Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
A new report suggests the South Australian Attorney-General will
scuttle the long-awaited R18+ rating for games, much to the horror and
disgust of many commenters.
It looks like Australia won’t get an R18+ rating for games after all, according to a report at News.com.au.
The report states that “a spokesperson for Michael Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney-General, has confirmed that he will maintain his long-running opposition to the proposed system”.
As every state, territory and federal Attorney-General needs to agree to the introduction of an R18+ category, it would appear that gamers’ hopes are dashed, and the new Australia-wide Labor regime will not result in some harmonious new era for all, but will further damage Australia’s gaming industry.
March 28th is the day the Attorneys-Generals are set to come together to decide on R18+’s fate, but as the South Australian Attorney-General has already laid his cards on the table, March 28 will be forever remembered as the day R18+ gaming died, and the day that Australian Governments once again treated Australian adults as mere children.
According to the News.com.au report, Michael Atkinson’s spokesperson is quoted as saying that: “The Attorney-General remains very firmly opposed to introducing an R rating for computer games in Australia".
The spokesperson continues that: "He doubts whether any safeguards could be put in place to deter young people, who after all (are) the most computer literate and savvy in our society, from being able to access material."
Thank you Michael Atkinson. Of course young people are tech savvy. They are the ones who will grey import games, download copies from the Internet and more - instead of buying them locally and supporting Australia's gaming industry, whether the games were locally made or not.
Attorney-General Atkinson: your prejudices and lack of understanding will cause R18+ games to go underground, and piracy to increase, rather than making R18+ games as legal as R18+ movies. Please reconsider your decision!
About the only thing gamers can do now is to contact Michael Atkinson’s office to express their disappointment as his curiously techno-backwards stance, but it is unlikely to help, for the SA Attorney-General seems to have made up his mind before even hearing from his colleagues.
From the clever country to the backwards country we go. Weep, gamers of Australia. Weep.
David Bass
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