter if the rating is different, little 12 year olds will still buy them.

i will never understand why Australia doesn't have a 18+ rating.

do they have adult ratings for movies? why the double standard for games?

Like Jack Thompson, huh?
So when's he getting disbarred?

Personally I hope they DO ban it, because that could create enough controversy that Atkinson could finally get his ass hauled away and we'll finally get our R rating.

points for killing innocent people? yeah um, we don't get points. at all. a lil research goes a LONG way...

Oh good. So not only are all games for kids, but now they all give you points for killing people.

I was able to beat the game without killing any civilians. Just had to smoke a few cop's but my point is you dont have to kill anyone in this game thats not holding a gun.

This Sux. Im an adult and my friends are adult gamers, but here in Aus, one man who sees games as primarily for children can influence us having an R rating.

What is standard in 99% of the world is not allowed, instead everything is squeezed into an MA15 rating, mostly uncut. With the occasional ban.So we have a ridiculous situation where 15 year olds can play GTA4 and violent 1st person shooters, which would be intelligently restricted in 99% of the civilised world.

We have R18+ for magazines and cinema and DVDs and drinking, but Videogames do not. Videogames have an extra large rating on the front of the box, Granma is unlikely to buy an R18+ for a child, especially as the cost is around $100.

At $20 an R18+ DVD is more reason for concern or just plain webbrowsing i can Google all sorts of sick stuff with a couple of button presses, all the energy Atkinson spends worrying about Videogames should be better spent satisfying the needs of the majoritry of Australians