The Thailand government have officially taken the first major steps towards “a problem which is obsessive and has an effect on the behavior of children and teens.” They have banned five games which they deemed to be “dangerous games” and have established a set of guidelines to help prevent access to these games
The five banned games are as follows:
– Hitman
– 300
– Killer 7
– Hitman: Blood Money
– 50 Cent: Bulletproof
There are other games on the “dangerous games” list that haven’t yet been officially banned however the sale and distribution of GTA IV has been halted so GTA IV has technically also been banned.
This comes after a Thailand taxi driver was murdered by a teenager who claimed he was inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV.
Thailand Culture Minister, Somsak Kiatisuranun explained that “There are no laws which require establishing a game ratings system in Thailand, only a proposal, however, gaming technology has advanced quite far, which makes it necessary to have a rating system and supporting laws. We are making this happen and but will take some time.”
This doesn’t bode well for future games in Thailand. Hopefully other countries don’t follow suite as that could possibly lead to certain games never making it to production.
Source: Shacknews
[Ed: I highly doubt many Western countries will follow and by the sound of it Thailand never had any ratings system which is just a bad idea]Last Updated: September 4, 2008
Vamp
September 4, 2008 at 14:15
Geez, the more I read these things, the more it sounds like
SA is the only place on this planet with a Rating System
😉
SlippyMadFrog
September 4, 2008 at 15:09
Have the world gone mad!!!! 👿
Scotty777
September 4, 2008 at 15:36
ye, our rating system works ‘ok’ but i often see kids at the age
of 10-13 buying games rated 17+… which is sort of like selling
alcohol to 14 year olds…
bokka1
September 4, 2008 at 19:46
I have been to Thailand eight times and there are for more gangerous games than Xbox games;)