Brendan O'Connor the minister for home affairs announced that following last weeks SCAG (Standing Committee of Attorneys-General) meeting in Canberra an R18+ rating (Restricted to persons over 18) for video games will be introduced in the coming months. After years of debate amongst both state and federal politicians it will finally happen. The hearing has come with great reception to Australian gamers all over the country.
The announcement has not come without controversy. Following the terrorist attacks in Norway a few days ago where so far 96 people have lost their lives, many of which are children, debate has flared to if violent video games should be banned outright. Brendan O'Connor has said that this terrible event will not change the decision.
What this means is that games once refused classification, such as Mortal Kombat 9, will now have a good chance at being given an R18+ classification. Games once modified to meet the previous highest rating of MA15+ (restricted to persons over 15 with adult supervision) may be able to be reclassified with the adults only rating in its unmodified form. The most prominent being the Grand Theft Auto series which is known for its strong violence and sexual content.
The legislation should go through by the end of the year. I’m looking forward to seeing kids try and get their hands on the latest Grand Theft Auto or Modern Warfare 3 and getting asked for ID just to see how they talk their way out of it.
Till next week,
No comments:
Post a Comment