Free TV Australia recently released its annual code complaints report for 2010/2011 and, unsurprisingly, a majority of hits went the way of current affair shows and news programs. Classification, bias and discrimination accounted for most complaint types. More »
It looks likely we’ll finally get an R18+ rating for games, but what does that mean for existing games and future titles? Over at Kotaku, Tracey has a comprehensive explanation of how re-classification works which is well worth a read. [Kotaku]
Serrels from Kotaku was pounding the floor at Game-tech yesterday, and had a chat to the Assistant Secretary from the Classifications Operations Branch, Jane Fitzgerald, about the difficulties in regulating half a million apps on the app store. Turns out the idea of self-regulation for classification isn’t too far fetched. More »
As spotted over on Kotaku, Brendan O’Connor has released the draft R18+ video games classification guidelines. But having the guidelines and understanding them are two different things entirely. More »
It’s been an interesting afternoon in games classifications-land. First off, the South Australian Attorney General John Rau claimed that he’d support an R18+ rating on the proviso that the MA15+ rating was scrapped. Then Gamespot reported that Rau was claiming South Australia would go it alone and launch an R18+ rating regardless of what the Attorneys-General decided at the next SCAG meeting. Turns out that may not actually be the case. More »
There’s been an interesting development in the R18+ games classification crusade today, with South Australian Attorney-General John Rau admitting he supports the introduction of an adult classification on the proviso that the MA15+ rating gets taken out the back and run over by a hummer travelling at speed. More »
Mark over at Kotaku has written an awesome post summing up why the debate over an R18+ for games keeps stalling: because most of the people arguing against it choose to ignore the facts and aren’t actually interested in debating the issue on its merits. Essential reading, even if you’re not a gamer yourself. [Kotaku]
The Classification Review is now underway, with the first committee hearing taking place last Friday. Said hearing didn’t discuss the R18+ issue directly, as a result of the upcoming SCAG meeting in July, but plenty of anti-R18+ campaigners, including Lyle Shelton of the Australian Christian Lobby, were in attendance and commented directly on broader issues of classification. More »
Our brother from another server, Mark over at Kotaku, has been all over the recent Mortal Kombat debacle like gratuitous blood splatter in a fatality. And today, he’s at it again, informing us that Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor has thrown down the gauntlet to the Attorneys General should they fail to come to an agreement at the July SCAG meeting. More »
There’s currently (at least one) pretty big flaw in the way classification works in Australia. Despite the fact that all video games are by law required to go through classification, the relatively recent explosion of mobile applications has meant that developers could release games to the public without classification through mobile app stores without needing to go through the classification board. But all that is officially about to change. More »
