For those out of the loop, Australia currently doesn’t have a censorship rating for videogames over M for mature (Apologies, MA+ for mature). Which boils down to any game aimed at adults being banned down under.
Some of the more famous titles that have fallen under the archaic laws of this oppressive regime are GTA IV, Fallout 3 and most recently Sexy Poker.
However oddly enough it seems to be only videogames that the government can’t handle as Australia has managed to legalise prostitution, have more sex shops than supermarkets and is quite happy to strap a 14 year old to a lie detector test (however that one didn’t go down so well when she claimed she had been raped).
But yet the government feels the people can’t handle Nico shooting his way through a videogame.
Yesterday this idiocy was brought into an even starker light when I got home from a day out with the family at about 5pm (on a Sunday), and my 6 year old daughter switched on the TV to watch some cartoons while I made dinner.
Only to come face to face with Sharon Stone at her dirtiest in Basic Instinct on TV1. TV1 is part of a pay TV package that boasts a fairly family line up. For example today at those times we have Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Everybody loves Raymond.
So it’s okay to push soft porn on our children, bombard them with overly sexual adult ads and publically humiliate children on the radio but don’t you dare allow a grown adult to play a videogame aimed at adults.
Could you imagine the damage that could occur if one of our innocent children picked up a copy of Fallout 3, rather let them go watch that groovy Basic Instinct instead. That’s surely less harmful.
Last Updated: August 24, 2009
matt
August 24, 2009 at 04:40
Thats HI-larious. You forget though that games are evil because…. um…. THEY JUST ARE DAMN IT
commonsense
August 24, 2009 at 06:59
god forbid it! well, at least is backwards from the American censorship, in America you can’t see a panty shot in prime time but you can see with your kids the most violent crime scenes on TV with the relief that our kids will not be tempted by the sins of looking a panty. :angel:
William Flannery
August 24, 2009 at 10:59
“For those out of the loop, Australia currently doesn’t have a censorship rating for videogames over M for mature.”
so whats MA15+ then? douchebag
LazySAGamer
August 24, 2009 at 11:54
So Will I take it you are going to come out and say that the censorship is okay and the entire article is rubbish?
MA15+ is exactly the same as M to me, it means that anything 18 and over cannot be sold in Australia.
The biggest gaming market is the 18-35 bracket, there is no excuse for the archaic laws