Monday, December 7, 2009

Grow up Australia, Some games are 18+

It’s coming up to Christmas. A lots of kids in Australia will be getting new video games under their Christmas tree. But some mums and dads are going to be in for a real shock when they see what their kids have to do in the games they got their innocent little ones for Christmas!

As a father of three I use ratings to judge what is ok and what is not, and if it's rated M 15+ I would expect it to be ok or just on the “mature” side for a 14/15 year old and no problem at all for a 16 year old, right? Wrong !!!

Let’s look at the ratings in Australia:


Advisory
The classifications below are advisory in nature—they do not impose any legal restrictions on access or distribution of material.
OFLC small E.svg Exempt for classification.png
E (Exempt from Classification) - These films may be sold without a specific classification. The assessment of exemption may be made by the distributor or exhibitor (self-assessed) without needing to submit the product for certifying by the Classification Board. Only very specific types of material (including educational material and straight records of artistic performances) can be exempted from classification, and the material cannot contain anything that might lead to an M rating or higher [1]Self-assessed exempt films cannot use the official marking, although it is advised that films and computer games that are exempt display “This film/computer game is exempt from classification”.
OFLC small G.svg OFLC large G.svg
G (General) — These films and computer games are for general viewing. However, G does not necessarily designate a children’s film or game as many of these productions contain content that would be of no interest to children.
The content is very mild in impact.
OFLC small PG.svg OFLC large PG.svg
PG (Parental guidance recommended) — These films and computer games contain material that may confuse or upset younger viewers under 15. Before the 2005 coloured rating scheme was brought in, the original description was "Parental Guidance is recommended for those under the age of 15." This description may be found on older DVDs and video tapes.
The content is mild in impact.
OFLC small M.svg OFLC large M.svg
M (Recommended for mature audiences) — These films and computer games contain material that requires a mature perspective, but is still not enough to be deemed too extreme for younger players. This classification was formerly known as M15+, but was changed to simply M to distinguish it from the higher (and restricted) rating of MA15+. The description originally had "Recommended for Mature audiences 15 years and over", though like the above PG rating, the description dropped the 15. This description may be still founded on older DVDs and video tapes. This is the highest unrestricted rating.
The content is moderate in impact.

[edit]Restricted

By contrast, the classifications below are legally restricted—i.e., it is illegal to sell or exhibit materials so classified to a person younger than the respective age limit.
OFLC small MA15+.svg OFLC large MA15+.svg
MA15+ (Mature Accompanied) - The content is considered unsuitable for exhibition by persons under the age of 15. Persons under 15 may only legally purchase or exhibit MA15+ rated content under the supervision of an adult guardian. This is a legally restricted category.
OFLC small E.svgOFLC small G.svgOFLC small PG.svgOFLC small M.svg and OFLC small MA15+.svg are the current game ratings. Games cannot be given the adult ratings OFLC small R18+.svg or OFLC small X18+.svg, instead they will be Refused Classification (Banned) and cannot be sold. Refused Classification games may be edited and resubmitted by their developers to garner an MA15+ classification. People under 15 are not permitted to purchase or rent films or video games classified MA15+ unless they are accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
The content is strong in impact.
OFLC small R18+.svg OFLC large R18+.svg
R18+ (Restricted) - People under 18 may not buy, rent or exhibit these films.
The content is high in impact.
OFLC small X18+.svg OFLC large X18+.svg
X18+ (Restricted) - People under 18 may not buy, rent or exhibit these films.
This rating applies to sexual content.
Films rated X18+ are currently legally available for purchase in only the ACT and the Northern Territory. However these films may be legally purchased from interstate via mail-order. Enforcement is relaxed and most adult shops carry extensive stock of X18+ material.
RC (Refused Classification)
Films which are very high in impact and/or contain any type of violence in conjunction with real sexual intercourse are rated Refused Classification by the OFLC. Films which may be Refused Classification include content that:
  • Depict, express or otherwise deals with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.
  • Depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult a minor who is, or who appears to be, under 16 (whether or not engaged in sexual activity).
  • Promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence.
Classification is mandatory, and films that are rated Refused Classification by the OFLC are banned for sale, hire or public exhibition, carrying a maximum fine of $275,000 and/or 10 years jail. It is legal to possess Refused Classification material, unless it has been rated Refused Classification due to illegal content (e.g. child pornography). It is illegal for residents of Western Australia to possess Refused Classification Video Games ever since the Liberal Party came into power in WA in 2008, where the breach of this law incurs either a hefty fine or imprisonment.




The PC and console games industry, one of the biggest adult entertainment money makers, has no adult classification. The highest you get is M15 +. WTF?!

What is happening in Australia is that games that are 18+ in other countries like the UK, US and New Zealand get pushed through as 15+ in Australia. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the perfect example of this. It’s 18+ in the UK, New Zealand and other countries and M15+ in Australia. Call of Duty: is a massive title world wide and to ban it would cause uproar so it’s easier to give it a 15+ and deceive parents into thinking its ok for their kids for Christmas. Don’t take my word for it, judge for yourself. Warning, this video may be disturbing to some people.



What happens when they ban a game? Most of the time all banning a game will do is drive people to Warez, hacker and pirate sites and with a game like COD MW2, hackers will end up with thousands of unsuspecting Aussies willing to download their key logger and viruses just to get the game the rest of the world can pick up in any shop. And when looking for the hacked game they will also find other games or movies that they may have happily paid for if they where not driven to the hackers’ site in the first place.


The only logical solution is to have an adult 18+ rating. Banning or outlawing something just drives it underground and puts money in the hands of hackers and pirates and drives consumers to untrustworthy sites.

Only having a 15+ rating is not helping parents to choose suitable games for their kids.

Parents look at M15 and compare it to movies. I’ve seen a mum buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) for her 12 year old, commenting to the sales rep that her son watches 15+ movies all the time. There is no way in hell GTA should be played by a 12 year old! The Australian government is putting disturbing content in the hands of miners. Content that was never made for them and is classified 18+ in other countries.

http://www.growupaustralia.com/ has a petition for Australia to get an 18+ classification. So if you’re a parent who does not want your child playing games that where clearly designed for adults and not kids, or if you’re an adult that wants the freedom to play games that where designed for adults without having them butchered to a shell of what they were just so a 13 year old can play a game that was never designed for them them, please head over there and singe it. Or contact:

South Australian Attorney-General, Hon. Michael Atkinson MP
GPO Box 464
ADELAIDE SA 5001
Phone: (08) 8207 1723
Fax: (08) 8207 1736
Email: attorney-general@agd.sa.gov.au

Thursday, December 3, 2009

New Razer community site in Australia starts with a bang!

Listen up Razer fans! If you love Razer as much as we do then come and tell us all about it Here

Razer’s line of peripherals has been developed by gamers, for gamers. From programmable keyboards and mice, to the most advanced headphones and speaker systems, both MMO and FPS gamers are catered for.

Proudly sponsored by Razer’s Australian distributor Audion, Razer Gamer is the ONLY place online where you can find out the latest news relating to Razer products in Australia.

To kick things off we are giving away a great Razer gaming pack to one lucky winner. All you have to do is sign up to our forum, and come up with a uniquely Australian slogan for our blog and post it in our forums. The slogan can be no longer than 10 words and must be relevant to Razer.

The person who is judged to have come up with the best slogan will win a Razer prize pack consisting of Razer DeathAdder (RAZ014), Razer Lyocsa Backlit Keyboard (RAZ081), Razer Moray Plus (RAZ098) and the ExactMat Bundle Pack (RAZ101).

The competition will run from December 1st 2009 to January 31st 2010, and the winner will be notified via email. All terms and conditions can be found at razergamer.com
So if you want to keep up to date with all the latest on Razer in Australia, including where to buy, events, reviews, videos, special promotions and competitions, come and join all the Razer addicts at http://www.razergamer.com
About Razer Gamer

Razer Gamer is a blog and community portal for users of Razer products in Australia. The guys at Razer Gamer love Razer products and want to share their enthusiasm with the Australian community and also provide the latest information and deals on the products available in Australia.

Enter here


About Audion

Audion Innovision was incorporated in Victoria, Australia in 1987. The company is a master distributor of consumer and IT audio, video and multimedia products to conventional channel distributors, dealers and major retail chain stores nationwide. Audio is a distributor of Razer products in Australia.
More information: http://www.audion-mm.com/



Wednesday, November 25, 2009

World of Warcraft turns 5 and Warcraft turns 15

OK, now I feel old! I remember Warcraft 1 and II like it was yesterday and my wife can still hum the music from Warcraft II even though she never played the game.

We didn't have a lot but we did have a PC. Fiona, my wife, needed it for her studies and I used it for entertainment from time to time. Back then I spent a lot of time down at my local Archery club and my coach had a 16 year old son, Aaron, that never moved from his PC. We got talking and he showed me this cool game, Warcraft. I could not get how he could spend so much time at his PC when he could be shooting arrows. I got a copy of the game so I could check it out. I was messing around with my 486 SX. I had to upgrade it to a 486 DX just so I could play Warcraft ... then it started.... I was hooked!

And I was about to drive my new wife mad with the music:



From Blizzard:

Over the past 15 years, a lot has changed in Azeroth. Valiant heroes have travelled the length and breadth of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, taken wing in Outland to free the Black Temple from Illidan's clutches, and set sail for Northrend to battle the mighty Lich King. Whether you've been part of the adventure from the beginning or are just getting started now, we're glad to have you with us for the five-year anniversary of World of Warcraft and the 15-year anniversary of the Warcraft series. 


To commemorate these milestones, we've just launched the Warcraft anniversary website. There you’ll find video interviews featuring personal anecdotes from some of the shapers of Warcraft, as well as the Battlecry Mosaic where you can show off your faction pride. Visit the anniversary site now!



And who could forget:


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

World of Warcraft: Mr. T Commercial - Mohawk Grenade

I can see this driving me nuts in no time. Thank god I'm not spending a lot of time in game right now... I'm dreading trying to do anything on my Auction house alt.....But damn Mr T looks good for his age!




Q. What is the Mohawk Grenade?
A. The Mohawk Grenade is Mr. T's latest invention: an in-game item that, when hurled at another character, gives everyone within the blast radius an instant T-riffic haircut. Don't worry, you and your friends will look gooooood.

Q. Where do I get it?
A. Quit your jibber-jabber and claim your Mohawk Grenades from any of the Night Elf Mohawk NPCs camped outside every starting zone.

Q. What regions are eligible to claim the Mohawk Grenade?
A. North America, Europe and Korea.

Q. Is this a permanent item?
A. Each Mohawk Grenade has five charges before exhausting its power, and you're welcome to claim another once the charges are gone.

Q. How long will the Mohawk Grenade be available in-game?
A. Claim Mohawk Grenades starting November 16th in North America and November 24th in Europe and Korea. They'll be available until... well, until the Night Elf Mohawk decides his work is done.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

WoW patch 3.3 not too far

It's got to the stage in World of Warcraft where I'm not really doing a lot outside of raiding. I've got three level 80 characters. Two i just really created for the sake of it. I had to play a Death Knight to 80 just to see the story line. My Druid was created purely because my guild needed a tank at the time. I never really got attached to either of them.

My Hunter is my main character. He's a guild leader of a fairly successful raiding guild and he's now at the stage where he needs one single item from 25 main TOC. Due to the week long lockouts it doesn't leave me with much to do for the other six days a week.

This week, for instance, my guild cleared TOC 25 man and 10 man and Onyixa 10 and 25 man in two nights. Each night we spent approximately 2-3 hours raiding. That's not a lot of time when you consider that you've got nothing else to do for the rest of the week in game.

On Sunday night I jumped online and got suckered into doing an OS25 with 3 drakes. The funny thing was, I was still buffed from my Thursday night raid. The raid ends, I log out and don't log back in until the next scheduled raid.

I am exulted with all the appropriate factions. I have all the gold I could possibly want. The only new content Blizzard have added to the game in the last month are vanity pets you have to purchase off the Blizzard store for $10. I really hope Blizzard get their ass into gear and get this patch out really soon.

The PTR is looking good and I'm predicting that they'll release it on their fifth anniversary - 23rd November or very close to that date. Every week that goes by without Blizzard releasing more content leaves me hearing more and more about people getting attached to their Aion characters.

Dragon Age Origins - a really good book


It's been quite some time since I've experienced a game that not only provided me with great gameplay but also a compelling story line to match. Over the last week I've been playing Dragon Age Origins and it's like that book you just can't put down. Not because I want to kill the next monster but because I want to hear what happens in the next part of the story. If you take the time to speak to your comrades in your camp, the story truly expands itself into an amazing book. I'm quite sure that you could play the game right through without touching the depth of the story line but if you take the time to actually talk to all your party members and be patient and listen to what they have to say, you'll find that not only does the story unfold, you'll get extra rewards and quest lines. I would highly recommend Dragon Age Origins to anyone who appreciates a good fantasy story - with a little bit of romance thrown in.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Dragon Age Toolset

Bioware seem to have spared no expense with the development of there newest game Dragon Age that will be out on the 4th of November or in 1 1/2 days away if your getting it off steam. One of the many cool things in this game is the tool set for all you moders out there. And this tool set will be very cool for machinima.

Check it out

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Smokin weed smokin weed doing coke drinking beers drinking beers beers beers



Yep thats me as Silent Bob and my mate Dave as Jay :P Happy Halloween! 

Saturday, October 31, 2009

New BlizzCast live (and yes it sux)

Episode 11 is live and if you have not read anything online for the last 3 months from Blizzard it might not be a waste of time.

"In our eleventh episode of BlizzCast, we have a roundtable discussion with members of the community team to recap the major happenings, announcements, and other highlights of this year’s BlizzCon. Join our discussion as we relive some of our favorite moments from the show. "

Rob Simpson from the eSports Team voice gives the podcast a football match feel that is just right for a geek gaming podcast ... NOT!

Looking to kill 18:47min click here.

Alpha of Greymane Down Sindragosa on PTR

This has to be one of the best PTR videos I have ever seen. It shows the fight using the default UI so you know what is going on. You get full vent audio and the raid leader is unreal! I wish I had him running my raids. Alpha do a great job together. Kudos to you guys! Looks like a fun fight!