Game Receives First R18+ "Adults Only" Classification In Australia

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Game Receives First R18+ "Adults Only" Classification In Australia

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 10, 2013 @10:24PM from the watch-how-you-play dept.

angry tapir writes "Australia's Classification Board today announced the first video game to receive the new R18+ classification which came into effect at the start of 2013, indicating the title is to be sold only to adults. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, developed by Team Ninja, is published by Nintendo for the company's new Wii U console. The R18+ classification was created after a long campaign by gamers and game publishers. Previously games had a maximum rating of MA, and titles that didn't meet the criteria had to be reworked or not released in Australia."

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Irony by thegarbz · 2013-01-10 22:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

The family friendly console developer is the first to release a game that receives an R18+ rating. This is the very definition of irony.
1. Re:Irony by Mitreya · 2013-01-10 23:18 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  The family friendly console developer is the first to release a game that receives an R18+ rating. This is the very definition of irony.
  There is absolutely no irony here
  I have no idea what makes R18+ different from MA, but I have to assume that this is not the first game deserving of R18+ rating. And so, the family-friendly developer is the first one to mark a mature game as such.
2. Re:Irony by RivenAleem · 2013-01-10 23:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I don't know. I usually equate doing something ironic with negativity, as if Nintendo was being hypocritical. You forget (or ignore) that when 2 people get married, they become a family. There does not need to be kids. And the saying "Fun for all the family!" should also include people over the age of 18, otherwise it's just "Fun for the younger children!"
  The average age of console gamers is over 18.
3. Re:Irony by sd4f · 2013-01-10 23:33 · Score: 0
  
  I suspected this might happen, i suppose now the wowsers will get their way, MA15+ games will now be rated R18+. But i suppose because there won't be any mass shooting sprees in Australia in the near future, or medium future, then it must have been a success! [/stupidity]
4. Re:Irony by quintesse · 2013-01-10 23:42 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Irony definitely doesn't need to be negative (and often isn't), are you maybe confusing it with sarcasm? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
  "incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result."
  So in this case, of all the publishers, Nintendo is the last you'd expect to apply for this rating exactly because they're known for their family-friendly games (implying they wouldn't need 18+ ratings) , hence the irony.
5. Re:Irony by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2013-01-11 00:14 · Score: 2
  
  Or, irony will be that kids want to get their hands on this game now . . . just because it has an R18+ rating. Doing anything that is illegal or a sin is more fun. Like, sex before you are married, sneaking into a movie with an adult rating, buying beer when you are under aged, etc.
  The R18+ sticker is a big red, blinking "Buy Me!" sticker on the box for kids.
  
  --
  Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
6. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 00:20 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  On the other hand, it's the same console developer that approved Conker's Bad Fur Day.
7. Re:Irony by jamesh · 2013-01-11 00:36 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Or, irony will be that kids want to get their hands on this game now . . . just because it has an R18+ rating. Doing anything that is illegal or a sin is more fun. Like, sex before you are married, sneaking into a movie with an adult rating, buying beer when you are under aged, etc.
  The R18+ sticker is a big red, blinking "Buy Me!" sticker on the box for kids.
  Like supplying alcohol to a minor, I assume there are enforceable penalties for supplying a minor with an R18+ game (it's my country, but i'm too lazy to rtfa).
  Still... it's not the publishers problem if an outlet sells a game to a minor. They still get the money, which is more than the nothing they would have received if the kid had just downloaded the game instead (which they probably will anyway).
8. Re:Irony by awrowe · 2013-01-11 00:42 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Or, irony is thinking that sex will happen more often after marriage.
  
  --
  A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working
9. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 00:57 · Score: 1
  
  Umm...
  "Twenty-three products have been given the AO rating without revision for a different rating. Peak Entertainment Casinos was rated AO for unsimulated online gambling. Two were given for violence, as aforementioned. The remaining 20 AO games were given rated thus for sexual content or nudity."
10. Re:Irony by Gadget_Guy · 2013-01-11 01:54 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  But this is exactly what the advocates of the R18+ rating system promised would happen. They said that this would actually be better for the children because there were games being misrated because they no alternative. This is not an unforseen consequence or the wowsers being proven right.
11. Re:Irony by MaWeiTao · 2013-01-11 02:28 · Score: 2
  
  I don't think there's any ambiguity to the term "fun for the family". Regardless of what may constitute a family I think it's very well understood that when people and companies use that expression they mean children.
  There are also parents who think it's okay to expose their kids to anything and everything; people have differing opinions and degrees of responsibility. Usually, but certainly not always, the point of a term is to help offer some degree of specificity.
  My big problem is that too many gamers associate "mature" with sex and graphic violence. It's maturity seen from the perspective of a teenager. I have a hard time comprehending why violence and adult should be mutually inclusive beyond the basic fact that it's what sells. People can get on their high horse about free speech, but from the perspective of developers and publishers all that matters is the revenue.
12. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 03:15 · Score: 0
  
  It's a team ninja title. The title is already 17+ in the US and 18+ in Europe.
  It is not a first party game made by Nintendo. It's a third party title. Nothing unexpected.
  If the Mario game for Wii U was rated 18+, that would be ironic. That a developer called "Team Ninja" made a bloody ninja game definitely is not.
13. Re:Irony by interkin3tic · 2013-01-11 03:20 · Score: 1
  
  But it's developed by Team Ninja, which isn't exactly family friendly. They do Dead or alive, Ninja Gaiden, and Metroid other M. I'm at work, so I can't link to any images of "Dead or Alive Xtreme beach volleyball."
  
  I guess Australia follows the US's ridiculous morality of "Bloody decapitation is okay, a thong bikini is not." (sigh)
14. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 03:53 · Score: 0
  
  It's not irony at all. The first 3D Ninja Gaiden was stupidly hard (but fair) for seasoned gamers. The third is so easy, a child could beat it. Hence, family fun!
15. Re:Irony by hairyfeet · 2013-01-11 04:21 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I just think its sad that Australians have been treated like infants so long by their politicians...why did they put up with that shit? As a parent just give me the same kind of info they give for a TV program "This game contains scenes of (insert violence, sex, drug references, whatever)" and let ME decide what is and is not appropriate for my boys. Its called parenting and just because some are too fucking lazy to do their damned jobs as parents does NOT mean that as an adult I shouldn't be able to play whatever kind of game that I want.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
16. Re:Irony by tehcyder · 2013-01-11 04:33 · Score: 1
  
  I might be missing something, but how does rating a game (or movie or whatever) as "18" impact on the ability of adults to watch it? It doesn't even stop parents letting their kids play/view it in their own home if they want to. It just means that children are limited in their ability to access adult-rated material off their own bat.
  Whether that's a good or bad thing is another question.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
17. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 04:53 · Score: 1
  
  I might be missing something, but how does rating a game (or movie or whatever) as "18" impact on the ability of adults to watch it?
  It doesn't. His point was that previously there have been no such rating, and games with too much violence/sex/whatever for the 15+ rating have instead been censored or not released at all.
18. Re:Irony by tlhIngan · 2013-01-11 05:09 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know. I usually equate doing something ironic with negativity, as if Nintendo was being hypocritical. You forget (or ignore) that when 2 people get married, they become a family. There does not need to be kids. And the saying "Fun for all the family!" should also include people over the age of 18, otherwise it's just "Fun for the younger children!"
  The average age of console gamers is over 18.
  Ah, but Nintendo is generally viewed as a "family friendly" console where "family" means "with kids".
  Likewise, the Xbox360 and PS3 are regarded as "adult" consoles, which got Microsoft in a bit of hot water over the Kinect (regarded as making the Xbox "Family (== kid) friendly" and someone unrelated though about making some sex game using Kinect.
  It's also why Nintendo does a bunch of things that are really stupid - like tying games to the console itself. It's because many countries limit the amount of personal information that can be collected from kids - generally, none, so Nintendo can't require kids to give them even an email address to create an online account to tie purchases to. Or why the online system is so bass-ackwards - again, because of the kid focus.
  And no, irony isn't negative. Irony is generally more humorous than anything else.
19. Re:Irony by RivenAleem · 2013-01-11 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  And no, irony isn't negative. Irony is generally more humorous than anything else.
  That really depends on the point of view. Observers think it funny, but the subject of the wisecrack may not. A lot of people mistake irony for hypocrisy. For example: When talking about an anti-alcohol advocate who's found drunk in a bar, the emphasis is on making fun at the expense of the hypercritical advocate.
  So the inference is that Nintendo is doing something bad, by apparently not sticking to their morals of being a child-friendly games company, whereas it's irrelevant as you can't expect them to never release 18s+ games.
  That's all.
20. Re:Irony by davester666 · 2013-01-11 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  Well, up until now, you [as an Aussie] were permitted to purchase such items, but the gov't helpfully made it so none were available for sale.
  So your mind was saved from the filth and violence that automatically are part of anything rated R18.
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
21. Re:Irony by sortius_nod · 2013-01-11 08:56 · Score: 1
  
  Firstly, our gun control laws have prevented massacres, not banning games or movies, secondly the "wowsers" have no influence on the ratings board.
  The reason why there was no R18+ before was because an Attorney-General (Michael Atkinson) was being influenced by the wowsers. The lack of an R18+ rating, not the wowsers, is the reason so many games were refused classification or modified for Australian audiences.
  If you want to talk stupidity, go no further than your post.
22. Re:Irony by Belial6 · 2013-01-11 09:00 · Score: 2
  
  While the sex is worse than violence mentality is real, and generally ridiculous. It seems that most people who criticize it don't understand that there is a reasonable premise that it stems from. First, violence is something that is a natural urge pretty much from the point that a child is physically capable of exhibiting it. It is ingrained in our dna. Whereas sex is an urge that generally starts really kicking in at puberty. Thus, if exposed to other small children, violence is already a part of their lives, while sex is not.
  
  Then there is the issue of repeatability. A 5 year old is not likely to be able to repeat the violence they see in a Terminator. They just don't have the tools. Whereas repeating the sex they see in 'Ass Blasters 12' is certainly repeatable. In fact the more extreme the violence, the less repeatable it is. The more extreme sex is, the repeatability stays about the same.
  
  Then there is the fact that most of us consider a little violence to be better than a little sex. How many people will wrestle (play violence) with their kids. It is an activity that is generally considered a fun, happy and healthy activity. Now, how many people play sex with their kids? How many people would consider that to be a fun, happy and healthy activity?
  
  Now, I do think that most people are way too concerned about sex in media, but I think that many peoples are way too concerned about violence in media as well. They usually are not the same people.
23. Re:Irony by thegarbz · 2013-01-11 10:35 · Score: 2
  
  I have no idea what makes R18+ different from MA, but I have to assume that this is not the first game deserving of R18+ rating.
  It exists. That's what makes it different. Games which don't fit within a rating system get refused classification in Australia which means they are banned from retail sale. Every banned game thus far is perfectly fine under an R18+ system.
24. Re:Irony by hairyfeet · 2013-01-11 14:48 · Score: 1
  
  The point was the games were BANNED in all of Australia before, just as you can't get the walking dead game in Germany now because you aren't allowed to kill anything human in a game there, they label killing zombies as desecration of a corpse. At least the Germans do have a bit of an excuse, what with them causing the deaths of millions and all, Australia was nothing but big brother deciding what the peasants could and could witness.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
25. Re:Irony by rtb61 · 2013-01-11 17:04 · Score: 1
  
  Australia, it's a democracy, if the majority were concerned enough as adults to alter censorship in Australia they would. If a few immature people whine about it, well, the majority ignore them. Ton of games out there, now to many to play, so what if some are cut out for gratuitous scenes that have nothing to do with game play and often screw it up in there purely for notoriety and to feed the most immature ignorant players. Want to change the rules, then show some maturity and seek political change, become active in the elections and least you will learn whether your desires fit in with the majority or are rejected by the majority. If rejected what can I say but suck it up.
  
  --
  Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
26. Re:Irony by Pseudonym · 2013-01-12 13:00 · Score: 1
  
  I welcome the R rating; adults should be able to play any game they want.
  I'm also an Australian parent of game-enthusiast children, and I share the problem with the rating system which assumes that all kids and all families are the same. The coarse measure of a "rating" is often unhelpful, especially if your kids are at those "in-between" ages where some material would be okay and others would not.
  My kids have been going to art galleries since before they could walk. They fully know what a human without clothes on looks like. The ratings system, however, thinks it's a big deal. Nudity (we're not even talking about sex here) almost always pushes the ratings of something that would otherwise be rated PG into M.
  In the Australian ratings system, Portal was rated M and Portal 2 was rated PG. The only difference, as far as I can tell, is that in the first one, there is some blood splatter on the wall when you're shot by a turret. For the regulations, that's apparently an important difference. My then-ten-year-old daughter had already seen worse violence in various film versions of Shakespeare plays which she watched for a school project (if you've never seen the Roman Polanski version of Macbeth, I thoroughly recommend it), so this wasn't a huge deal.
  Things that I do care about are essentially not covered by the classification system, or dealt with in such a way that a parent (at least, one who knows exactly what their kids can and can't handle) is none the wiser.
  It wasn't so long ago that my kids couldn't understand a subtle depiction of racism or certain other kinds of bigotry. (If there was a big neon finger saying "this is a bad thing", as most kids' TV shows do, then it wasn't so bad.) The same goes for (even quite mild) depictions of mental illness, or suicidal feelings, or divorce. If any of that is in a film, all you get is the unhelpful phrase "adult themes".
  On one hand, the movie Drop Dead Fred has strong themes about emotional abuse in the context of a dysfunctional family, some quite specific references to sex, and a lot of other material that any self-respecting parent would definitely want to check out before they let their child see it. It's rated PG, and sits in the "family" section of my local DVD store.
  On the other hand, there are some very impressive documentaries like Anatomy for Beginners and Mummifying Alan which are rated MA15+, but many children can handle just fine. There is no sex or violence in either of these shows; the Anatomy episode on reproduction does acknowledge the existence of sex at a level similar to most primary school sex education programmes. Both shows feature real unclothed dead bodies being dissected in the context of an anatomy lesson and mummified in the context of historical research, respectively. Of course, we did everything you're supposed to do: watch it first to make sure there's nothing they can't handle, then watch it with them and talk about what's happening. They were totally cool with it, and completely fascinated.
  In all of the above examples, I would argue that the rating is highly misleading and unhelpful for most parents. I think that the ratings system only works as well as it does because the vast majority of TV shows, movies and games fit easily identifiable stereotypes and formulas. The best ones are often precisely those which challenge the boundaries of the ratings system. If I care about my kids watching good movies or playing good games, the ratings system isn't much use to me.
  If we're talking about child safety, I want to know things like whether or not my kids will be interacting with other people online in an uncontrolled way. The ratings system only covers this with the nebulous statement "gaming experience may change online", and it typically doesn't affect the rating.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
27. Re:Irony by Pseudonym · 2013-01-12 13:01 · Score: 1
  
  To be fair, it wasn't just the government. It was the government in unwitting collusion with region-locking DRM.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
28. Re:Irony by mjwx · 2013-01-13 13:21 · Score: 1
  
  I just think its sad that Australians have been treated like infants so long by their politicians...why did they put up with that shit?
  Because you're imagining it. We tend to ignore with things foreigners imagine are happening in Australia mate.
  
  As a parent just give me the same kind of info they give for a TV program "This game contains scenes of (insert violence, sex, drug references, whatever)" and let ME decide what is and is not appropriate for my boys.
  You'll find more violence and sex on Australian TV then on US TV.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
29. Re:Irony by mjwx · 2013-01-13 13:29 · Score: 1
  
  My big problem is that too many people associate "mature" with sex and graphic violence. It's maturity seen from the perspective of a teenager.
  Fixed that for you.
  
  This is not a problem restricted to gamers. In fact the non-gaming jock is more likely to see graphic sex and violence to be "mature" than the average gamer.
  
  But this is the difference between "adult" and "mature". Something like Playboy is "adult" literature, something like Lolita is "mature" literature.
  
  This is not to say that graphic violence has no place in good storytelling, it can be a very effective story device but a game centred around gratuitous sex and violence tends not to have too much story in it. For example, a game based on a war or in the Mafia could use a bloody massacre to drive home a point about violence and loss... Games that centre around cutting people up with swords by pressing a certain button combo and watching blood splatter as I said, tends not to have any artistic merit (or gaming skill, but that's a different argument).
  
  Not that I want to see these games restricted at all. Quite the contrary I think they should be available to people who want to buy them.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
30. Re:Irony by mjwx · 2013-01-13 13:33 · Score: 1
  
  Or, irony will be that kids want to get their hands on this game now . . . just because it has an R18+ rating. Doing anything that is illegal or a sin is more fun. Like, sex before you are married, sneaking into a movie with an adult rating, buying beer when you are under aged, etc.
  The R18+ sticker is a big red, blinking "Buy Me!" sticker on the box for kids.
  Like supplying alcohol to a minor, I assume there are enforceable penalties for supplying a minor with an R18+ game (it's my country, but i'm too lazy to rtfa).
  The key word is selling, not supplying.
  
  It's illegal to sell alcohol to a minor, but if a parent gives alcohol to a minor they haven't commited an offence. It's the same with R18 (we've had this rating on movies, books and music for years) It's illegal to sell R18 material to someone under 18, but if their parents buy it there's no problem.
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
31. Re:Irony by jamesh · 2013-01-13 16:12 · Score: 1
  
  Or, irony will be that kids want to get their hands on this game now . . . just because it has an R18+ rating. Doing anything that is illegal or a sin is more fun. Like, sex before you are married, sneaking into a movie with an adult rating, buying beer when you are under aged, etc.
  The R18+ sticker is a big red, blinking "Buy Me!" sticker on the box for kids.
  Like supplying alcohol to a minor, I assume there are enforceable penalties for supplying a minor with an R18+ game (it's my country, but i'm too lazy to rtfa).
  The key word is selling, not supplying.
  It's illegal to sell alcohol to a minor, but if a parent gives alcohol to a minor they haven't commited an offence. It's the same with R18 (we've had this rating on movies, books and music for years) It's illegal to sell R18 material to someone under 18, but if their parents buy it there's no problem.
  You've isolated the case where a parent gives their own child alcohol, but that's the exception. If you are under age and get someone else to buy alcohol for you, they can be done for supplying alcohol to a minor. Whether you pay them to do it or just ask really really nicely, the key word is still supply.
32. Re:Irony by Macgrrl · 2013-01-13 19:04 · Score: 1
  
  Verse 1
  *Ahem*
  Mi mi mi mi miiiiiiiii
  I am the great mighty poo,
  and I'm going to throw my shit at you!
  A huge supply of tish,
  comes from my chocolate starfish.
  How about some scat you little twat?
  Verse 2
  Do you really think you'll survive in here?
  You don't seem to know which creek you're in.
  Sweet corn is the only thing,
  that makes it through my rear.
  How do you think I keep this lovely grin?
  *ting*
  Spoken: Have some more caviar.
  Verse 3
  Now I'm really getting rather mad,
  you're like an niggly, tiggly, shitty, little, tag nut!
  When I've knocked you out with all my bab,
  I'm going to take your head and ram it up my butt!
  Conker: Your butt?
  GMP: My butt!
  Conker: Your butt!?
  GMP: That's right my butt!
  Conker: Urgh
  GMP: My butt!
  Conker: Eww!
  GMP: My buuuuuutt!
  Verse 4
  (each line is carried one pitch higher)
  Ahhhhh
  Ahhhhhh
  Ahhhhhhh!
  Ahhhhhhhh!!
  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
  
  --
  Sara
  Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
33. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-22 10:16 · Score: 0
  
  When you say "supplying", do you mean "selling"?
  In Australia, there is no law against supplying alcohol to a minor (Selling is prohibited, but it's legal - and common - for parents to supply alcohol.)
  In restaurants, it's perfectly legal to minors to have a drink with dinner.
  I'm from Australia, and everyone I know has been drinking since 14, although my own parents didn't buy me alcohol I turned 16.
34. Re:Irony by jamesh · 2013-01-22 11:17 · Score: 1
  
  When you say "supplying", do you mean "selling"?
  Nope. Or at least in Victoria. You give an 8yo alcohol and see what you get charged with when the parents find out. Whether the 8yo paid you money (selling) or you gave it to them for free won't make a significant amount of difference.
  There are exceptions allowing a parent to supply alcohol to a minor, or others to supply alcohol to a minor with the parents permission, but that is an exception.
  Start by reading http://www.health.vic.gov.au/aod/alcohol/alcohol-law.htm and http://www.health.vic.gov.au/alcoholunder18/minors.htm
Nintendo trying hard by CurunirAran · 2013-01-10 22:33 · Score: 0

Seems like Nintendo's trying hard to interest the adult gamers in it's consoles.
1. Re:Nintendo trying hard by CurunirAran · 2013-01-10 22:34 · Score: 0
  
  That was meant to be 'its', before any Grammar Nazis appear.
Oh no! 18+ by ciderbrew · 2013-01-10 22:43 · Score: 4, Funny

I've been drinking, watching porn, playing games long before I was 18. I have a Job, house, kid, pay my bills and cry myself to sleep at night like the rest of the world. Put the age to 40 and give people something to look forward to..
1. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-10 23:22 · Score: 0
  
  I've been drinking, watching porn, playing games long before I was 18.
  
  Heh, and if you were in America, you would have been illegally drinking long time before 18 + 3 years.
2. Re:Oh no! 18+ by quintesse · 2013-01-10 23:47 · Score: 1
  
  I doubt you would be *drinking* illegally, it's the ones giving you access that would be at fault (and not many countries in the world make it illegal when you are in your own home drinking your parent's whiskey).
3. Re:Oh no! 18+ by B1oodAnge1 · 2013-01-11 00:53 · Score: 1
  
  If you're under 21 and at a party drinking alcohol you are a minor in possession, which is against the law in the US.
  Nearly everyone drinks before 21, as a point of reference I was home-schooled by fundamentalist Christians, wasn't a particularly wild child, and I still was drinking (illegally) long before 21.
  
  --
  RUGBYRUGBYRUGBY
4. Re:Oh no! 18+ by quintesse · 2013-01-11 01:01 · Score: 0
  
  Sure, but a party is not your own home, so either it's a public place and that would be illegal yes or at another private residence and how would you've gotten your hands on alcohol legally there? The owners aren't allowed to give it to you and you can't have brought it yourself. But in you own home you could legally drink. (At least that is how I understood US drinking laws)
5. Re:Oh no! 18+ by fnj · 2013-01-11 01:03 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You don't know what country or US state AC resides in. In the US, even though the feds wormed their way into the States' business and coerced them all to raising the minimum age for purchasing alcohol and consuming it in public to 21 through legislation passed in 1985, there are still details which vary from state to state. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia ban underage consumption in ANY setting, even residences in family settings. Eighteen states do not ban underage CONSUMPTION at all, and the remaining seventeen states do not ban underage consumption at home.
6. Re:Oh no! 18+ by B1oodAnge1 · 2013-01-11 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  In your own home, with your parents present you are allowed to drink with their permission. However I've never known anyone who drank even primarily in such a fashion, let alone exclusively.
  By far the most common form of alcohol consumption as a teenager in the US is binge drinking at a party: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm
  
  --
  RUGBYRUGBYRUGBY
7. Re:Oh no! 18+ by SternisheFan · 2013-01-11 02:25 · Score: 2
  
  I just want to remind / point out to anyone reading here that alcohol is a 'drug', and it is a dangerous one. It just happens to be a legal drug. There are good reasons for these laws that prohibit young people from using alcohol. It ruins more lives than illegal drugs.
  Study: Alcohol 'most harmful drug,' followed by crack and heroin By the CNN Wire Staff November 1, 2010 1:14 p.m. EDTLondon, England (CNN) -- "Alcohol ranks "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs, beating out crack and heroin when assessed for its potential harm to the individual imbibing and harm to others, according to study results released by a British medical journal. A panel of experts from the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs weighed the physical, psychological, and social problems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the most harmful overall, according to an article on the study released by The Lancet on Sunday." http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/01/alcohol.harm/index.html
8. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Golddess · 2013-01-11 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Not necessarily true. It varies state by state, but some places only restrict the sale of alcohol to minors, not the consumption. For example, it may be perfectly legal for a parent to give their child a beer.
  
  --
  "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
9. Re:Oh no! 18+ by blane.bramble · 2013-01-11 02:43 · Score: 1
  
  Come join the civilised world:
  https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law
  "However if you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal."
  "It’s illegal to give alcohol to children under 5."
10. Re:Oh no! 18+ by hackula · 2013-01-11 02:49 · Score: 2
  
  I believe it this morning, but like everyone else on the planet, will stop believing it by about 3pm when my hangover wears off.
11. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 03:51 · Score: 0
  
  this is not necessarily true in the usa. alcohol laws vary by state, they're not set nationally. they also tend to be rather complicated, especially in the situation you're talking about.
  please read the laws before trying to explain them to others.
12. Re:Oh no! 18+ by sunderland56 · 2013-01-11 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  Don't Catholics serve wine to teenagers at Communion?
13. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 04:24 · Score: 0
  
  I might be an anomaly, but I only ever drank with parental supervision until I was 18. Then, it was binge drinking in College.
14. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 04:42 · Score: 1
  
  That's not actually true everywhere in the US. This map (from this article on Wikipedia) summarizes the laws by state. My understanding of the map is that parents may not serve their children alcohol in the the states colored yellow. Yes, United States drinking laws are ridiculous.
15. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 04:42 · Score: 0
  
  In Wisconsin this is legal to do, for all children under 21. The parent, or spouse (in cases where the older spouse is over 21), just purchases the alcohol, the server gives the beverage to the adult and the adult hands it to the minor.
  Most National Chains don't honor this law but Local restaurants don't even bat an eyelash.
16. Re:Oh no! 18+ by ciderbrew · 2013-01-11 05:18 · Score: 1
  
  In the UK it is legal at 18 to party.
17. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 07:15 · Score: 0
  
  Same. I'd have a lot of trouble explaining why I came home drunk from a party when I lived with my parents. All my binge drinking was in college (and not much of that).
  Of course, at least one of my parents were always around, and they didn't cotton to letting us run wild. I did have opportunities to drink in high school, but I generally avoided anything where I'd end up visibly intoxicated. I'm also smart enough that I didn't need to experience puking and hangovers to know that I didn't want to have them.
18. Re:Oh no! 18+ by tnk1 · 2013-01-11 07:17 · Score: 2
  
  Yes. I believe there is a religious exemption as well.
  And unfortunately, you don't get very much, or church would have been a lot more popular.
19. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 07:21 · Score: 0
  
  We used to be more in line with the rest of the world, and then we regressed. If it wasn't cool to get smashed, most kids would probably rather do something else. As it was, the swill that I could get my hands on as a teenager almost put me off drinking. "American" beer: It's like piss, without the appealing flavor.
20. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Buzer · 2013-01-11 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  It's hard for me to believe that possessing/drinking alcohol as under 18/21 isn't illegal. That would leave a loophole that it would be ok for them to brew their own (unless there's another law which forbids brewing as under 18/21) & drink it.
21. Re:Oh no! 18+ by HornWumpus · 2013-01-12 06:11 · Score: 1
  
  We brewed and distilled our own in freshman high school chemistry.
  The teacher didn't care if we took it home, just couldn't drink it in class. Granting our stills were 500ml flasks, we weren't exactly making big batches.
  
  --
  John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
22. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Pseudonym · 2013-01-12 13:15 · Score: 1
  
  By far the most common form of alcohol consumption as a teenager in the US is binge drinking at a party [...]
  According to this "fact sheet", that's where most alcohol is consumed by teenagers. That doesn't mean that most under-21s who consume alcohol binge drink, or do so at a party. I believe that it's "the most common form of alcohol" per volume of alcohol, but I'd need to see more evidence as to whether or not it's the most common form per capita.
  One thing that people don't get about drug use is that it's as much about culture and ritual as it is about chemistry. If you grew up in an ethnically Italian family, then for you, wine probably wasn't "drinking", it was "food". Wine was, after all, almost always consumed in the context of a meal. "Drinking" was what you did in secret on Saturday night with your friends with megaswill lager and cheap blended spirits.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
23. Re:Oh no! 18+ by Pseudonym · 2013-01-12 13:19 · Score: 1
  
  For some reason, I had this image of a modern American traveling back to ancient Rome and trying to enforce Webster spelling on Latin words. Mark Twain would be proud, I think.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Where's Rockstar? by metalmaster · 2013-01-10 22:45 · Score: 4, Funny

When opening this article I half expected to read about the next installment of Grand Theft Auto or some other title riddled with adult themes.
1. Re:Where's Rockstar? by jamesh · 2013-01-11 00:30 · Score: 2
  
  When opening this article I half expected to read about the next installment of Grand Theft Auto or some other title riddled with adult themes.
  The next GTA game will be rated G and will consist of Postman Pat going on his deliveries... until the unlock code is released.
  I think the game Carmageddon did something like that. In some countries it was deemed that running people down with your car wasn't really the right thing to do so the game was released with zombies instead of people (s/skintone/green). For countries that deemed that running down zombies wasn't tasteful enough, the zombies were changed to robots. It was supposedly very easy to take the zombie version of the game and change them back into people with a bit of tweaking here and there. Not sure about the robot version.
2. Re:Where's Rockstar? by JImbob0i0 · 2013-01-11 01:39 · Score: 1
  
  The patch to remove the censorship was on SCI's ftp servers at the time ;) It worked for green->red blood and robots->people too.
Nintendo, are you even trying? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-10 23:00 · Score: 1

Great!
Now that everything settled, does that mean we're clear for a localization of the latest Futanari-Tentacle-Ahegao-Neotare-BDSM nukige from Japan?
'Cause "The Maiden Rape Assault: Violent Semen Inferno" just doesn't do it for me anymore.
1. Re:Nintendo, are you even trying? by loufoque · 2013-01-11 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  Can't you just download your eroge from the internet or import it?
  Official publishing in a country is only useful for mainstream games.
The best bit of this... by RogueyWon · 2013-01-11 00:18 · Score: 4, Insightful

This is a good thing. By all accounts, the game is awful. However, it is also squarely the kind of game that wouldn't have been given a 15 rating under the old system (and hence would have been denied release). So it's an indication that the new 18 rating is an actual 18 rating, rather than an excuse to just mark games that would previously have been 15s even more harshly, while still keeping many games out of the country.
1. Re:The best bit of this... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 01:34 · Score: 0
  
  Ninja Gaiden 3 got an MA15+ I don't see what so special about Razors Edge that would have caused it to be denied under the old system.
2. Re:The best bit of this... by sunderland56 · 2013-01-11 04:10 · Score: 1
  
  Awful or not, I bet it's the #1 top selling game in Australia this week.
Ban LEGO! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 00:31 · Score: 1

I mean, it presents the child with the possibility of full-scale dismemberment! You can even stack heads for trophies, make hellish contraptions like cybernetic walking thrones and lawns full of torsos reaching for the sky lamenting their painful existence as ornaments keeping the repoman claiming his shiny, transparent and flat one-blocks.
So by synapse7 · 2013-01-11 00:58 · Score: 1

How did Ninja Gaiden earn this rating?
1. Re:So by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 04:07 · Score: 0
  
  I think it has to do with the optional combat tecnique that involves extracting a target's ribs and then using two of the pointier ones to stab the target's eyes out.
Verging on hysteria by fnj · 2013-01-11 01:19 · Score: 3, Interesting

You can already get into serious trouble in many or most areas carrying an obviously toy gun in school, and there have even been cases of persecuting children for making a sign of a gun with their hand, or drawing a PICTURE of a gun. Coming next: outlawing THOUGHTS of violence.
It is only the logical final step that we end up in the Firefly universe through extending social engineering to actual physical or chemical monkeying with human brains. Oh wait, we are already there, with psychotropic drugs being handed out like candy to children.
This would all have been universally considered crazy by any previous generation. It still is considered crazy by rational people.
And now no crimes will ever be committed in Oz by gelfling · 2013-01-11 01:42 · Score: 1

Giid Jorb.
Re:Who would have thought it by nedlohs · 2013-01-11 01:51 · Score: 0

Since the government is descended from governing penal colonies it doesn't seem that strange to me.
Dont Worry Make your own Games by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 02:16 · Score: 0

Hey guys, dont worry about censorship when you can learn lisp and make your own games like in the book "Land of Lisp" quote from Chapter 8 "Grand Theft Wumpus, the most violent version of Hunt the Wumpus the world has ever seen. " And this book is tailored to kids with comics and cartoons all through, so the censors are definately not picking up violent video games that you can make yourself. Anyway im going back to my REPL to make a version of Ninja Gaiden using lisp and im gonna make it the most violent shockingly graphic version you could never buy all in the comfort of my living room. Hows that for beating the censors. lol
how long before... by hAckz0r · 2013-01-11 03:35 · Score: 2

How long before it goes viral on the file-sharing services?
Perhaps this is a new marketing plan? First, make it unobtainable by those that _really_ want to play it, add some more media hype with the rating system to make it even more desirable, and then hope that they eventually buy a legal copy once they are old enough to do so. Might work... well sort of. If they have a bootleg copy while under 18 they can't admit to having it, but when they are of legal age its still bootleg, so they might have to buy it so they can share with their younger friends. Somehow this doesn't sound like the rating system is doing its job, and the first game probably hasn't even hit the market yet.
1. Re:how long before... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 18:48 · Score: 1
  
  How is a Wii U game going to end up "going viral on the file-sharing services"? This game is a Wii U exclusive, published by Nintendo. It's not a PC game.
At least they didn't do this to a good game. by engineerErrant · 2013-01-11 06:13 · Score: 1

Ninja Gaiden 1 or 2 would have been a very different conversation. The way I see it, the Aussies found a way to rack up a symbolic victory to look good to hyper-sensitive parents without actually hamstringing a blockbuster game.
uh by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-11 09:30 · Score: 0

Somehow this doesn't sound like the rating system is doing its job, and the first game probably hasn't even hit the market yet.

this entire "argument" is also a fantasy in your head based on your highly questionable what-if. site devolved into a bunch of crackpots, i swear.
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