Tuesday 15 December 2009

Australia; Great holiday destination or A workplace for idiots?

Every once in a while 'Spam' or 'Junk Mail' throws us a little nugget of joy OR accelerates us effortlessly to the edge of our seats. Some people may have read that and thought i have gone insane, your wrong, i was already mad!

For any of you who receive the MCV newsletter, 3 times a day i may add, you may already know what i am about to talk about:

AUS: AVP ban in "public interest"

For those of you who don't know what AVP is, it's Alien vs Predator", and yes its a computer game set for release February of 2010.

I'm going to get straight to point here and just ask, Why?!

The original games were NOT banned and the films were NOT banned. I held back from posting a rant about the Modern Warfare 2 uproar;

which WAS started by parents who seem to think buying an 18+ game for their child is acceptable, and which then gives them the right to complain about its content, I'm sorry but any parent who did buy that game for someone who is 17 years old or less should be liable to some form of police action. Its illegal to buy or sell alcohol/tobacco or films to someone underage, and is a criminal offence so why not games! I'm sorry parents or adults who fall into this category, but YOU ARE RUINING GAMING FOR EVERYONE!

*sigh of relief*, glad that's out of my system.

Anyway, the good old Australien, yes that is how i am spelling it, Attorney General thinks that it is in the public interest to ban this game as it could lead to people "committing horrible acts of violence". Now I'm not going to go all out and say this statement is crazy as there could well be sociological and psychological backing for this, but what really got me was how His argument contradicted itself several times. He happily said that there is a small opposition against the banning of the game, but given time I'm sure that WILL increase, but the how he can base banning a game on the forecast that "1% of gamers will go onto commit crimes" due to this game is laughable.

Today's economic climate for gaming is holding strong compared to a lot of business and trade areas, but with all the bad press the games industry is receiving lately i wonder how long it can hold on? I mean its ridiculous to make decisions like this due to the extreme minority.

I mean, It would be like banning boomerangs because they could be used as a weapon. . . oh wait. . . .

If people are so mentally unstable that they instantly think to go out and commit acts of violence due to games, other steps should be taken to stop them from acquiring the material, god forbid if someones parents say no to their child!

All i can say is thank you Rebellion for releasing this statement:

“We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.”


Anyway, had to get that out of my system! But for strange reason after reading and talking about AVP i have got the urge to go out, hijack a spaceship and kill aliens. . . . .

1 comment:

  1. I totally dig the new blog header and badge ;) Brings a real personality to the blog.

    Rebellions reply is pitch perfect; of all the games to ban, this is one of the most ridiculous. It's sheer science fiction! Alien on alien (the latter aliens happen to be of the Predator race) violence, they could at least have tried to make an example of something a little more contemporary, something that maybe applies to reality.

    In terms of the larger topic, which is clearly censorship, I of course support my brother in arms above, Master Chief Scott Taylor. Videogames are a valid entertainment medium which deserves the same treatment as the films industry, and I didn't see the AVP MOVIES getting banned anywhere. Both have certificates that directly imply they are adult products. The problem is institutions like this one making decisions like this one that imply videogames cannot be considered adult products; they are constantly treated like unsuitably violent childrens toys.

    Anyone who is inspired to kill by playing a game, or watching a movie or reading a book, for that matter, was not driven to do so by the material. They were clearly on the edge of sociopathy already, merely requiring a tiny push that ANYTHING could provide. Not the fault of the product at all, the individual was unstable, and ready to attach to any stimulus that their disturbed mindset had time to latch on to.

    The only real violence games cause is broken controllers and frayed tempers via frustration, something Super Mario can provide just as readily as Manhunt.

    -Steve

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