Seamus Byrne, head honcho of
Gizmodo and
Kotaku Australia (and stand up guy, in our books), appeared on Sunrise this morning alongside Damian Tudehope of the Australian Family Association, to talk about the censorship board's upcoming revisit of the potential need to pull videogames in line with the rest of country's film and literature classifications, by introducing an R18+ rating.
On the program, they used
Call of Duty: Black Ops as a key example of a game that should be deemed inappropriate to anyone under the age of 18 where Seamus and Damian offered arguments both for and against an R18+ classification for games.
Seamus is probably the best advocate for the need for an R18+ rating, and it's easy to see that groups like the Australian Family Association have a malformed opinion of the deeper issue; which is that obsession with the concept of "violence in videogames" overshadows a clear need to redefine our rating system as a whole, to bring it into modern context.
Watch the video embedded below.
Posted 12:21pm 16/11/10
other guy is a douche for trying to put words into Seamus' mouth re: "what he really wants is the game banned"
Posted 12:29pm 16/11/10
Posted 12:32pm 16/11/10
Posted 12:37pm 16/11/10
Posted 12:39pm 16/11/10
Posted 12:43pm 16/11/10
Shamus nailed it I thought, had the right answer all the way.
Yea it is, just shows his lack of knowledge.
Posted 12:48pm 16/11/10
Posted 01:34pm 16/11/10
Posted 01:51pm 16/11/10
What a f*****g noob. How about hundreds of thousands of years of kids watching beheadings, hangings, tribal punishment/ war etc.. what a f***** joke and a weak excuse for not bringing in 18+
the push isnt for more violent video games, its for more adult themed video games you f***** bookworm wanker
Pretty sure leasure suit larry was banned, and there is no violence in that what so ever.
that damian guy is a f***** idiot and koshie should just give up trying to b hip with his mo
Posted 01:54pm 16/11/10
Hahaha, reminded me so much of that southpark episode where death is following the kids around and they call the parents but the parents are too busy getting terrance and philip banned.
Posted 02:01pm 16/11/10
Its like he lives in some alternate reality were kids play hopskotch and watch cartoons.
His suggestion that there should only be a PG and an R18 ratings is so stupid I dont even know were to start.
Posted 02:18pm 16/11/10
Well at least I think he didn't as I can't watch Sunrise purely due to my anti-channel-sevenism and that f**ot kosh - if some how I could break his voice box and melt his smug face with a blow torch, rendering him a media paperweight - without causing him serious harm (I am, after all, not a violent computer nerd), would be awwwwwesome.
last edited by casa at 14:18:32 16/Nov/10
Posted 02:17pm 16/11/10
Part of the content was the agression formation through observation. Studies were done which displayed watching TV makes [younger people] aggressive.
So wheres the ban on R18+ TV and vidoes?
Posted 02:21pm 16/11/10
Posted 02:26pm 16/11/10
Posted 05:05pm 16/11/10
Activision will be like "Oh BTW that tiny, tiny little market called Australia just gave the thumbs up for a R18+ rating. Oh goody now we can publish all the extra violence we have been leaving out !"
At least Sunrise was taking a proper stance on the subject as well.
Also DEVDOGG "i believe they should have asked someone with children in the age group that they are talking about." +1
Posted 05:09pm 16/11/10
Worth clearing up that he said his 24 year old son had Black ops and he asked him about it, he did say that he did not want his 15 year old son playing it. Just to be clear.
Posted 05:24pm 16/11/10
Posted 05:33pm 16/11/10
The 18+ rating allows games to scale reasonably, a game that is popular, but excessively violent gets rated MA15 here, yet the same game is rated 18+ in other countries, this opens up a door way for poor decision making by parents; and in turn makes the games industry look bad for marketing to children, grossly violent games. The system is broken, and its the broken system that is to blame for not making parents openly aware of what games are, and are not suitable to their children.
Seamus made some excellent points, but when compared to Damian, who just continued to put words in his mouth, he was too timid on the issue. Seamus had an open opportunity to ride home the fact that we're not asking for more violence to be allowed, we're asking that adults be able to enjoy adult mediums of entertainment, with out being restricted because a poor system prevents propper parenting decisions.
Sorry for the rant, and repeating myself.
Posted 05:49pm 16/11/10
Posted 05:52pm 16/11/10
Yeah, the Damian dude seems keen on putting words in Seamus' mouth. Which is what we've been seeing when it comes to people speaking out about the net filter or about introducing the R18+ rating.
Posted 05:55pm 16/11/10
Posted 06:00pm 16/11/10
wow the car list for the new one is f***** pathetic, change the list in the last 4games much?
last edited by Sc00bs at 18:00:08 16/Nov/10
Posted 06:37pm 16/11/10
Posted 07:25pm 16/11/10
To put it in perspective, I'm 24 and have been independent for 7 years, and would squirm at the idea of being treated like or thought of as a kid by some nosey parent, because that's not what I am. By all accounts it sounds as though this guy has not raised an independent adult.
tldr; arrhhh righteous unworthy pricks demanding capitulation
Posted 07:31pm 16/11/10
Posted 07:31pm 16/11/10
@2:05 we have a new Michael Jackson in the background doing the moon walk.
@3:49 we can clearly identify the game is boring and it's more fun using your iPhone
The arguments from Seamus were all logical for us but it needed to be dumbed down for the lowest common denominator and he has to be more emotional to get the point across.
Posted 09:05pm 16/11/10
Posted 09:32pm 16/11/10
Posted 10:26pm 16/11/10
Religion should be R18+, that way children aren't exposed to it. Let Adults decide whether they want to be religious or not.
Posted 12:20am 17/11/10
Posted 12:24am 17/11/10
I just wish they'd hurry up with the political bulls*** it's not going to make things worse!
Posted 03:45am 17/11/10
OWNED!
Posted 08:54pm 17/11/10
Can't wait for an R18+ rating to be in. I can't stand having s*** cut out of games just so we can play them or having them not sold in Aus altogether.
Family guy was a douche. He has a generalized argument of the topic. No actual or some what factual knowledge to go on. Our guy needed to argue the point more. Needed to add emotion and he should have called family guy on his bulls*** generalized ramblings. He could have met those ramblings with actual facts and/or statistics and OWNED family retard.
I want a little (and I mean only a little, not huge amounts) more gore in some of my games. Boobies couldn't hurt either.
Bring on R18+!
Posted 01:41am 18/11/10
Posted 02:00am 18/11/10
I would imagine that if parents saw a giant, f*** off "R18" rating on the box it would twig that this game isn't ment for little timmy at home who is only 13. Also I can't see how games could any worse than what they are now. I mean games these days are always filled with violence and swearing just like any movie. S*** I still think that TV has a far worse influence on kids than what any game could. How many young girls do you see these days dressing like hookers because it's what f***heads do on TV?
Short of the invention of true, full VR or a game being released where you are a serial killer and you get to stalk, murder and evade police, there really won't be much more gore or violence than what you can find in any movie or game already.
Posted 03:45am 18/11/10
From the gamers perspective, we expect that very limited, if any, additional games will come to the Australian market as a result of the introduction of an R18+ rating. More so, we would see some future mature games, possibly existing ones, rated more sensibly as R18+ (like they are in other countries like the US and UK) under a new ratings system, that would have otherwise been rated as MA15+ under the current ratings system. Also, games intended for a mature and adult audience (18+) would be released in Australia unaltered under a new ratings system, not unlike other mediums (film, books, etc.), instead of having minor alterations so that they can be released in Australia under the highest allowable rating of MA15+ under the current ratings system, permitting the adult game to be purchased, viewed and played by children 15 years and over.
Judging from the responses so far to the debate from politicians and opponents such as Damian Tudehope, their perception is that the introduction of an R18+ rating would open the flood gates for highly violent and sexual games to reach our shores and that these games would be easily accessible to minors and children. According to one Australian politician, these future R18+ rated games would include Japanese stalk and rape games such as Rapelay. An extreme example at best considering the game is banned in most nations (such as the US and the UK) and is only sold in Japan (though, is no longer available).
I'm sorry if I'm biased, but I must say from my observation that defenders for the introduction of an R18+ rating (and revision of the ratings system, itself) usually base their arguments on censorship and consistency as well as an understanding of the current ratings system and games in general, whereas opponents for an R18+ rating often lack research and knowledge of video games currently available and their arguments are always founded on fear.
Posted 08:11am 18/11/10
mel is hot as for a big girl, she'd be close to 6ft tall too
and nat goes pretty good
3way there please
Posted 09:21am 18/11/10
Family First seemed to have come off looking incompetent.
ta for the vid
Posted 10:08am 18/11/10
as if the gaming industry is going to say: Oh look Australia has a R18 rating about 100 years behind everyone else, better start making our games extra violent now!
Posted 11:09am 18/11/10
I wish someone would explain to these politicians that this game was released back in 2006, only released in japan, is no longer sold, and that it is avaliable on the internet so anyone who wanted to play this game has no doubt done so already. No one is upstairs in an office, gathered together around a big table like some type of super villain meeting, rubbing their hands together saying "soon... the R18 system will be pushed, and we can flood australia with japanese sex games MUAHAHAHAHAHA".
I hate seeing that game used as an example of why games are bad, because it's such a super extreme type of game in a very specific genre that 99% of the world won't play or have even known about were it not for the retarded feminists who complained about it. Talk about a Streisand effect.
Posted 11:13am 18/11/10
Posted 11:15am 18/11/10
If you think violent computer games makes people violent, your basing your assumption on the fact that a human is just an empty vessel who is ready to emulate whatever he sees in a computer game.
I think that the governments take on 18+ games is an insult. They think we are not mature enough to play our computer games even when we are over the age of consent and that pees me off!
Posted 11:45am 18/11/10
Posted 01:13pm 18/11/10