Warner Bros has announced it is planning to release Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition — a game of the year style edition that contains all the DLC released for the game. Obviously, with Mortal Kombat being refused classification in Australia, the chances of this version of the game being released here are slim, but we thought we’d double check regardless.
Yesterday Syndicate was refused classification as a result of “repeated and realistic post mortem damage which exceeds strong in playing impact”. Now EA has issued a statement in response.
We’ve just received a copy of the Classification Board’s report on Syndicate, which explains why the game was refused classification.
We have just recently discovered that EA’s new Syndicate reboot, has been Refused Classification in Australia.
The revised guidelines for an R18+ rating have now been released and, as you’d expect, the language is vague and completely open to interpretation — that said, the guidelines do make extensive reference to the fact that the impact of games should be treated differently as a result of interactivity, which we find disappointing.
We’ve been informed by Brendan O’Connor’s office that the new guidelines for an R18+ classification are due to be released today. In the wake of that, and NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith’s comments on Seven News last night, we spoke to Brendan O’Connor himself to clear up some of the details.
We’ve just been on the phone with a representative for Greg Smith, the Attorney General for NSW, to discuss his comments on Seven News last night, and confirm his exact position on R18+.
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.
Despite the fact that Brendan O’Connor claimed we would have an R18+ rating in place before the end of 2011, David Emery, the Manager of Applications at the Classification Branch has claimed that we may be waiting at least two years before we see R18+ games on shelves.
Just recently the Classification Review presented its first proposals for discussion – proposals that completely surprised us. Allowing for industry co-regulation, admitting the failures of the Classification Act – why was everyone making sense all of a sudden? We decided to talk to Terry Flew, chair of the Classification Review, for more insight. Meet the man who wants to revolutionise video game classification in Australia.