[ToR.Arnor]

Yesterday on June 18th 2012 the Australian Federal Parliament passed legislation allowing for an adult only computer game classification. This has been hotly debated for many years now and the new law forms the Commonwealth's side of a deal with states and territories to include the R18+ rating in the computer games classification system.

Previously the highest rating available to the computer games classification board was the MA15+ rating, which meant that either computer games that would otherwise be deemed adult-only where either banned or given the MA15+ rating allowing children to obtain them. The new laws bring computer games in line with the classification system for films, music and other material. This makes Australia more consistent with international standards and in turn legitimises the maturity of content available through computer games.

For Gamers across the country this will legitimise many computer games and adult worthy content that had been banned. It also stands as an important point for Australian Gamers as not only the Commonwealth Government but the respective State and Territories government's officially recognise computer games as a media platform that caters to people from all walks of life. This also marks an important step forward for the esports industry as it provides legitimacy to gaming and competitive gamging in the eyes of many government bodies and the eyes of parents across Australia.

"The R18+ category will informy consumers, parents and retailers about which games are not suitable for minors to play and will prevent minors from purchasing unsuitable material," Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said in a statment made yesterday, "These are important reforms 10 years in the making, the reforms also mean that adults are able to choose what games they play within the bounds of the law."

The Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (R18+ Computer Games) Bill 2012 passed the Senate on Monday night with bipartisan support. There has been overwhelming support during the years of consultation and in the preparation of the bill one discussion paper recieved more than 58,000 submissions with most in favour.

Shadow attorney-general George Brandis stated that it "classifying all media according to a single set of criteria" made sense and would make Australia's classification regime uniform across all categories.

Shadow attorney-general George Brandis said it made sense that Australia's classification regime would now be uniform "classifying all media according to a single set of criteria". The bill has the backing of state and territory attorneys-general who agreed to the classification overhaul in mid-2011, and will pass their own complementary legislation to ensure that R18+ computer games recieve appropriate endorsement and regulation.

The national classification scheme is set to begin Australia-wide January 1st, 2013.

Source: http://www.esportsdaily.com.au/index...-news&Itemid=2

[TCPLemminks]

+ [What say you Professor?] +

/spazz

[NOM]

now I can legaly play Rapelay

Quick Comments

sRDreaM:

Rapelay = awesome game

[inFeZa]

About - ******* - Time. Can i get L4D2 now? Jeez that game sucked with censorship.

Quick Comments

	ToxicTiger:	still not getting any gore :(
	rezyn8:	Did you really get the AU version?

[syfChadMann]

Originally Posted by SQL.inFeZa

About - ******* - Time. Can i get L4D2 now? Jeez that game sucked with censorship.

the censored version was made to be easily hacked to unlock the gore..

[inFeZa]

Originally Posted by cR.ChadMann

the censored version was made to be easily hacked to unlock the gore..

yeah but getting a game was not as easy

[Meatex]

I can't see this changing anything if the same people are still doing the classifications
Just means games that were MA will be able to be moved up to R cause it has a little nips action in it or something else random

Will this mean that EB will have a section for japanese hentai games in the corner cause that would be awesome :P

[Maynarde]

Certain good games can be bought by the public in Aus now?



Really excellent ones that the country missed out on?



Perhaps a re-release of a certain title in order for competitive play in Australia?



Nothing in particular just musing off the top of my head.



This is definitely good news Look forward to the future.

You Tube

You Tube

Quick Comments

	Meatex:	Didn't know that was banned in Aus, though tbh soul caliber is the superior fighter ;)
	TABottles:	Gotta get my some Fatality god damnit
	Loach:	This rep system now allows me to give u +9001 (= ♥

[[TA]LoSt]

Only like 4 more years until avanar can buy them yeah?

[mGGDrGooSe]

I think the most important factor of this news needs to be summed by refering to this statement: Previously the highest rating available to the computer games classification board was the MA15+ rating, which meant that either computer games that would otherwise be deemed adult-only where either banned or given the MA15+ rating allowing children to obtain them.

This is such a misleading statement. no R-deserving game was ever given an MA classification, as we know, games like L4D2 were simply massively censored. More to the point, it meant that some games could be left in limbo. Rather than gaining a classification or getting censored by prudish tea-sippers, they were simply unclassified and therefore illegal to sell inside of australia. So the best part of this news is that this loophole has now been taken away from the over-zealous censors.

And Meatex, the criteria for classifications hasn't chagned AFAIK, so MA games will remain MA, while R games can now be released as R games.

[ToxicTiger]

Does L4d 2 have gore now ? so I can actually play it ??

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by RedHaZard

Does L4d 2 have gore now ? so I can actually play it ??

Law isnt implemented until Jan 1st 2013 im gonna take a guess and say no retailer is going to be importing older titles like L4D2 (particularly since a censored version was released) but Online retailer will now be legally allowed to sell them to Aussies ^_^

[mGGDrGooSe]

Couldn't you always just buy the american version from an american retailer anyway? I know people did that with the gta games at least.

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by mGGDrGooSe

Couldn't you always just buy the american version from an american retailer anyway? I know people did that with the gta games at least.

you could, but it wasnt exactly legal...

Quick Comments

	mGGDrGooSe:	haha who cares whats legal? Only matters whats logical.
	rezyn8:	Purchased mine through the US Steam store

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by mGGDrGooSe

I think the most important factor of this news needs to be summed by refering to this statement: Previously the highest rating available to the computer games classification board was the MA15+ rating, which meant that either computer games that would otherwise be deemed adult-only where either banned or given the MA15+ rating allowing children to obtain them.

This is such a misleading statement. no R-deserving game was ever given an MA classification, as we know, games like L4D2 were simply massively censored. More to the point, it meant that some games could be left in limbo. Rather than gaining a classification or getting censored by prudish tea-sippers, they were simply unclassified and therefore illegal to sell inside of australia. So the best part of this news is that this loophole has now been taken away from the over-zealous censors.

And Meatex, the criteria for classifications hasn't chagned AFAIK, so MA games will remain MA, while R games can now be released as R games.

Actually that is not correct, many games slipped into Australia through the MA15+ net and would have been a different classification oversea's.

The witcher, was 18+ in the US and the UK and everywhere in Europe. MA15+ here with no changes.

Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2 were the same, 18+ everywhere in the world except for here. No changes to them but they were released in Australia under MA15+.

These an many other games (just listed these ones because they're really popular), were released with no changes under a different classification in Australia. This is the kind of thing that they are SAYING that they're trying to stop.


Really they've finally given in to the reality that the age of an average gamer is over 30, and there are many awesome games, big titles, that we miss out on because our government is too backwards to care and isn't up with the times.

+ [our government] +

Huzzah! now just pray for a Mortal Kombat re-release, and now we won't miss out on Hitman. You all knew it was going to happen if they didn't make the changes.