Australian Gamer has posted a letter one of its readers received from Michael Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney-General against an R18+ rating for games. The letter is in response to the reader's arguments for the new classification.

I encourage you to read Atkinson's entire response so you can formulate your own judgement. I've previously dissected his position at length, and I won't be doing it again here - I'm afraid my head would explode from the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

What I would like to do is pull out a few key points from his letter and explain why I feel they're "not a good enough reason" to deny an R18+ rating - to use the Attorney-General's own words.

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Michael Atkinson? Who's that guy? Oh yeah, that's right - he's the Attorney-General against an R18+ rating for video games. Fallout 3, Dark Sector, Grand Theft Auto IV - their bans and/or censoring can be primarily attributed to this man.

Some will be sad to hear that Atkinson's tempting had nothing to do with an irate cop, a baton and an unspeakable act. No, according to a story over at The Australian, Atkinson is on the verge of being sued by Dr Andrew Cannon, one of his own magistrates. Dr Cannon has accused Atkinson of defamation, after the South Australian AG called one of his statements "daft and delusional".

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It's unbelievable, I know, but the Attorneys-General have decided to give us a chance to voice our opinions on the need for an R18+ rating for games in Australia. The agreement was made at last week's SCAG meeting.

If you think this is odd (seriously, it's right up there with pineapple on pizza) you'll be even more wigged out by the duo that's against the move.

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March 28. It had to come round eventually.

The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General will once again deliberate the need for an R18+ rating for computer games. Unfortunately, it's unlikely the AG for South Australia, Michael Atkinson, will change his opinion for the positive, despite his mostly nonsensical arguments. Seeing as all the AGs have to agree, hopes are low.

Today, State Parliament heard Attorney-General Michael Atkinson's arguments against an R18+ rating for video games.

Actually, that's not quite true. According to News.com.au, Atkinson was interrupted shortly after bringing up the use of drugs in the game Narc, which was refused classification back in 2005. However, News.com.au was able to get a hold of the full speech from his office.

If you haven't been following the saga, the R18+ rating for games will again be looked at during the next meeting of Attorneys-General, scheduled for later this month.

Unfortunately Atkinson is the AG for South Australia, and he's been against the rating since the beginning of time... possibly longer. His reasoning is, essentially, that every reasonable measure should be taken to prevent children from playing games containing adult content. Without the backing of every AG, there's no way the R18+ rating will be approved.

While noble, Atkinson's arguments against the rating are flawed.

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