@Cloral: Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

I'm talking about shit like Brawl just coming out this week in Europe. I don't live there but that's pretty ridiculous.

Sounds like they're just trying to use this as another excuse for the long localization times.

LowerHouseMember

Why would it cause a delay?! Games that warrant it get a BBFC rating anyway, and it's games that warrant it that cause the uproar. Looking at my games collection, from the spines alone I can see that 8 of them (out of 25) have BBFC ratings. The rest I really wouldn't worry about (Except maybe COD4, which should probably have a 15 slapped on it, but has a 16 PEGI rating as it is)

I'm kind of against the idea anyway. I mean, do we really need a system that has to rate games like Singstar that will obviously cause very little offence alongside Gears of War and MGS4? No. Besides, half of the games that come out on the Wii would be held up by the BBFC trying to decide whether to give it a U or a Uc...

winstano

PEGI is not the best rating system at all - it's not great. Publishers like it because they can get through it quickly, as they don't actually play the games they rate, only a questionnaire is asked for.

The BBFC do actually play all the games they rate, and it also forms a legal rating, unlike PEGI.

The Byron Report highlighted that having 2 rating systems was confusing, and the superior (IMO) BBFC rating should take over.

As long as the BBFC employ more rating staff for games, I genuinely don't see this as a bad thing at all, and I'm sure other Brits will agree with me.

david78

I thought delays were because of language issues (Europe being serveral countries) so i thought, why not just do english version for the UK.. kinda silly.
and now this :(

stargateheaven

Well i have ps3 so its region free anyways. No problemo.

mooseman721

After being rated by the BBFC they can be sent for rating by the Department of Redundancy Department. Of course, if the BBFC had to start rating games, they'd need more funds and more employees, but I'm sure that wasn't their motive at all...

OutsideTheBox

@LowerHouseMember: So yeah, less QA and more bugs in your retail games then?

Cloral

If I remember right, the PEGI isn't an official rating is it? I mean I seem to remember a period where they weren't enforceable by the law, hence 18+ games had to have a BBFC sticker on it like Ninja Gaiden 2 and Call of Duty 4 only has a PEGI 16+.

XanderSan

A better solution would be for PEGI to submit a list of all the 12+ titles of the last two years, and have the film classification people rate them independently and see if the ratings would've changed much, or at all. Because I'm kind of skeptical that the film board would really treat the content differently.

wild homes

I think they should scrap the PEGI system and have all games rated by the BBFC. After working in Game for 3 years I have experience the complete ignorance that parents have regarding game ratings currently.

If they switched to BBFC there would be no confusion as parents understand the system from films, it would be a legally binding system and therefore it would be a lot harder for minors to get their hands on inappropriate games.

Malidictus

"If the honorable gentleman from the Ratings Board would be pleased to rate and allow for the release of Manhunt 3 and stop his wanking, we would be very much pleased. Thank you."

TRAMS_AM

Guys, you're telling me you never heard of how the British system works?

Let me spell it out for you. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in that country(well, England mainly along with any countries it "raised". ex: Egypt) have this redundant, tasteless and useless paperwork/extra channels to get things done.

Whether the Brits want to admit or not is a different story. Take this as fact here as I have actually experienced different systems in my life (going from the US across the globe to China).

I'm surprised there aren't additional channels or forced longer routes.

The_EE_God

oh ffs, if this is the kind of things I will face in the future then i'm just gona start importing.

Viper

Maybe instead of game companies worrying about ratings causing delays they should worry about getting shit done on their end faster.

LowerHouseMember

Damnit, IFCO better not be the stupid copycats they are and copy BBFC
I don't know what would be worse, the fat that the BBFC are doing this or that the IFCO would copy their policy
I'm now officially annoyed

tonka_92

Why should the British Board of Film Classification rate GAMES? Does the British Board of Literature rate tabletop games too?
Madness, I tell you, MADNESS!

MOP88

That sucks. Not that I live in the UK, but I visited London a couple of times and it was nice.

mrdietsoda

Trying to get the world to agree on anything is impossible. Just look at all the companies that are more than happy to profit from the disunity.

Thats why those poor bastards in austrila pay twice as much for their titles >_<.

Edmon

If only it were viable to have a worldwide rating system for this stuff.

Fedule

Ah for fuck sake...

Woylez

@LowerHouseMember: What a dumb thing to say.

steve86uk

what can we say? Us brits love red tape.

:rolleyes:

Onizuka-GTO

"The government's proposed changes to the existing age rating systems will create further delays in getting hit games to the UK,"

He might have a point if games were currently released earlier in the UK than in other PAL territories, but with a handful of exceptions (none published by EA, as far as I'm aware) they're not. They can simply use the time used for pan-European localisation to get the rating through.

cdammers

It just won't happen though - it's scaremongering by the publishers, they want to use PEGI. If BBFC have to rate everything, they'll hire more people to rate it - geez.

david78

More delays in localisation, just what we need.

Gofthick

@Mike Fahey: If you ask me the UK just needs to have the whole shebang handled by PEGI and be done with it.

I been saying that for a LONG time. I even e-mailed PEGI for some imformation, and the kind lady I spoke to sent me the questionnaire they use to rate games, with each subject i.e. sexual activity, a descriptor for the subject and what each system uses to rate it. I asked why they don't handle UK certification, and they said it's purely because the Government want to use the BBFC, problem is, the BBFC were formed to rate films, and I reckon they rate games at the same level as films, which isnt always appropriate. However, PEGI did say that they'd be prepared to handle British certification if the BBFC suddenly decided not to. SO....heres to hoping.

OkayOctane

@Mearns: Bull. It's being released day after tomorrow, they wouldn't delay it so close to release.

Tycoonalex1337

Oh no! Brawl now pushed to July 18th! D:

Mearns

@OkayOctane:

"I asked why they don't handle UK certification, and they said it's purely because the Government want to use the BBFC, problem is, the BBFC were formed to rate films, and I reckon they rate games at the same level as films, which isnt always appropriate."

Why the hell isn't it?
That's how it SHOULD work.

At least over this side of the pond, Mass Effect received a rating it DESERVED, the same as a 12 movie. None of this Americanised "OMG NOT TEH BEWBIEZ" shit over here tyvm.

CanaryWundaboy

I'm all for either PEGI or the BBFC rating games - it doesn't matter which one and i really don't see why it would add anything extra to the process anyway since there are other countries which require certain games to be rated by their own body (e.g. Germany).

I guess it comes down to the fact that the BBFC actually play through the game whereas PEGI are less strenuous in their methods. Also, i like the fact that 'supposedly' games and films are rated by the same methods. It means that we don't get any of this crap about different standards for different media. PEGI wouldn't be able to offer that.

Duoae

I'm anti-censorship, but the BBFC methodology is a lot more stringent than PEGI's which is why the UK will not switch over.

The BBFC actually play the games, and yes they fuck up (a la Manhunt 2), but its thorough. PEGI is just a form filled in by the developers. Can you really trust this?

@uzivatel:How does Mass Effect deserve an 18? Does Star Wars deserve an 18? The game is incredibly tame and you play the guy saving the universe.

hahnchen

@CanaryWundaboy: I mean in situations like the whole Manhunt 2 thing. The bbfc banned the game because of violence, and yet they allowed the release of The Hills Have Eyes 2 with the whole rape scene crap, and theres films that have been released here that have been much much worse than the stuff you see in most games. I agree they should be rated on the same level, but it should work both ways. If it is too violent to show a decapited head in a game, it should be the same for a film. If it is OK to show a decapitated head in a film, then it should be OK in a game. They need to make their mind up and stop penalising games as an industry, which they always seem to do.

OkayOctane

IMO game publishers in the UK should push to get royal endorsement, like Tanqueray.

Koztah

mothers and fathers need to start doing their jobs,instead of depending on others..to NOT sell these games to their kids,because of these ratings

its these kids getting hold of these games that are causing the shit,and then they go copy it,and then everyone blames the games

metallicorphan

@david78: seems like PEGI rating IS legally enforceable in some countries

uzivatel

@CanaryWundaboy: PEGI gave Mass Effect "18+" because "Violence" not "Sex" ... and I do believe thats the rating the game deserves.

uzivatel

@OkayOctane:

I still dont get you, you said it isn't always appropriate to rate them as the same, then went and said the exact opposite? Which is it?

The BBFC has always been one of the strictest but fairest systems around. Gamewise, yet they screwed up with Manhunt, but the appeals process that is installed did its job and saw the ban overturned, which is how the system is SUPPOSED to work. The BBFC play the games fully and rate them fairly 99.9% of the time. Mass Effect being a superb example. A game that I would say matches SW:E3 in violence and sex received a rating more or less comparable. Unlike the USA where it received 1 17+ rating (OMG BEWBS!!!) or LEGI which just threw common sense out of the window and slammed an 18+ rating on it.

CanaryWundaboy

EA's claim seems to be totally nonsense to me. The German USK for example needs to be able to play the game from start to finish as well before they rate it.
And in most cases that doesn't cause inner European delays. This new british system seems to be the same procedure, so unless the game needs to be dramatically changed for the UK market there won't be any delays that haven't already been there to begin with.

El-Suave

This will probably make me more angry and and in turn violent than Grand Theft Auto.

Jagzthebest

Australia has a ratings board that plays games from start to finish and not ONCE has a game been delayed because of this process.

The real reason Europe is always delayed is CERT.

With 8 different languages to test, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo Europe have 5-8 times the work of the US / Japanese CERT division.

FunkyJ

What a fucking lazy cheap ass way of laying blame on perhaps the worlds best ratings system.

If you submit your games early enough, like say, THE SAME TIME YOU WOULD TO AMERICAN BOARDS, shit like this doesn't happen.

Hirmetrium