The Attorney General announced today that the government was considering introducing an R category for computer games. The issue would be brought up at the national AG meeting end of March.

See the SMH Article (thanks Ara)

But Angela Conway, spokeswoman for the Australian Family Association, said even M-rated games currently on the market had "concerning" levels of violent and sexual content.
"We would be opposed to the adoption of an R-rated category because we believe that research is pointing to the fact that these games actually do impact behaviour and psychology more easily than a film," she said.
"Our big concern is that there is a continual [positive] reinforcement for players actually acting out violent and sexual impulses ... this sort of technology has actually been used to desensitise soldiers ... and retrain them and break down their defences against killing."

It may be worth letting your AG know you support an R18+ category (if you do) because you can be certain groups like the AFA will be making their voices heard.

Good news, but I'm gonna hold my breath until it's a little past "considering".

smh article

most games that are crazy violent fail at being fun games. the only reason people end up buying them is because they are curious why it was banned

But Angela Conway, spokeswoman for the Australian Family Association, said even M-rated games currently on the market had "concerning" levels of violent and sexual content.

Surely an R rating will mean that there will be an opportunity to lesson the amount of violence getting into the lower rated games. I don't see it as simply a case of banned games getting a chance at classification but more of a chance to classify a lot of games that probably shouldn't be getting MA+15 as R+18 to restrict kids from playing them. As much fun as I've had playing GTA, even the watered down versions should still be R rated IMO.

That is the most retarded, fear-mongering title that could have been concocted for that article. Gg, SMH.

Yeah, in the writers defence "R-rated games may be on shelves soon" seems to be the actual title. The text in the original URL comes from the whatever headline they used elsewhere. http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/rrated-games-may-be-on-shelves-soon/2008/02/22/1203467345267.html

Typical sub-editor dramatics.

The article is fairly balanced. It is incongruous that computer games are the only media that can be excluded from the R18+ rating and seems bizarre that the choice of parents or adults to regulate minors from watching/viewing one particular medium was removed.

The greater impact argument quoted by the AFA as coming from "research" - what research? Nothing on the AFA website to back up this claim. Meh.

GG Feds. Good to see them pandering to the massively profitable R18+ computer software industry rather than the silent majority who support conservative family values.

perhaps this is the real reason its taking so long for duke forever to come out.

perhaps this is the real reason its taking so long for duke forever to come out.

I don't think so.

Looks like it's not going to happen.

Link.

yeah that prat in SA has been blocking it for years

I think any censorship reform bringing more violence and sex into gaming can only be a good thing.