In Real Life

Two-Thirds Of US Parents Admit They Don’t Bother Checking Video Game Age Ratings

The ESRB has a fairly detailed and complex system that determines what games are marked kid-safe and which are considered appropriate for adults’ eyes only. All major publishers participate in the voluntary rating system, and it is instrumental in physical, retail game sales in stores like GameStop and Walmart.


March 16, 2012
In Real Life

An Adorable Argument Against Underage Mature Game Sales

Even though many video games are rated MA15+, they end up in the hands of kids. One youngster totally cannot believe that!


January 15, 2012
PlayStation

Was The Darkness II Modified For Australia?

Kotaku AU

Digital Extremes hasn’t had much luck with our Classification Board. The developer’s Dark Sector had to have dismemberment and decapitation removed before it could be sold here. Now, there are two entries for The Darkness II in the classification database. Does that mean we’re getting a censored version of it too?


January 13, 2012
PC

South Korea Won’t Muck Up Diablo III’s Release

There was concern that South Korea’s rating board was throwing a monkey wrench in Diablo III‘s certification. If the game went unrated, then Blizzard’s planned worldwide release would go right out the window.


November 30, 2011
In Real Life

Germany Gets Around To Banning Dead Island

Zombie paradise action game Dead Island may have been out since early September, but it’s only now that the Germans at the wonderfully-named Federal Department of Media Harmful to Young Persons have got around to banning it.


October 28, 2011
News

Should The Games Industry Handle Classification?

Kotaku AU

We often complain about the decisions that The Classification Board makes, but what would happen if some of that power was given to the industry itself? Would a self-regulating industry, or one that co-regulates with The Classification Board, work? This was one of the questions raised at yesterday’s GAME conference at Macquarie University.


September 27, 2011
News

House Of The Dead: Overkill Extended Cut Given New Rating

Kotaku AU

House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut has received a rating of MA15+ after SEGA appealed its original rating of Refused Classification (RC), which effectively meant the game had been banned.


July 15, 2011
In Real Life

Today Is Your Last Day To Make An Submission To The ALRC

Kotaku AU

A couple of weeks back we were shocked to hear that the Issues Paper for the Australian Law Reform Commission had only received 80 submissions. We’ve now seen a large influx of submissions, but we just thought we’d drop a quick post to let you guys know that today is the last day for submissions.


June 28, 2011
In Real Life

Won’t Somebody Think Of The Children? So I Don’t Have To…

Kotaku AU

Early this morning the United States Supreme Court finally judged that Video Games were a form of speech, therefore deserving of protection under the First Amendment. In Australia, video games, or any form of media for that matter, are not granted the same rights. Adam Ruch, as an American living in Australia, can’t understand why and, in this compelling piece, discusses the issues with censorship in this country.


June 22, 2011
News

We Dare Retains Its PG Rating

Kotaku AU

We’ve just spoken to a representative from Ubisoft, who has confirmed that We Dare, the ‘controversial’ game from Ubisoft has retained its PG rating. According to the Classification Board, the “overall impact… does not exceed mild”.