All those gamers hoping to see the introduction of an R18+ rating introduced in Australia, one of the biggest hurdles may have been overcome with Adelaide Now reporting that South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson has decided to retire from the front bench of parliament despite comfortably holding his seat of Croydon over the weekend.
Atkinson says that the motivation for his decision is to see some talented Labor back-benchers blooded before the next election in 2014. Also playing a part was a desire to spend more time with his family.
The fact that Atkinson is stepping down as AG (he’ll remain in parliament until the next election) could potentially smooth over the speedhumps on the road to an adult classification for games. Atkinson has always been a vocal opponent to the rating, and considering that the law requires agreement from all the Attorneys-General to change, the prospect has looked grim for mature gaming, despite massive public support.
There’s no word yet on who will replace Atkinson, although there’s some debate as to whether or not the adult games classification will even be discussed at the next Standing Committee of Attorneys-General meeting in April. Even if it is on the cards, and even if the new South Australian AG is supportive of an adult gaming classification, it doesn’t mean the rating is certain – Atkinson has always argued that he’s not the only AG opposed to the classification. I guess now we’ll find out just how truthful he was.
Art Nau
March 22, 2010 at 9:58 AM
looks like we got some good news on that topic : )
Report PermalinkShane
March 22, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Better the devil you know.
Report PermalinkShane
March 22, 2010 at 10:13 AM
It’s also some what annoying that as a democracy, we get no say into who is the state representative to the federal government (or the Queen’s representative).
This saga continues to be a demonstration into why we don’t need a segmented nation. We should be governed by one body, representing the interests of the nation as a whole and not two (one federal, one state).
Report PermalinkNath
March 22, 2010 at 10:21 AM
happy days
Report PermalinkJames-Mac
March 22, 2010 at 1:28 PM
Like an Emperor, or an Overlord?
After all, we’re all created equal… it’s just that some are more equal than others.
*I think I read that somewhere.
Report PermalinkHamish
March 22, 2010 at 10:08 PM
Shane, I think you’re confusing the Attorney General, an elected member of Parliament, with the Governor General, or in the States, the Governor. It’s the Attorney General, not the Governor of South Australia holding this step back.
Report PermalinkMicha Wotton
March 22, 2010 at 10:17 AM
I heard this on the radio on the way into work this morning. I spontaneously broke into a “driving dance”. Let’s hope this clears the way for some sanity in this discussion – i.e. action.
Report PermalinkLuke Eller
March 22, 2010 at 10:36 AM
That’s wonderful news.
Report PermalinkDaryl
March 22, 2010 at 11:24 AM
This should be interesting, since Atkinson has always maintained he was not the only one blocking an R18+ Rating for games, only that he was the most vocal…
Will another rise in his place? or can we put this ridiculousness behind us?
Report PermalinkYour Mate Alex
March 22, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Not that I’m likely to ever buy an 18+ game but I saw last night in the Adelaide Now article there was a poll – Are you happy he has resigned. 97% YES vote. Thank you, now piss off.
Report PermalinkAnonymous
March 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Gamers4Croyden got completely creamed, where’s the reporting on that?
Report PermalinkDavid Bunt
March 22, 2010 at 1:19 PM
Personally, I don’t think it was that bad a vote for them….considering that they are a relatively unknown group, in a area that is a huge safe seat for Labour, they managed to sway over 500+ voters. Not bad for a new party I would think. And that was 500+ less votes that Atkinson got, so any news is great news.
Report PermalinkDean Tate
March 22, 2010 at 1:46 PM
Not to mention the fact that they were almost exclusively a one issue party. I suspect that many would have supported Gamers4Croydon but not felt that voting for them would have been in the best interests of SA. Plus, Atkinson insisted that Gamers4Croydon wouldn’t get more than 1% of the vote, and they got 3.7%. For a one issue party, that is pretty impressive (Family First only got 3.2%).
Report PermalinkKieran
March 22, 2010 at 1:54 PM
Creamed is probably an apt term. 3.7% is more than Atkinson’s predicted 1%..
but there were more Donkey votes than G4C votes in the end.
Donkeys @ 5% beat G4C @ 3.7%.
Although there were more donkey votes than half the candidates.
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
March 22, 2010 at 1:26 PM
You expected otherwise?
Report PermalinkThey secured more primary votes than the Family First candidate which impressed me.
Anonymous
March 22, 2010 at 5:00 PM
I just find it odd there was a bit of coverage on Kotaku/Gizmodo running up to the election, but now they lost I had to go digging on ABC’s web site to find out how they went. It didn’t even merit a one line post on here.
I’m very disappointed they lost. I live in WA, so couldn’t vote for them, but if they were here I would have.
Oh well.
Report PermalinkTor Nilsen
March 22, 2010 at 1:51 PM
yay now we can have even more violent games! :/
Report Permalinkmatt
March 22, 2010 at 2:12 PM
yay!
Report PermalinkSteve
March 22, 2010 at 4:19 PM
YAY!
Report PermalinkShane
March 23, 2010 at 8:42 AM
The issue is not just about the content the game, it’s about making parents aware that the content of the game is simply unacceptable for children.
I have several friends who work in the gaming retail market and they’ve all but given up trying to stop parents buying grand theft auto for the young kids (pre-teens!!)
It’s HOPED that a better rating system will bring more light to the parents, but to be honest, education would also be a very important aspect.
But at the end of the day, you have a large segment of the society that just doesn’t give a shit and simply want to pacify their kids and any cost.
Report PermalinkSimon
March 22, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Now we can hope to have proper ratings that are suitable for the game. I wouldn’t want my 15 year old playing MW2 to be honest. Worth checking this story from the UK we aren’t the only ones at the mercy of the un-informed
Report Permalinkhttp://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=239791
glennc
March 22, 2010 at 3:51 PM
not just the ratings, but they need to be enforced at a retail level. i saw in EB games a sales guy pushing GTA on what looked like a 12 yo who was with his dad. the kid was looking at actual kids games and the sales guy kept saying; ‘no, what you want is this one’
i swear everytime i go in that store i feel like stepping in and correcting the BS the sales guys are saying. at least 5 times i have felt that way.
they are predators on the uninformed, nothing more. where else can you buy a used game for less than 5% saving on a new title.
Report PermalinkSteve
March 22, 2010 at 4:54 PM
Now that hes out, does this mean we can we put porn in games?
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