There's no telling whether the new A.G. will share Atkinson's position on the outright banning of mature games, but judging by the cornucopia of tips we received from overjoyed Aussies last night, there's plenty of room for hope.
Australian mature game detractor Michael Atkinson stepping down
by Griffin McElroy 
on Mar 21st 2010 11:00AM
65
There's no telling whether the new A.G. will share Atkinson's position on the outright banning of mature games, but judging by the cornucopia of tips we received from overjoyed Aussies last night, there's plenty of room for hope.
Reader Comments (65)
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 2:02PM ch3burashka said
Celebrations at the his expense aside, I wonder what his real reason for leaving is: maybe he's been getting a ton of pressure from the sane people in the office. 'Cause there's no way he's giving up his place voluntarily.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 8:06PM Korova Pamplona said
I'm guessing his anti-gaming drive was not popular enough to overcome the special interests he was bashing.
If I were Sony and Microsoft and all the M-rated game publishers, I would lobby and campaign contribute the crap out of his chances. This ball-buster is not only pissing off gamers, he is majorly crimping the industry's cash flow and profits in a major English-language market.
Reply
If I were Sony and Microsoft and all the M-rated game publishers, I would lobby and campaign contribute the crap out of his chances. This ball-buster is not only pissing off gamers, he is majorly crimping the industry's cash flow and profits in a major English-language market.
Posted: Mar 22nd 2010 8:47AM Tezz said
Atkinson recieved a 14.5% swing against his favour, and although he won by a large margin. Im hoping his party and his family told him to tuck his head in and move on because he was costing his party a crap load of votes and his family was coping abuse for not serving his electorate.
...
or you can believe that he wanted to spend more time with his son, which sounds like total and utter bollocks. Someone who is so determined and was willing to spark up so much hate and misinformation on the subject, does not simply turn around and go... yea im stepping down.
If its family issues, i reckon his wife threatened to leave him as he was becoming obsessed or if its a party issue, that Labour just didnt want to have to put up with the total shitstorm that was Atkinson's agenda.
Reply
...
or you can believe that he wanted to spend more time with his son, which sounds like total and utter bollocks. Someone who is so determined and was willing to spark up so much hate and misinformation on the subject, does not simply turn around and go... yea im stepping down.
If its family issues, i reckon his wife threatened to leave him as he was becoming obsessed or if its a party issue, that Labour just didnt want to have to put up with the total shitstorm that was Atkinson's agenda.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 2:27PM Bedlight said
So Australia's gonna be normal? Good for them.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 2:50PM MICHAEL ATKINSON said
i'd say there was a lot of pressure from his office and his electorate,as well as that hate mail from a so called gamer,cause us gamers are more dangerous than bikers it seems.
Conrad i would'nt count your chickens yet plenty of non gaming roosters in the henhouse could be just as bad, but we do need a new system in line with other media to better inform parents and consumers to inappropriate material,what we have is very confusing,what may be ma 15 and fine here but not elsewhere.
I know way off topic but i did see EA making a need for speed MMO,how about a ROAD RASH MMO think of the possibility cruising through a real world meet and thrash your friends have truck stop style hangouts to plan races with leaderboards and gangs.
Conrad i would'nt count your chickens yet plenty of non gaming roosters in the henhouse could be just as bad, but we do need a new system in line with other media to better inform parents and consumers to inappropriate material,what we have is very confusing,what may be ma 15 and fine here but not elsewhere.
I know way off topic but i did see EA making a need for speed MMO,how about a ROAD RASH MMO think of the possibility cruising through a real world meet and thrash your friends have truck stop style hangouts to plan races with leaderboards and gangs.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 3:59PM Riley said
And there was much rejoicing.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 5:57PM Slashee the Cow said
Does nobody outside Australia understand anything about our politics?
"The controversial figure will remain on the Australian parliament until the 2014 elections"
He's never been in the Australian parliament - as the Attorney General for South Australia (a state) he's always been in their state parliament, just with far too much say about how the whole country is run, considering most of it didn't vote for him.
"The controversial figure will remain on the Australian parliament until the 2014 elections"
He's never been in the Australian parliament - as the Attorney General for South Australia (a state) he's always been in their state parliament, just with far too much say about how the whole country is run, considering most of it didn't vote for him.
Posted: Mar 21st 2010 6:54PM (Unverified) said
BEHOLD!
PROOF POSITIVE THAT THERE IS INDEED A GOD!
AND HIS NAME IS 'AWESOME: THE MIGHTY'!
PROOF POSITIVE THAT THERE IS INDEED A GOD!
AND HIS NAME IS 'AWESOME: THE MIGHTY'!
Posted: Mar 22nd 2010 1:14AM Snappyguy said
Lol funniest poll results ever!
Hope the new guy is Rowan Atkinson.
Hope the new guy is Rowan Atkinson.
Posted: Mar 22nd 2010 8:59AM Vhayste said
Rejoice Australian gamers! I hope the one replacing him is not as closed-minded as him. I am not australian but I do hope that aussie gamers get the freedom in gaming they've been deprived for long!
Posted: Mar 23rd 2010 5:27PM MozartFX said
Let's not forget, this is a liberal Democrat were talking about here. Or at least the Australian equivalent. I thought libs were immune to criticism. Funny I had to go to wikipedia to find out what party he belonged to. No news article ever mentioned the fact that he was a liberal. Hmmmm.
Posted: Mar 26th 2010 5:12PM slackboy said
Uuhhhh .... no he isn't.
Do some research on Australian politics before you start sticking American labels on it.
As an aside the new SA AG, John Rau, has expressed his support for ratings harmonization (i.e. an R18+ rating for games is on the cards in April) simply because he doesn't want to see adult content being crammed into the MA15+ rating.
Reply
Do some research on Australian politics before you start sticking American labels on it.
As an aside the new SA AG, John Rau, has expressed his support for ratings harmonization (i.e. an R18+ rating for games is on the cards in April) simply because he doesn't want to see adult content being crammed into the MA15+ rating.
Posted: Mar 26th 2010 9:35PM MozartFX said
@slackboy72 Uhhhh.....yea it is. If anything it's more left-wing than American Dems or at least they admit it. Socialist is how I read their platform. Remember, conservatives want the gov't out of our everyday life and libs believe gov't should be involved in every aspect of it. From video games to how many teams make it into the NCAA basketball tourney. It's the media that creates the myth that it's conservatives that want to censor video games. That was my point. I couldn't find out this guys political party until I researched it myself.
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