Australian mature game detractor Michael Atkinson stepping down

Ze Austrailians are free!

[Is not Australian either]

Yea! [And I don't even believe Australia exists!]

Ding! "Achievement unlocked"

I call mens room shenanigans or it will come out that he makes his children kill hobos..

Wait, so does that mean I can finally go to Australia now?

Ah shit, nevermind. I thought they passed the R-18 thing. I guess I still have to wait to go to Australia.

Seriously man! Obie just cleaned that. You wouldn't like Obie when he finds out theres ass prints on his freshly cleaned door.

Yeah pretty much 99% of objectionable games are slapped uncensored with a 15+ rating that get 17+ in the US or 18+ in the UK, like Fallout 3. I remember seeing the 18 label on the Duke Nukem 64 cartridge when i was younger, but couldn't understand why it was there when the box for the game had MA15+ on it. The small proportion censored only every get a tiny censorship then released 15+ except Left 4 Dead 2. That game was butchered. The only thing this change is going to do is 15/16/17 yr olds will be unable to play the games they could play now anyway. It wont affect releases, since that was never a problem. I'm praying this now means L4D2 gets uncensored and i might actually get it!

Perhaps you need to read my response to Reuben. Our classification system is actually way more lenient than the US or UK. It meant shitty banned games didnt get release, good banned games were insignificantly censored and released anyway (except L4D2) and 99% of all other 17+ US games and 18+ UK games actually got hit with 15+ here. I guess thats all going to change now.

I don't think anyone cares about a game that was 17+ here going to 15+ there, unless you are underage. I think the more important thing were the games that were censored at all, or outright banned.

I can't believe there's people actually sticking up for the rating system, especially Australian.

Except for the fact that we get every game you guys get, with a lower rating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#Australia

The only games totally banned are all shit. The other games that are too violent or whatever, get slightly modified and released as 15+. Things like the drugs in Fallout 3 being renamed, little things. The ONLY game to be significantly modified was Left 4 Dead 2's axing of all blood. 99% of the time, a game deemed to be a big-release but banned in Aus, will be appealed, the decision overturned, and we get the game uncensored and available to a younger audience. That would technically mean we have an even more lenient rating system than anywhere else, since the 17+ games people in the US play, our 15 year olds play it.

All this uproar over only 1 good game ever to get a harsh censorship.....

As you can see in the Wikipedia article, Fallout 3 is the perfect example: "Edited world wide due to the insignificant change that was done (the name of morphine being changed to Med-x). Therefore the same game that was rated 17+/18+ in other countries was rated MA15+ in Australia." This happens more often than not. Our classification system is way more lenient than the rest of the world. I guess this is a good thing, stopping people 15,16,17 from playing violent games, but its not going to affect game releases as that was never a problem for decent titles to begin with.

@Foetoid

If this situation doesn't bother you it's fine with me. I just think complacency in the form of any censorship like this is ridiculous.

While i do agree with you, overall our system is far more lenient. We get 99% of the same games at a lower rating uncensored. The crap games just dont get released as the developer doesnt have the budget or care-factor to censor them, the good games get insignificantly censored and released at 15+, and every other game gets 15+ anyway. Most games that trigger a story about being banned, get appealed and released 15+ anyway, giving out censorship system a bad rep when its actually very good.

The definition of "shitty" is objective. Just because you wouldn't play it doesn't mean someone else wouldn't.

I very much meant "subjective"

Very true. Tho read the list of permanently banned games yourself and give me your subjective opinion.

@Foetoid

The fact that we got one AAA game that was butchered as heavily as Left 4 Dead 2 is reason enough for a change in the ratings.

The fact that most games that are mature have some form of censorship applied is ridiculous as I want to play the game the developer intended me to play.

Not only that, but it's a pain in the ass for the developer to have to worry about ratings and it costs extra for them to have to appeal decisions or do extra legwork. In fact, this is potentially one of the reasons why we sometimes get games later than other countries or why we get less support than other countries in terms of games. Its just a pain in the ass to worry about. The more money they make and the happier they are with the Australian system, the more likely we are to get games on time that are fantastic.

If none of that makes sense, think of it this way. Would you rather have access to every game possible as the developer intended, or would you rather have access to a slightly limited section or to a number of games that are not 100% faithful to what the developer wanted? It's a pretty easy answer.

Foetid:
Are you saying that you can have GoD of War 3, where I slowly hack a guys legs off without any edits and you can't have 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand until it is altered? What kind of system do you use exactly?

Wait, wasn't he making some law against advertising R-18 films?

Is he also going to end up like Jack Thompson, occasionally lurking gaming sites?

Don't worry 0_0, he's already found you. Just try to not look out your window.

From henceforth I shall read all of your comments in Crocodile Dundee's voice.

Put a shrimp on THAT barbie!

Hey-OH!

On the plus side, will this reduce or remove the release date delay that Aussies seem to get with games? Or was that an unrelated issue?

Leniant doens't mean good though, personally I'd rather an 18+ for many titles and a restriction with punishments for vendors who sell to minors. Also I'd like more education for adults purchasing this stuff for their kids. I don't think there's appropriate dialogue between parents and children regarding this material.

I don't think any game should be outright banned (save maybe a piece of material that's an outright hate propoganda.) But there is something to be said for restricting it to age appropriate catagories. Further the lack of this classification in Australia created a void that treated the subject matter as a lesser form of communication. Film, television, and other mature mediums all have a classification system. That same standard should be applied to video games to allow for a consitency of message.

It's a disrespect to the medium that it didn't have an equivilant rating and a loophole that allowed, on appeal, for material that was frankly innapropriate to get in to the hands of minors (and for an example I simply have to point to Modern Warfare 2, there are many children who are inapropriately young playing that game.)

Yeah, I was thinking that the the R+18 was a good thing because I don't think that 15 year olds should see everything that an 18 year old should see. Maybe that's a culture thing with America, 18 seems to be a year that brings maturity [which is often a lie... especially when I turned 18, lol]. I just think that an R+18 rating system would be more fair for gamers and developers and that is the real point.

Also I hate hearing little kids on their mics talking loads of shit... for some reason that just really grinds my gears.

Freaparn, thats unrelated. Not sure why that is either. Sometimes it's not like that, but a developer has to put in the effort to get a game out in Australia first. We got New Super Mario Bros Wii first, as well as a few others i cant remember as i just woke up lol.

In what ways?

Well, he stopped without being kicked out of his profession, for one.

*facepalm*