Actually Gears Of War is rated MA 15+ - the highest rating currently available to the Australian market. I pointed out this foobar to DSE and here is what their response was:

Dear Mr. Tilbrook

Thank you very much for your email and for your concern regarding the image of the young boy on the gaming page of our latest catalogue.

This error has already been pointed out to us and we can assure you such a mistake will not happen again. It was not our intention to imply that such games were available to, or suitable for, children but was an error on the part of our advertising department who grabbed some games for the photograph without realising what those games were.

Regards

Susan Crematy

DoohanOK

That's exactly why there are so many endless dscussions about games being too violent or too... pornish?

If movies, books, comics and other media can have a legal rating system, why games don't?

Instead of discussing which games should be banned, and making restrictions so that games are made for kids only, in this multi-billionaire industry where tons of gamers (if not the majority) are adults, people should be creating a rating system that works.

That and parents, media and gaming stores must stop treating games as entertainment for children only and look at it the way they look at movies, for instance.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Oh please, you dun know how many times I saw a four year old playing some blood FPS in Best Buy. At least he's being realistic.

Haniko

With a store name like Dick Smith, is anyone really that surprised?

Americo

my god those games are expensive. poor kids =*(

ashjaw

Hey man, theyre not for me, theyre for my uhh dad. Yeah, he told me to go buy him Gears of War and Halo, and uhhh, he also told me not to come back without a pack of smokes and a case of bud... yeah really!

Altima NEO

Nobody but little kids play those games anyways, so who cares?

Lemming To The Sea

Nice work, idiots. This isn't exactly helping our cause against the politicians.

Benjo

All the time we spend telling JT and his ilk that "Mature" games are not marketed to children, and then this happens.

It makes me cry inside.

syr

I visited [www.refused-classification.com], and I think it's stupid that they let some of these games, movies, books, etc. get released only to pull them off. If something gets released, it shouldn't be banned if something horrible is found like "Hot Coffee". Parents just shouldn't let their kids have things like that.

It seems to me that Austrailia's rating system is a lot more confusing than ours. It's strict on some things when it shouldn't be, and it's not strict on some things when it should be. Also, they need to just stick to games. It's stupid to include multiple forms of media, not to mention even more confusing.

dawimp523

and its the developers who take the blame.

BodyOfTheMany

OH THANK CHRIST THIS IS IN AUSTRALIA!!! No one gives a crap about anything that happens there. The industry should be safe from the wrath of JT's saopbox. ***whew***

Great job Dick! As if the industry didn't already have enough negative attention. Lets just hope that it stays contained to their cute little island over there.

Mr.SithNinja

i think the name 'dick smith' is too mature for young gamers.

moominsean

see dick sell

sell dick sell

see dick go to jail

jail dick jail

Seiven

You know, I didn't even notice this, and I usually spend a good few hours bludg.... I mean, "researching" our brochures. I was more interest in why we're still trying to sell Wiis when we can't damn well get any stock.

Anyone know if they've been contacted about this?

(oh, and Dick still makes money of us using his name)

kfresh97

Don't give anymore kids Halo 3.... they might be vulnerable to having naked pictures sent to them.

Billy Bob Joe

Maybe his parents bought it for him. My cousin is 15 now but his parents and grandparents have bought him Mortal Kombat, GTA, Assassin's Creed or whatever other games he wanted for birthdays, Xmas, etc. Not to mention letting him watch R-rated movies and TV. But he's not some crazy violent delinquent because they counteracted it with generous amounts of spankings. LOL

LeChuck

@ArgentAngel:

G - General (all audiences)
PG - Parental Guidance for people under 15
M - Recommended for mature audiences 15 and above
MA - Restricted to audiences 15 and above (note the difference: M is only "recommended", but can still be sold to under 15s, MA cannot be sold to under 15s)
R - Restricted to 18+, cannot be applied to videogames.
X - Restricted to 18+, only applies to some forms of softcore pornography, only legal to sell in the ACT and NT, other states ban X-rated content.
RC - Refused Classification, essentially means "banned in Australia".
E - exempt from classification. Usually applied to educational stuff like documentaries.

[www.oflc.gov.au] is the site for the Office of Film & Literature Classification of Australia. These are the guys that do all the banning of those nasty videogames.

[www.refused-classification.com] is a really awesome website that details pretty much every instance of banning or cutting made by Australian censors/the OFLC since the late 1960s. It covers movies, books and video games and provides a really interesting history of censorship and classification in Australia. It's well worth visiting.

StorminNorman

Parents who buy games like those for their kids are imbeciles.

lunarworks

Lol, Jack would have a heart attack if he sees this. but then again...

KM91

Halo and GoW aren't even advertised there, as far as I can tell, I guess they just picked two popular full-price games. Or maybe the kid is actually a young looking 15?

Marion517

Does the proofreader have a dental appointment today? That is painful to read.

Geektique

@Rock-Byron: The one reason I sometimes buy games from dick smith is because some of their stores don't advertise the games at all, they just sit there in the back of the store. On a major release (like guitar hero) this means that when everyone else is out of stock they might still have a few copies.

bonecows

@Marlor: Actually that explains alot now, remember a while back when the stores were actually fair decent.

muscrat_01

hahaha, the sad thing :
the reality is that the majority of the players of those games ( as seen on live )are that age or less XD

symphony_of_the_night

ROFL, I COMPLETELY looked at that catalogue today and saw that picture and told my mates online! Thought about whether I should bother to scan it and send it into Choice magazine but took the "CBF" option. Nice to see someone else spotted it! X D

PlasmaDavid

Why buy games from Dick Smith if there is a JB anywhere near it?

Rock-Byron

lol refer to page 10 for rating classification...

Korbei

Looks like Dick caved in to pester power.

Gentleben-Nintendo Club Star Whore

@elevenoverzero:

Dick Smiths (and Tandy Australia) are both just divisions of Woolworths now.

Despite Dick's name and face on the logo, he has nothing to do with the stores anymore. That's why they have basically just turned into second-rate home-entertainment stores with some electronics components hidden in a back corner.

Marlor

@AngryTankManMax:
Sorry. I forgot to hit refresh and I didn't realize someone already called you on it.
I wasn't trina beat a dead horse.

VishusBurn

Notice the prices?

The Australian dollar is worth 90 US cents now.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

brb, going to Australia to buy Dora the Explorer

wolfeditor

@VishusBurn: O_o How far can you take this bun? ...Uh I mean pun. My goodness that's bad.

I don't really use my headset so that excludes me :)

AngryTankManMax

^ ^ ^
like-they-would

VishusBurn

@AngryTankManMax:
Chess pieces are not meant to be used rectally.

On topic:
To be fair, he does look a lot like most of those kids on live sound like would look.

VishusBurn

Dick Smith fucks the system again! I liked his Australian-brand match sticks called Dick Heads instead of Red Heads too.

Also, I'm not sure... But in movies MA15+ (as opposed to M15+) means you must have a parent with you in the movie, but legally a 10 year old can still see it. Are games the same? I know it's a universal rating system now, but I really don't know...

elevenoverzero

Welcome to the rest of the world, where people can buy the things they want without the "Freedom Police" coming to the rescue, to save that precious Freedom from the pesky hands of those wacky human beings and their silly silly sentience.

Korbei

Who cares.

Coldbrand

@Marlor: Like I said, I need a job lol

AngryTankManMax

Never mind. It wasn't you, Kotaku, for having crappy pics, it was my internet or something... either that or Bashcraft edited it while I wasn't looking.

joshuakun

Childrens also make for very good soldiers.

Like on the movie "Blood Diamond".
[www.imdb.com]

tei

@AngryTankManMax wrote: "I doubt he'll still be smiling like that when I pawn his ass on xbox live."

"Pawning his ass on Xbox Live"? So you mean that XBox Live can be used to exchange the sexual favours of children for a loan of cash?

Oh no! Quick. Someone call Jack Thompson!

Marlor

I doubt he'll still be smiling like that when I pawn his ass on xbox live.
Yea... I need a job.

AngryTankManMax

That is the worst scan I have ever seen. I expected better from you, Kotaku.

There doesn't even seem to be a bigger version of the picture... I can make out Gears of War, but I had no idea the kid was holding Halo 3.

joshuakun

@ArgentAngel: Kids can buy M rated games in America as well. The ESRB ratings are only a suggestion. It's not illegal to buy a game rated M as a minor, though it's not... very nice to sell one to a child.

It's the same deal with movie and TV ratings... movie theaters are much more strict about it though.

joshuakun

I wonder what will happen.

years back kids were pretending to play scrabble for one of these flyers to advertise the scrabble game and "rape" was written out on the board. It was a big media mess.

TT

G, G8+, PG13+

Actually some of those deals are fantastic... Might pickup ET Quake Wars - $30 ZOMG :O

muscrat_01

In fairness they are the games' main demographic, judging by the discordance I get on XBL.

AnthraxJunkie

So, kids can buy 'M' rated games in Australia? What are the other ratings there?

ArgentAngel

The two ratings are M 15+ and MA15+. M is recommended for above 15 year olds, MA is legally restricted.

GregoriusH

ROFL Ahhh DickSmiths cant wait to see if any media outlets here get their hands on this.... Actually NO!

muscrat_01