Wow, Australia... Really?

[DarkHelmet]

(mods, I felt this was suited more toward a general topic, rather than Gaming, due to the censorship aspect of the article rather than the focus on any one game.)

Article here.

My friend who shared this article with me jokingly quipped "Is Australia the new China?"

I'm not even going there, but I am surprised by this. I had no idea that Australia (according to this article) is the "only developed country without an R18+ classification for games, meaning any titles that do not meet the MA15+ standard - such as those with excessive violence or sexual content - are simply banned from sale by the Classification Board, unless they are modified to remove the offending content."

This means that even adult gamers will be unable to legally obtain the games, which is somewhat unbelievable to me.

Thoughts?

 

[backstept]

I support age restriction on videogames, but not outright banning . . . that sucks

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, I really disagree with the idea of an agency that can ban video games by force of law.

 

[RJDiogenes]

That's pretty bizarre. Can people still buy them through Amazon and so forth?

 

[Rii]

Err, will?

This has been the case since forever, most famously it's affected Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, and Fallout 3. Changing the classification system to provide for an R-rating for games requires the unanimous consent of the state attorneys-general, and one little fuckstain is standing in the way.