I'm wondering if they will un-ban the games that have been now. I doubt it but a gamer can dream.

I WANT MORTAL KOMBAT

This is the reason why I torrent games.

Meh. Buy your games online. Problem solved!

i just got R18+ Australia tattooed on my back

its bullsh## the Australian government are closed minded d### there let r rated movies and not R games if you don't want your kids to play such games THEN DO NOT LET THEM, DO YOUR JOBS STOP WRECK IT FOR THE REST OF USE it that simple. games are not the problem people if you think so then in the words of Kryptonian007 ....Anyone against the R rating for games is very closed minded and a dictating pain in the neck.....

Anyone against the R rating for games is very closed minded and a dictating pain in the neck.

When will the R rating, going to finally be an Official rating for games, I'm getting sick of waiting as I do not want Duke Nukem tainted by Politically Correct thugs. Hurry UP! dag nab it!

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Technically banning R 18+ games should do the same for movies... but noooo, because the government wouldn't want an uproar they can't handle with avoidance and ignorance like they do every public matter that doesn't seem important to them. Just like the opinions of the tax payers who keep them running... Ignorance is bliss huh...

Is the Australian Classification board full off little kids? Like seriously! Its almost as if they want to ruin good games by destroying them to give to little kids which is way worse then allowing a R18+ rating. They barely get of the rid of violence in games anyway. Sure theres less blood and limbs being ripped of but your still killing someone or something. My little cousin plays Dead rising 2, Hes 11, I told aunt that the games isnt suitable for him cuz hes to young but she doesn't know cuz it may have a 15+ rating but people don't think that rating anything. If it had a Black R18+ label on it then the parents would care. But you know my little cousin is already desensitized from all the other games hes played that are meant to have the R18+ rating but have a MA Rating.

I think its time we stopped living in the dark ages :/ come on australia

A list of members of the Parliament of Western Australia AGAINST R18+ Let them know what you think WA!!! SOURCE: http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/%283A6790B96C927794AF1031D9395C5C20%29~R+18plus+status+report.pdf/$file/R+18plus+status+report.pdf Graham Jacobs MLA Minister for Water and Mental Health, Mr Michael Sutherland MLA Member for Mount Lawley, Hon Helen Bullock MLC Member for Mining and Pastoral, Hon Nick Goiran MLC Member for South Metropolitan, Hon Helen Morton MLC Member for East Metropolitan, Hon Liz Behjat MLC Member for North Metropolitan, Mr Frank Alban MLA Member for Swan Hills, Mr Joe Francis MLA Member for Jandakot, Mr Tony Krsticevic MLA Member for Carine, Hon Michael Mischin MLC Member North Metropolitan Region, Mr Vincent Catania MLA Member for North West, Mr Peter Abetz MLA Member for Southern River, Mr Ian Britza MLA, Member for Morley

On several fronts, I'm for R18+ games. Number one reason is, Most games that are R18+ (Or NC17) are released in Australia unedited as MA15+. Fable 2 has some, fairly questionable scenes (The infamous dead baby in the crib for example) that I wouldn't have understood as a 15 year old. Reason 2. Editing is pathetic. Left 4 Dead 2 for example. Neutering a game makes it less appealing. After importing it (From New Zealand, a smaller country that's evidently got more sense than us) I asked an EB games staff member how many they'd sold. 'Not a lot, because everyone's heard it's been edited.' was my answer. Agreeably, boycotting someone taking the soul and point of the game out of it is good, but if the law takes money away from the developers... Reason 3. Australia's media allows everything BUT video games. Artwork, books and TV are given adult ratings and are kept out of children's hands... Or introduced properly (Michaelangelo's David for example). I've read books that anyone could have picked up off the shelves (In the 'young teen' area of the library!) that had sex and violence that surpass GTA. Seriously. It's 2010. We've gotten past how TV, Metal, Punk, Grunge and all that is warping our children, do we have to be so backwards? If a naked statue is art when introduced properly, cant a violent or sexual video game be respected as something a child isn't ready for yet. An R18+ rating shows we have some common sense and at least know how to explain stuff to our kids.

Hmmm.... has anyone considered that maybe developers don't want an R18 system in certain cases? Let's use COD for an example. A massive portion of the people who play COD are underage. If the next COD was exceedingly gory and was given a R18 then it would be illegal for anyone under 18 to play it. Sales would plummet (It would still probably get an M17 in USA). But, if the developer toned it down a bit so it was MA15 sales wouldn't be affected. MA15 means nothing to underaged gamers

Maybe it isn't that bad that excessive gore is toned down?

My largest issue with the R18+ debate is this. There appears to be this notion that with an R18+ rating all these horrible games depicting rape etc. will flood the Australian market and we shall thus be corrupted. Firstly, most games which have been banned are not THAT ultra violent and rape is rarely if ever an issue. Secondly, games will still face the classification board and thus can still be banned if they exceed what is deemed fit for the community (not that this should happen)

Hmm, we have R18+ for movies, but why not for games. How come other countries have R18+ games, without any stories of violence. If they think we will become 'more violent' playing R18+ games, why don't they just 'ban' R18+ movies as well, because more people watch movies than play games. (Not that I'd actually want it, but it's just a point) After all, there are kids who watch R18+ movies but they never get violent. Besides, kids might be too scared to see the scary stuff, or might not get the objective, along with the fact there are already many games made for kids. I'm not 18 yet, but all the games I might lose when we get the rating, it will be worth being unable to get them when I turn 18.

when people make there only argument "R18+ interactive video games are more likely too affect vunrable childeren and adults in negetive ways" they need to figure out that it's rated R18+ so any parent can say to them selves "wait a minute this must be rated R18+ for a reason I better not let my child play this." its all about trusting the australian comunite and if the kid hires or buys it with out the parent knowing there are these great new things called content locks. my parents are happy for me to go out and hire and buy the most "inapropriet"(air quouts around inapropriet) games you can buy beacuse they trust me to know fiction from real life and im 13 any way i hope they learn that all there doing is making people really mad by refusing an R18+ rating

thank the lord above, there's hope!!!

Please look at my blog Help Change The Gaming World. The Government is asking us Aussies to fill out a poll on a site I have listed there {the second one} we have until the 28 of Feb, so get voting.

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I just posted a 2000 word post on the 7pm Project forum that is specifically aimed at non gaming Parents. It discredits EVERY single positive point they have for not giving us an R rating and it also explains all the good points about bringing an R rating to our shores. It has direct links to the survey to make it easy for people and i also added a little note at the bottom for the 7pm project team asking to put this issue on the show. If they actually air this thing, then it will make the issue known to non-gamers nation wide! To read the post for yourself, head to http://7pmproject.com.au/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=119872&tstart=0 If that doesn't work go to 7pmproject.com.au then "forums" then"local news" then click on the forum titled "!!!IMPORTANT!!! Help protect your children from harmful content!" Notice how I didn't put any referance to gaming in the title and i also mentioned that their children are in danger (which is true to a point mainly coz of their ignorance). If THAT doesn't have the non-gaming parents of the nation flooding into the forum, NOTHING will.

R18+ games should be allowed in Aus because like as if kids are going 2 play R18+ games without permission where is he gonna get the game from he cant buy it unless his over 18 its just stupid and the dubed left 4 dead 2 i was like dammmmmitt the american one is apparently 2 times better than the aus one and most of the time it just ruins the online play for aussies who are versing americans or others but still if people want the game that bad there gonna get it over seas like the R18 block in Aus is just stupid lol

I agree with what SaberSpellSword said below. When people are buying games overseas we are not helping the Australian economy

they need to know that a 10 year old kids parents wouldnt let them play a R rated game. Adults should be able to choose their own entertainment and im sure we dont want a toned down and censored version of the game. Also it's not like we dont order them online with full content anyway

im from australia and i reckon having an R18+ rating is better then having censored games eg. Left 4 Dead 2

man I'm only 14 and most of my games are MA15+ plus I Pre-ordered AVP Survivor I wont become a killer when I'm older

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I'm not Australian but i would like to give a bit of my opinion. The most notable problem here is the older classification system. The 1994 guidelines need updating before any new changes can be made. In case the Australian government hasn't been paying attention, games have changed quite a bit since then. A system should be introduced that forces the government to review current game content and adjust classification of games based on new information every few years. that way old guidelines don't get in the way. Games change, and opinions of them by powerful people shouldn't be the dividing line that prevents advances that are good for the public. Geez, i should move and run things in Australia, this comment makes me look like id do a better job then the guys over there that have been doin this stuff for years...

Plus im 13 and i preordered AvP hunter edition and the guy at game just let me also all of my games are at least M and up. Im not going to become a murderer because i played a violent game.

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they should allow r18+ because people put alot more time in these games than what the people review it in i bet they dont even play it and the warriors for ps2 is a very bad game u smash peoples heads in and do graffiti and kill cops they need to rethink what they do because anybody over like 17 buys all their games from the net

I was going to write something almost the same to what SaberSpellSword. I agree with him 100%

I read through the disscussion paper that comes with the survey. there r a few things in there that are a little missleading. here's my opinion: The main argument here is protecting minors. If anything, no R rating is making children more vulnerable than ever. When a parent uneducated in the world of gaming picks up an MA title and looks through its themes, they generally compare it with the film rating system (which does go up to R) and think that it shouldn?t be too bad since they think that there is a rating above it for the most extreme of material. But the content in Australian MA15+ games could be balanced on the edge of an R rated blade and often falls in the R rated category in other countries. To further confuse the parent, there are vast inconsistencies with the ratings in this country. Call of Duty 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 for example, have the same rating and same content description though one is vastly more violent than the other with no indication for the parent to know

Just a few other points: The absence of an R rating encourages piracy and importing from other countries which hurts the Australian economy ?Parental lock systems are not included in older games consoles? this decision will only affect NEW games meaning that this is a mute point. No one makes games for old and outdated systems. ?Were an R 18+ classification introduced, the RC category would still exist for games with, for example, gratuitous or exploitative depictions of sexual violence? We aren?t asking for pornography. We just want unwatered down games that aren?t banned.

You know what's funny? 13 year olds like me can waltz into a games retailer and buy the orange box, css, dod, hl2dm, oblivion, half-life, half-life opposing force all at once, and as long as we pay, no one cares. I've been mistaken for being 10 before, but I can buy all these MA / M games and no one bats an eyelid, (begin sarcasm) yes sir micheal atkinson, I am REALLY being protected from violent games. (end sarcasm). besides, I play these games and the only thing that it did to me was (because of dod) cause me to become more intrested in history.

One of the main arguments of the pro R 18+ classification group (read most gamers) is that games are not for children and there are more adult gamers then child gamers. This is true, but any person that has access to Xbox Live can see that it is blaringly obvious that kids under 15 can get their hands on MA games anyway, not having an R rating will not stop this, it is the parents fault.

Don't know what to do....

Guys, pleaaaase let's get this submission done right here: http://www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification And then come polling day, we kick this old fool out of his chair and into the gutter.

Has anyone noticed how every time we see Atkinson playing a video game, he's always playing the tenis game on Wii sports with a big goofy grin on his face. He calls THAT gaming?!? The Nintendo Wii is the kiddy-pool of the games industry. lets see you blasting off some heads in something like Gears of War AND ENJOYING IT like a normal gamer and we might start taking you a bit more seriously.

I'm kinda half hoping for a game thats as hotly anticipated as CoD:MW2 to be banned outright in Australia. If MW2 was actually banned from sale in Australia because of the airport level before the game even came out (meaning NOBODY would be able to play it) I'm sure there would have been full on riots. If anything would send a message to the parlement about banning the games we want, that would.

Bio thats why theres a guy in the government wanting to ban MW2!

also, why is it that we can shoot innocent air-port civilians in modern warfare 2 and not be allowed to see a zombies corpse for more then a second in left 4 dead 2?

giving Australia a R18+ will finally allow us to play what the rest of the world are playing. After playing the disappointing Australian release of left for dead 2, i have been hoping for a R18+ as soon as possible.

lol this is so lame.. there shouldnt even be R18+ i think the highest should be MA for games like grant theft auto, left for dead etc..

I read that one of the concerns was the interactive nature of gaming, and that a R+ video could fall into the hands of younger children. If this is an issue, then cigarettes should also be banned, given that these are a restricted product that are physically consumed by younger people. Ratings is all about information, why would you want to restrict the information provided to consumers when purchasing a game for friends or relatives, particularly if they don't know much about gaming. A game that could be rated R+, may pass as MA and the purchaser is not aware that the content is not what they desire. Why penalise law abiding tax paying citizens to somehow try and protect younger people who wish to fragrantly break the law?

Maybe vulnerable audiences should just have a cup of concrete. problem solved.

i heard that 'prototype' made it into Australia... if that's true... this whole system has some serious inconsistencies. I mean seriously... that game was beyond mindless violence (consuming random civilians??!!?) ... how does that get past and something like 'Left for dead 2' get denied (its only zombies you slicing in half with a frying pan) or worse yet why does a game like 'GTA 4' get through... the whole system = failure

I'm tired of being punished because little kids. Who would sell an R rated game to a child? No one(they have laws against selling MA and R rated movies to children) and I'm pretty sure most parents would tell there kids no if they asked for one. So why should games be different. I'm getting annoyed that I can't get games I want or getting them toned down.