Big news for games fans yesterday – The Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’ Connor officially announced on Sunday morning that the Julia Gillard Labor government officially supports an R18+ rating for video games in Australia. Now we just need the AGs to play ball.
According to O’Connor: ““We want to provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers. The introduction of an R18+ classification will help achieve that.”
Finally. But while this is great news for all the adult gamers who have been fighting for games to be classified in the same way as all other forms of entertainment in Australia, it’s not a win. Not yet. The Attorneys General have their next SCAG meeting on Friday, and the issue of games classification is on the agenda. If all goes to plan, they’ll all join forces to bring responsible classification laws to video games. Having the government vocally come out in support of the move is a good start though…
[Kotaku]