Forum - View topicNEWS: Atelier Totori for Vita Listed as R18+ by Australian Rating Board
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
Author | Message | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tukuyomi
Posts: 22 |
|
|||||||||||||
Okay, I can't really speak for the swimsuit scene as I have only seen some screenshots, but it didn't seem THAT bad. They looked pretty cute, even. I mean, Dead or Alive Xtreme2 had REALLY bad and skimpy swimsuits...and even that only got a 12-year-old rating over here^^ I wonder if Australia is as harsh on violence in games as well... |
||||||||||||||
Errinundra
Moderator
Posts: 6516 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
|
|||||||||||||
While I understand your indignation you are commenting from a position of ignorance. This rating is actually a victory for gamers in Australia. Until the R rating was brought in a short time ago, games that failed to gain the next highest rating were simply banned. This was out of step with Australia's liberal censorship regime for film, DVDs, BDs, magazines and books. An R rating for video games was campaigned for by both gamers and civil libertarians in Australia. This particular game may not warrant such a high rating in your opinion but it does mean it is freely available to anyone 18 or older. Further, Australia hardly ever polices who purchases or views such material. Any under 18 who wants to play the game will have no difficulty in doing so. The best thing is that the existence of the classification has silenced the wowsers. |
||||||||||||||
configspace
Posts: 3717 |
|
|||||||||||||
Witness the brilliance of man-made law.
Aren't there some AU states that still prohibit R18 games? Anyways, I don't think it's a good idea as it just establishes perpetual government intervention. Those civil libertarians should telling the government to get out of the way. The whole idea of a government censorship board, the OFLC, is anathema to libertarianism. The R18 rating creates a legal restriction that even if not enforced much, could still be easily enforced that carries a punishment. Selective enforcement is in many ways worse. At the very least, rather than push for the current regime of R18, they could have pushed for M18 instead, as recommendation, but not punitive/restricted. |
||||||||||||||
ianiceboy
Posts: 27 |
|
|||||||||||||
More like Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of R18+ Land. |
||||||||||||||
Errinundra
Moderator
Posts: 6516 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
|
|||||||||||||
@ configspace,
The federal government lacks the constitutional power to make laws censoring any sort of publication (other than in the territories). Such powers reside with the states. What the federal government does is try to act the broker in order to bring about uniform laws. There is always a tension between those states with more permissive attitudes (South Australia, Victoria & Tasmania) and those with more conservative attitudes (Western Australia and Queensland). The remaining state, New South Wales, tends to take more of a middle ground. Of the territories, ACT is permissive while the Northern Territory is all over the place. The federal government is, however, responsible for customs, so it can, and very occasionally, does ban the import of items it wishes to restrict. You then have the odd situation where getting an item into Australia is illegal but, if it's produced here, it's perfectly legal. As regards government intervention in general, although Australia is tending towards the American model, Australians don't share Americans' hatred of government (although we loathe our politicians just as fiercely as anyone else). |
||||||||||||||
Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
|
|||||||||||||
It's probably wrong to say Americans hate government - a lot of them tend to say they do, but given that most of those will then turn around and call for more government, it's more of a carryover from the American Revolution(and the ensuing war of secession) being founded in said hatred. Heck, the Republican Party only picked up the small government rhetoric from Democrats who jumped ships thanks to FDR's socialism(they were founded as a pretty well open corporatist/protectionist party).
|
||||||||||||||
enurtsol
Posts: 14746 |
|
|||||||||||||
Well, Australia did do this:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/01/simpsons-powerpuff-girls-porn-nets-jail-time-for-australian/ So it's just par for the course.
That's pretty much a lot of it. Western gamers aren't really prude - they enjoy skin as much as anyone else. Just look at Lara Croft. It's just that when the girls are young-looking and/or -acting (forget the ages - age is just but a number in fictional work). Just look at the new Lara Croft - they make her younger but not looking too young. It's like the mindset among Western gamers is: t'was a long hard road to get gaming treated into social acceptance and a legitimate hobby, that they don't want gaming be treated back again as creepy stigma like being into fetishizing young girls lead to. Dead or Alive barely passes off that hazy line. What to take away from this is: make 'em look old enough, and they're fine with it (e.g. Cammy often polls highest in Street Fighter to retain, and she shows the most skin).
"Sexual violence" according to the Australian ratings board.
America arrests sex people for every little thing. Which leads to below...................
................ It's not just that in Japan it's under-reported. As a Japanese put it in a funny context, about Japan reporting lower sexual violence rate than other nations: "it's because what's illegal there is legal here!" |
||||||||||||||
RyanSaotome
Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
|
|||||||||||||
How is rating a kids friendly game 18+ a victory for anyone? The original game was rated PG in Australia. There shouldn't even be a discussion of it being banned in the first place... its like saying a criminal got only 20 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit instead of life, so he should be happy. |
||||||||||||||
Catseyetiger
Posts: 779 |
|
|||||||||||||
I have played the PS3 game and did not see where they could get the R18! can someone explain why they added this to this game and where did they find such in it?
|
||||||||||||||
RyanSaotome
Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
|
|||||||||||||
The only significant thing are new costumes like bikinis and other types of outfits like that. MAYBE it would raise it from PG to the Teen rating Australia has, but anything higher is just a joke. |
||||||||||||||
partially
Posts: 702 Location: Oz |
|
|||||||||||||
Well they also rated Azumanga Daioh MA here purely on the basis of that male teacher who would occasionally make creepy faces, in an otherwise PG show. So sure an R because of bikini's is par for the course. |
||||||||||||||
Timic83
Posts: 1 |
|
|||||||||||||
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 got a PG. |
||||||||||||||
ScruffyKiwi
Posts: 672 Location: New Zealand |
|
|||||||||||||
What I don't understand is why has this being rated at all? Game companies submit their games for ratings and as far as I know no english release of the PSvita game has been announced and no english translation has been done.
Anyway, the 'sexual violence' means that there is a rape or sexual assault, which definitely was NOT in the PS3 game. The Atelier games are more cute than anything else. Someone must have got turned on too much by all those frilly dresses |
||||||||||||||
RyanSaotome
Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
|
|||||||||||||
Game releases are often leaked these days through Rating board submissions like this. So now we know its getting an English localization. |
||||||||||||||
Nephtis
Posts: 138 Location: Australia |
|
|||||||||||||
I know nothing about this title or any related games (just so we're clear).
I do know however a bit about how classification works here. First: if the publisher disagrees with the decision they can appeal. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal the way in which the board comes to its decision is published for all to see (so they would detail the sexual violence references in question). Second: sexual references and sexual violence references are two completely different things. It's also worth mentioning for example if a character mentioned 'rape' this rating wouldn't have ended up coming to light. Third: how about instead of comparing it to previous titles or the game on another console how about waiting for the game to come out before going right off about how another country's legal system is stupid. This game clearly has something the board believed warranted an adult only rating. If that's the only descriptor it must be strong references (note plural) and probably be harsher than you'd realise. Let's all calm down and see what happens. |
||||||||||||||
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
||
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group