Australian censorship ministers met yesterday to discuss changes to our classification system for video games. While many within the industry and gaming community were optimistic this would see the introduction of an R18+ rating, it appears those hopes have been cruelly dashed.
The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General have agreed in principle to remove the M and MA categories, meaning the highest rating now allowed under the new classification system will PG. All games released in Australia will need to meet the requirements to be suitable for gamers aged 12 and above.
A spokesperson for the Attorneys-General Department said the decision was made with a view to protecting children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful interactive content. The spokesperson cited titles such as Halo 3 for its full frontal alien nudity, Dawn of War II for the way it encourages aggressive behaviour, and Blacksite: Area 51 for being, well, crap.
The new classification system will be tabled in Parliament in the coming weeks.
nice one, David. Zug’s Race Through Space here I come!
You bastards had me goin then for a split second. Then I remembered what day it is 😛
i was outraged until i hit the 2nd paragraph and realised its april 1st. well played.
wow APRIL FOOLS JOKE FAAAAAIL
Almost posted a real reply, then I remembered something very important about today 🙂
Nice. Though it is a shame that I have just enough cynicism about our politicians to believe this could actually happen
Nice April fools, you got me for a second then!
APRIL FOOL!!!
Thankgod for that! i can now protect my children from terrible M games.
:p
April fools
I wonder what date it is today?
Oh I see what you did there David :P, your not fooling anyone 😀
You almost had me. Damn you!
Oh my! Noooes! My violence!!
Oh, wait…this is the day to stay off the internets. Never mind.
It’s all true! I saw it on TV just now. A current affair had a special on about it last night. The children must be protected!
And Halo is – Gross! :O
What’s the date again?
Posted by David Wildgoose at 9:00 AM on April 1, 2009
FINALLY! The children will be safe now.
Dave, you put the ‘Goose’ into April Fool.
Man that sucks! 😉
What do i get for guessing it’s an April fools joke!
It better be a joke! (o.O)
Damn you Wildgoose! Even though I knew full-well it was April Fools you still got me you crafty bastard. Until the alien full-frontal nudity that is…
It’s nice of the Attorneys General to boost Singapore’s economy like this. Hopefully the incoming cashflow from Australian gamers buying copies of nearly every decent game off eBay since they won’t be allowed to release here will help them improve their health and infrastructure to the point they are considered a first-world country.
Happy April Fools!
that was the longest 5 minutes of my life, till i checked the calendar.
Horrific if true. We can have R movies but not even M games?
Time to buy a PS3 and import everything…
april fools haha
April fools guys. I call Bull**** on this one.
I think this one is a little too obvious.
WTF!
Happy April Fools, David.
Oh hah hah… This one didn’t fool me for a second.
April Fools
lol. April Fools.
I call April Fools.
APRIL FOOLS
If it was any other day than April 1st, Mr. Wildgoose, then I’d be purchasing tickets to go and live in a different country.
As it IS April 1st, I’ll have a laugh that you caught me out instead.
I call kotaku’s bluff…. happy april fools 😀
Geez, how could they do this?! And on April 1st, of all days?!
I expected more, guys! 😛
I almost threw up, until I saw the date and missing source for the info.
APRIL FOOLS!
God i love April 1st lol
HAH… nice April fools joke. almost had me.
i was like huh? surely some one was drunk making this article, then i check my clock/date and i ‘oh’
lol took me a bit to realise it was APRIL FOOLS!
can you smell an april fools joke?? i can lol
This better fucking be April fools, or I’ll go revolution on their ass
Surely you can come up with a better AFD gag than that… 🙂
LOL nice april fools joke that one.
har har.
Remind me what date today is? 😉
oh very farny…
veeeery farny.
you had me for a sec.
haha
Nice try 😉
What’s the date today…
This better be an April Fool’s joke…
Oh My. You guys had me.
I totally forgot it was april fools.
my heart stopped… then i read the comments *phew*
I reckon you guys should disable comments and just say that the comments server is having issues to let this one sink in more for those who haven’t logged in to their browsers from work just yet 😛
Had me fooled for a good while too.
This is absolutely pathetic. By having all the classifications available we will be better equipped to protect our children. More classifications will allow games to be better ranked and prevent children from seeing such content. What our governemt need to realise is that Australia actually has Adults, not just children. I am confident that the majority of us are mature enough to make our own decision regarding tha nature of the games we want to play.
Whats next, removing all ratings over PG for movies? Maybe banning driving? We certainly can’t be concidered inteligent enough to operate a motor vehicle if we aren’t able to make up our own mind about gaming.
Shame on you censorship ministers. Stop treating Aussies like children. Allow the adults of this country to think for them selves.
I’m so glad I read the comments or I completely would have missed the april fools part.
I jumped on Kotaku this morning LOOKING for the April Fools story haha =D
This is no joke. This is FOR REAAAAALZ!
My first thought was “err what?”.
My second was “Great, now I might need to move to a different country.”
This is a very cruel joke.
WAH!! Damn it! you had me for a minute! =|
You BASTARD! You really had me going there!
As soon as I saw this I new it was an April fools joke.
Nice try guys but could you try a little harder next year. This was a little too obvious.
I liked it. Well played
Would be funny if another website reads this article thinking it’s true then posts it’s own piece of news.
AS IF – Australian Parliament doesn’t work that fast..
“and Blacksite: Area 51 for being, well, crap.”
I hope this ban is future-proof, to ensure we never suffer this sort of game again.
yea when i firt saw this my head almost exploded and i was like wtf!!!!?!!! then i realised it was april fools 🙁
And this is exactly the problem today. People thinking they can laud it over everyone else and put their own small minded views into law just because they were voted in on TOTALLY different topics. I know this issue is insignificant to almost the entire population except us gamers, but now its gone too far and this is the consequence. Well I hope the Attorney-General are happy , this just means more copied games coming into Australia.
I dont know whats funnier – this April Fools gag or the fact that its clear a few people believed it and are getting so heated up about it! Kotaku is on fire this morning – first this and then Guitar Hero OZ RAWK!! Nice form guys, keep it up 🙂
LOL PRICIE FELL FOR IT!!!
Great April Fools because this could actually happen one day cause our government is that stupid. 🙂
Heh, nice work. Still could happen though. F—ing Conroy.
Oh David, you old dog you!
:yawn:
It would’ve been funnier if they didn’t post any “joke” at all. April Fools needs to be renamed “April Fail day”.
Damn it! Why do I come on the internet on this bloody day. Everything tricks me.
@Pricie: Wow, you bought it hook, line and sinker.
Don’t suppose you’d be interested in buying some magic beans?
😛
I realize that this is an April 1 joke, but please don’t give them any ideas!!
David, you’re an A’hole!!!!
LOL
i was sittin here thinkin WTF? then i realised what day it was too.
I guess it’s a sad state of affairs when so many of us
initially thought this story could be true….
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Oh wait GOD DAMN IT! stupid April Fools
Dammit, foiled. But really, TWO April fools jokes?
David, let me paint you a picture of how you fooled me.
I started reading this post and my mouth dropped open. The more I read (specifically when I reached the ‘only PG games from now on’ bit, my hand went to my mouth in shock.
You wanna know the last time my hand went to my mouth in shock? SEPTEMBER 11 2001 THAT’S WHEN.
For approximately 5-10 seconds, you had me hook, line and sinker. And it was horrible.
Bravo.
D’oh, Beaten by Endu and Pricie. Should have read ALL the comments.
FINALLY THE DAMN ELECTRONIC VIDEO TOY MACHINE HAVE BEEN SAFENESS TO MAX!
@David Reyfield – I hope you’re not for real.
Nice try (especially picking such a touchy subject)
You fooled me
Nice try, David, but this wouldn’t have fooled most people even if it wasn’t April 1.
Bureaucracy takes time. To suddenly lose ratings with no warnings wouldn’t happen. You would’ve had a better shot saying we might lose the M ratings, not that they were gone.
interesting, all of a sudden i find there are indeed lots of Aussie who read this and who do actually post from time to time and all it took was an obvious april fools.
OMG!! You got me good. I was telling all my friends and then I realised, It’s April 1st. Good one.
I was sick all day and I get up and (as you do) check Kotaku…. That was really mean guys 😛 I had read the gBall gag and thought it was silly, I cycled through half dozen emails… Then I read this and I am like “oh my god they have gone too far! this isn’t right! this is… oh… April fools… grrrrrrr” . Good work guys 😛
Holy crap, thats not cool guys, here i am, reading through this two years later with no idea of the date, about to include it in an essay for a geography research project about a chosen issue in Australia