By now you'll have heard that Aliens vs Predator was refused classification Down Under, which means it's as good as banned. But that hasn't stopped the man behind the ban, Attorney General Michael Atkinson, explaining the decision.
Speaking about the growing number of calls for an adult videogame rating (Australia has adult ratings for movies), Atkinson said, "This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society. And I think harm society. It's the public interest versus the small vested interest.
Alien vs. Predator
Official trailer
1:60Two minutes of man-hunting mayhem
Alien vs. Predator
Official trailer
1:60Two minutes of man-hunting mayhem
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"I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence. You don't need to be playing a game in which you impale, decapitate and dismember people."
Im loving how Atkinson doesn't let anyone play any violent video games in Australia because they 'motivate people to commit violent crimes'. yet Australia still has one the highest rates of violent crime in the developed world...
Hate this kind of pompous thinking It just shows that Austrailian government and rating officials are still very biased If you allow Hostel which i just torture for torture sake there's nothing in a gme that would influence anymore or less
I think Australia secretly has Aliens and Predators running about (possibly in charge) and thats what this is REALLY about.... they just dont wanna take the chance that the 2% of their population that HAVE GIANT FRIGGING CLAWS, CHEST BURSTING BABIES AND SHOULDER CANNONS dont remember that they are infact here to kill our puny race to death.
Then again, did anyone see wolf creek? id rather face a Predalien than that Aussie.... and that was a true story!
So according to these idiots, 1 or 2 in every 100 people will commit "horrible acts of violence"? That's ridiculous. That number wouldn't even be realistic if it was applied to recruits in the Armed Forces.
It's amazing how archaic and ignorant some people are.
You're right, 1% of Australia's population is 213,740 people. That's a lot of psychopaths.
That's double the population of Winchester.
(It's also about the same number as the population of Aberdeen, but everyone knows Scots are mental, so it wasn't the best way to get my point across.)
"This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society"
Is it? Or is it middle aged to OAP politician t**ts that are trying to impose their will on society. f**king hypocrites. They probably don't care as they just do it to impress their chosen demographic. It just shows how clueless they are, which is worrying.
"This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society"
Is it? Or is it middle aged to OAP politician t**ts that are trying to impose their will on society. f**king hypocrites. They probably don't care as they just do it to impress their chosen demographic. It just shows how clueless they are, which is worrying.
Agreed. Surely by placing a ban on something and denying adults to make their own mind up, they are acting in exactly the same way they are condemning Aussie gamers for? A small number of ignorant politicians imposing their will on the Australian public.
It also shows a complete disregard for the source material. Are the movies featuring the creatures, the comics etc banned as well? There is nothing in the game that I have seen so far that wasn't in the associated material.
"I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence."
*I* need to be playing a game in which you impale, decapitate and dismember people! I need to be playing at that *RIGHT FRICKIN NOW*! and if I don't get to do that... gawd help this society of yours!!
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
Those stats are a joke. That would mean that 1 or 2 in every hundred gamers are likely to think games are real? or should be acted out? Its laughable.
A while back I did some work around TV violence and its influence on people. What became apparent was that there has to be something pretty wrong in your life in the first place if watching a film (or playing a game) is the thing that pushes you over the edge. The sad thing is that our perception of these crimes is increased because of the media so we get a distorted picture of the situation. There are millions of gamers, and the occasional nutter. But any group of millions of people and youre bound to get an occasional loon.
The whole thing does beg the question of where those people who murder backpackers get their games, and what the hell are they playing?
Actually, no. He's right. You don't NEED to impale anyone. You wouldn't in real life... would you? In fact, all games should be based exactly on real life. There should be no escapism. As such even games based loosely on real life like the original CoD games should be banned. Cut sequences, third person games and RTS games should be banned; you don't see yourself in the third person do you?! It might encourage people to go schizophrenic... Likewise, loading screens should be eliminated and replaced by blank screens which only occur when your character goes to sleep. No loading screens in real life, eh? So the perfect game - wake up in the morning in first person. Press left bumper to scratch balls, first mission go to make coffee. Go through the getting dressed and having a s**t training missions, leave the house and drive to the Australian parliament for a day of narrow minded ill-informed bigotry, before going and playing the popping viagra and f**king your mistress minigame, watching one of the Saw movies on public TV then going to bed for the load screen before returning to square one. Anything else would be a deviation from Atkinson's exact real life and must therefore be BANNED BANNED BANNED.
Well if it is as such a small minority that he claims it is maybe console/game manufacturers should just pull out of that territory altogether. Oh and Aliens the movie was rated M (Medium level cobottom language; Violence) in Oz but 18 in the UK and thats for the extended 154 minute version.
Is there something fundamentally wrong with Australians that causes this "highly suggestible" state of mind? If not how come every other country in the developed world seems more or less immune (with the possible exception of the US, which I would argue is more down to gun law, drugs and education than the content and availability of games)?
At least in Germany there is historic and political reasoning behind much of the censorship. And you can buy games from across the border
So he is basically stopping every adult in OZ from having the choice to play what ever games they want because a very small amount of mentally ill people might go and break the law. Seriously, if someone is that influenced by what they see they are going to do something anyway! If he is working by that logic he will have to ban 18 films, tv and the internet. Moron.
Hang on Hang on.... I think its important to do something to stop children from playing violent games how about investing some time and money on improving F...ing parental skills. I had no idea that 50% of all parents cant count.... May be they should try righting "eighteen" on the box and lets hope they can read!
It funny that everything can be blamed on bad parenting, but no one does anything about it...
Well that was an angry rant and hope some one will agree with me.
Contradiction much? First Mr. Atkinson speaks of gamers being a tiny minority (in his opinion,) trying to force their will upon the mainstream population, yet he is apparently the sole individual in the Australian bureaucracy whom is truly holding up the process of implementing an 18+ rating system! Then he goes on to state that he thinks the vast majority ("98-99%) of gamers are responsible enough not to lose their sense of reality due to playing games, but that because "1-2%" might lose it, then the entire population must be robbed of their right to choose their own entertainment as adults. What was that you were saying earlier about the majority being held slave to a tiny minority again, Mr. Atkinson?
His intentions may be good yet his approach is sorely misguided and dramatically outdated, IMO.
I think Australia secretly has Aliens and Predators running about (possibly in charge) and thats what this is REALLY about.... they just dont wanna take the chance that the 2% of their population that HAVE GIANT FRIGGING CLAWS, CHEST BURSTING BABIES AND SHOULDER CANNONS dont remember that they are infact here to kill our puny race to death. Then again, did anyone see wolf creek? id rather face a Predalien than that Aussie.... and that was a true story!
Those two things tend to be synonymous with each other.
Ahh! The Granite City - good ol' Aberdeen. I have fond memories of the place.
If everyone had perfect parents we wouldn't have any interesting people.
Its the parents responsibility to deem what is appropriate for their children, and it is the rating boards and the laws responsibility to ensure that innapropriate content is not supplied to minors.
The problem is that both parties like to pass the buck.
A couple of years ago a man commited murder in the uk because an episode of stargate told him to do it, surely this is good proof that if someone is unstable enough to kill then anything could set them off, I've watched every episode & it's not made me kill my girlfriend (even when she talks all the way through it!!) I wonder if this evil, corrupting program is availble in Austrlia Why should the majority of sane, rational people have to miss out on adult games because of the rare few nutters out there? As Spock said: The needs of the many (i.e. gamers)outweigh the needs of the few (i.e. vote grabbing politicians)
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
"What the hell are we supposed to use man? harsh language?"
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
"What the hell are we supposed to use man? harsh language?"
FTW!
*c**ks pump action 12 gauge shotgun* "I like to keep this for close encounters."
In the age old struggle of one civil servant with an opinion versus corporate need to make money, the civil servant invariably loses. For posperity I'll start the stopwatch now
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
"What the hell are we supposed to use man? harsh language?"
FTW!
*c**ks pump action 12 gauge shotgun* "I like to keep this for close encounters."
Hudson "Hey Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?"
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
"What the hell are we supposed to use man? harsh language?"
FTW!
*c**ks pump action 12 gauge shotgun* "I like to keep this for close encounters."
Hudson "Hey Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?"
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
"What the hell are we supposed to use man? harsh language?"
FTW!
*c**ks pump action 12 gauge shotgun* "I like to keep this for close encounters."
Hudson "Hey Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?"
Vasquez "No! have you?"
"Game over man! Game over!"
Hudson: I say we grease this rat-f**k son-of-a-bitch right now.
Hang on Hang on.... I think its important to do something to stop children from playing violent games how about investing some time and money on improving F...ing parental skills. I had no idea that 50% of all parents cant count.... May be they should try righting "eighteen" on the box and lets hope they can read!
It funny that everything can be blamed on bad parenting, but no one does anything about it...
Well that was an angry rant and hope some one will agree with me.
I agree with you (although I was shocked by the ironic misspelling of "writing" in your post). Other than that, spot on Sir!
Ok, so I'm playing AvP as a Marine. There's an Alien/Predator charging at me (delete according to preference). I'm not allowed to impale, decapitate or dismember. What option does that leave me with? Wet myself?
"What the hell are we supposed to use man? harsh language?"
FTW!
*c**ks pump action 12 gauge shotgun* "I like to keep this for close encounters."
Hudson "Hey Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?"
Vasquez "No! have you?"
"Game over man! Game over!"
Hudson: I say we grease this rat-f**k son-of-a-bitch right now.
Ripley to Hicks "I say we dust off and nuke the base from orbit"
Burke "he's not qualified to make that call he's just a grunt, no offence"
Hicks "none taken, I say we dust off and nuke the base from orbit"
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