Why does Australia seem like a bastion for anti- freedom policies meant to stifle and nanny the populace? I have never been there, but the news I read makes me pity these poor folks. It sure seems like the USA uses it as a testing ground for more radical policies it would like to try to adopt itself.
You forgot to mention weapon replacements:
All melee: replaced by large boquet
Thrown weapons: replaced by birthday cakes
Shooting weapons: replaced by hippie protestors and bra burners
well since i am from australia i think this is the kind of thing that just the total opposite from the "Who cares" attitude that i grew up with and its kinda sad that they just couldn't rate it the same as the first and say "buy if you want it."
When will Governments realize censorship is never the correct path? Why is history repeating itself verbatim? This sort of stuff makes me lose faith in humanity. Censorship is a major reason why I don't respect Australia more. (the government I mean)
well since i am from australia i think this is the kind of thing that just the total opposite from the "Who cares" attitude that i grew up with and its kinda sad that they just couldn't rate it the same as the first and say "buy if you want it."
It always surprises me when I see a modern country with bigger prudes than the US. They should be used to this in Australia anyway. I bet little kids there see dingos and crocodiles mauling small animals all the time!
Even Doom II, still has a MA15+ rating. The reason why games get banned is there was/is no "X" category for 18+ within the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. OFLC can only do what has been legislated. In order for games not to be 'banned', the Act needs to change. Translation - contact your local politician and tell them to get it changed.
Every time someone bashes the US as the bastion of stupidity, it's enough to think about cases when Australia does something over-the-top.
C'mon, really?
But we American's don't have cool accents or kangaroo's. You can't top the kangaroos man, you just can't do it. They have a little pouch for their babies, it's crazy cool.
I have the sudden desire to construct a trebuchet which launches kangaroos with copies of banned video games in their pouches at major Australian cities.
The problem is the lack of an R18+ rating for games but it goes much deeper than that.
Frankly there is backing for Aussie film and video in Australia but nothing for game developers, our internet sucks and is overpriced yet the politicians still feel the need to waste money on trialling their clean feed BS.
I am sure the people running this country are not even able to reprogram their VCR themselves.
ps: Yes I said VCR, you know those really old pieces of tech you see in museums? No doubt these same people doing our ratings still use em!
I am a 21 year old gamer. It is insane that we Aussie gamers are being treated like minors. Our highest rating is MA15+, which means that anyone under the age of 15 is unable to purchase the game. This is absurd, considering the average age of gamers nowadays would have to be early to mid twenties.
The reason we dont have any R18+ rating is because of a single man. His name is Michael Atkinson, and he is the Attourney General of South Australia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Atkinson ) This man believes in upholding his strong Conservative Christian values, and that protecting children from purchaseing these games is more important than our right to choose what we wish to see and be involved in.
Keeping adult rated games should be the responsiblity of the parent, and the game store should not be selling these games to minors.
P.s I rekon americans have an awesome accent. Our accent to me just sounds so boring :P
But we American's don't have cool accents or kangaroo's. You can't top the kangaroos man, you just can't do it. They have a little pouch for their babies, it's crazy cool.
I swear, I'll stop whatever it is I'm doing that angers you if you don't use any more apostrophes to indicate plurality!
Not only did I live in Australia for several years, I worked as a policy adviser for their Federal Government too. They had a running joke in the public service there - we have a tradition to carefully look at everything the Americans and Europeans do, and then we make sure to repeat all of the mistakes they made all over again :bigggrin:
It's not the area I worked in, but the whole media policy in Australia is hilarious - as long as you don't live there. In 2002, when I moved to the US, hardly anybody in Oz had cable TV (outrageously expensive), and in Canberra (capital city) no internet access but super slow dial-up was available.
To understand their problem you need to realize that Rupert Murdoch is from Australia. His influence on the media in the US in disastrous, but in Australia the man virtually owns the Government, his influence is so strong.
Comments
All melee: replaced by large boquet
Thrown weapons: replaced by birthday cakes
Shooting weapons: replaced by hippie protestors and bra burners
Agreed!!
The advantage of being a first-tier news source on a subject is that the parties involved <i>contact you directly</i>.
This. All I have to say regarding the matter.
Also, Mertesn, that post literally made me LOL
The source was a press release from Valve Software.
http://www.classification.gov.au/www/cob/classification.nsf/Page/Industry_WhathastobeClassified_ComputerGames_ComputerGames
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/ActCompilation1.nsf/current/bytitle/471F32082B9758EDCA257545001DB054?OpenDocument&mostrecent=1
Cheers
Damian
It Valve baby it's all online, who the hell needs brink & mortar stores anymore...
Oh thats right our Aussie broadband is overly expensive and it blows. Backward we are.
C'mon, really?
The problem is the lack of an R18+ rating for games but it goes much deeper than that.
Frankly there is backing for Aussie film and video in Australia but nothing for game developers, our internet sucks and is overpriced yet the politicians still feel the need to waste money on trialling their clean feed BS.
I am sure the people running this country are not even able to reprogram their VCR themselves.
ps: Yes I said VCR, you know those really old pieces of tech you see in museums? No doubt these same people doing our ratings still use em!
I am a 21 year old gamer. It is insane that we Aussie gamers are being treated like minors. Our highest rating is MA15+, which means that anyone under the age of 15 is unable to purchase the game. This is absurd, considering the average age of gamers nowadays would have to be early to mid twenties.
The reason we dont have any R18+ rating is because of a single man. His name is Michael Atkinson, and he is the Attourney General of South Australia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Atkinson ) This man believes in upholding his strong Conservative Christian values, and that protecting children from purchaseing these games is more important than our right to choose what we wish to see and be involved in.
Keeping adult rated games should be the responsiblity of the parent, and the game store should not be selling these games to minors.
P.s I rekon americans have an awesome accent. Our accent to me just sounds so boring :P
I reckon Australians have an awesome accent
:ausflag:
It's not the area I worked in, but the whole media policy in Australia is hilarious - as long as you don't live there. In 2002, when I moved to the US, hardly anybody in Oz had cable TV (outrageously expensive), and in Canberra (capital city) no internet access but super slow dial-up was available.
To understand their problem you need to realize that Rupert Murdoch is from Australia. His influence on the media in the US in disastrous, but in Australia the man virtually owns the Government, his influence is so strong.
Frank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjyB1o0inA0
N'o' Y'o'u' ''' apostrophe rage ''''''''''''''''