New Aliens Vs. Predator Game Doesn't Make It Past AU Ratings Board 277
An anonymous reader writes "Australia refused to give Rebellion's new Aliens Vs. Predator game a rating, effectively banning it in the country. Rebellion says it won't be submitting an edited version for another round of classifications, however. (As Valve did with Left 4 Dead 2.) They said, 'We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.'"
Apparently there's an I in democracy (Score:5, Informative)
Quick explanation: Pretty much most of Australia would be happy to have an 'R' rating for computer games.
This guy (Michael Atkinson) [wikipedia.org], however would not. He has the power to veto it and continues to do so.
Due to his geographical location, there's bugger all the majority of Australia can do about it from a voting perspective.
I don't blame game publishers for not releasing stuff here. Effectively we're all just waiting for 'Nanny' Atkinson to become senile and finally leave his post as South Australia's attorney general.
The thing that really worries me is how come they have this veto power for things like this in the first place....
Re:Good to see game developers put their foot down (Score:4, Informative)
As an aussie.... /agreed!
And anyway, its not gonna stop jack shit. Everyone will just buy the game off eBay.
Re:Apparently there's an I in democracy (Score:4, Informative)
The parent is correct. As a fellow Australian I am just waiting for this guy to move on.
Someone wrote to him a couple of times before getting an extensive reply attempting to justify his position, consider reading it here [PDF]
http://bunnitude.com/misc/files/R18-Michael%20Atkinson.pdf [bunnitude.com]
Quotes
"I think you will find this issue has little traction with my constituents who are more concerned with real life issues than home entertainment in imaginary worlds"
"I am concerned about the impact of this extreme content on children"
"It is true this restricts liberty, however I am prepared to accept this infringement"
It's basically a long winded version of "will someone please think of the children!"
Re:Good to see game developers put their foot down (Score:4, Informative)
What are people supposed to do? No politician is going to get elected on the platform of allowing an R18+ category or doing away with censorship.
I suspect these guys [pirateparty.org.au] hope you are wrong about that.
Re:Good (Score:4, Informative)
Whatever do you mean?
Do you mean that this is something the Australian public wants? That nothing is being done?
Or perhaps you are one of those nuts that believes that if we are not violent nothing will be done. I'd like to remind you that all those guns did not stop an extremely invasive surveillance law being put into place by the previous US government.
Because you are an ignorant troll, you do not actually know what is happening. Right now the R18 rating is being held up by one man, the South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson. All the other state Attorney Generals voted yes on R18 for games. Australian law in this case requires a complete consensus, not a majority (this prevents the State AG's from removing or changing existing classifications as well). There are already campaigns to remove Michael Atkinson from his seat of Croydon in the 2010 elections such as the Gamers4Croydon organisation. [gamers4croydon.org]
Please mod the parent troll, if possible ignorant as well.
Re:As an Australian Resident,,, (Score:3, Informative)
I love violent games. That doesn't mean that i go postal and kill everyone for real. It's entertaining to have some alien go up on a human, smack brains on the wall and go for next victim. It's fun. It's not real. It's a GAME.
Sure, i wouldn't want my kids to see that stuff, when they are kids but there are age ratings for a games for a reason. Why the hell Australia doesn't allow some games for anyone, not even over 18 years old?
Why some games are completely banned? Who are they protecting?
Re:Good to see game developers put their foot down (Score:4, Informative)
IIRC the Xbox enforces DVD region codes.
Afaict every console that can play DVDs enforces DVD region codes for them. This does not imply that they use the DVD region coding system for games.
I've just done some googling and it seems the xbox and xbox 360 use the same PAL/NTSC/NTSC-J region system that most other consoles use.
Re:Good to see game developers put their foot down (Score:2, Informative)
These guys [gamers4croydon.org] also...
Re:Good to see game developers put their foot down (Score:2, Informative)
The truly sad thing is that all of the attorney generals of each state of australia agreed in principle to having an r rating on video games (R being 18+ in Au, much like other nations), and there was a sole dissenting voice (Michael Atkinson of my home state South Australia - truly shameful).
One man has held up the classification of R18+ games in this country. If the people of SA vote out the rann govt, a classification is more likely. I would never say certain, as the alternative party are rather conservative, however just about everyone with half a brain agrees that its best to have an 18+ classification to keep the games out of the kids hands (guffaw, who am I kidding - they'll just go on bittorrent and download the razor1911 version, crack and everything...)
Kids smarter than politicians. Yeah, nothing new there...
-Dohmar
Re:Good to see game developers put their foot down (Score:3, Informative)
Yes this is a good point and I think people outside Australia need to understand this...
Most people in Australia, the Federal Government, and all the State and Territory Governments, support the introduction of an R18+ rating for games (much as we obviously already have for movies).
All, of course, except one jurisdiction - South Australia, and specifically its Attorney-General.
There isn't really a widespread opposition in Government against such a rating. It truly is the result of one man in this case ... unfortunately the law requires all States to agree in this case, so until Michael Atkinson gets replaced, this is how it is.
Having said that, it doesn't really affect much. People just mail-order the game from an overseas retailer anyway if they really want to play it (or they pirate it). The lack of the rating doesn't mean you can't play it. It just means people can't legally ~sell~ it.