14 DAY TRIAL // While Germany is not a lot kinder when it comes to rating or refusing to rate games, Australia is on an entirely different level. There have been a lot of games that have never managed to get past its Rating Board, and have thus ended up being banned, as a title cannot be sold without first receiving an official rating. To get past this problem and allow Australian gamers access to a broader range of games, some developers accepted compromise and released an edited version of their titles, like Valve did for its Left 4 Dead 2. But it looks like Rebellion and Sega are the ones that really stirred the coastal waters of Australia, when the two managed to get the upcoming Aliens vs Predator approved for commercialization in the country. Following a refusal to grant it a rating from the Australian Rating Board, and a firm statement from Rebellion that said that it had no intention of altering the game in order to meet the Board's standards, Sega filed an appeal to the decision, and managed to get the game its much-needed MA15+ rating.
Honestly, how on Darwin's Blue Planet (or God's green Earth, take your ideological pick) Sega managed to win that appeal is a mystery, but the bottom line is that it did, and it looks like it may have started a national movement. Australian gamers have been complaining about the country's outdated rating system for a long time now, but it has been to no avail. However, EB Games Australia has just announced that it's going to take part in the war for an R18+ rating, and a louder voice might be exactly what's needed to make a difference.
Every EB Games outlet in the county will feature promotional materials for the rating campaign, as well as a petition meant to touch the hearts of Australian politicians. "With the release of the Government's discussion paper, we knew as a company that we needed to act on this issue as it continues to cripple our industry and cost local jobs," Steve Wilson, the managing director of EB Games Australia, said. "We did however want to be sure that our customers were as passionate about the matter as we are."
And its "industry" and "local jobs" approach might be exactly the thing needed to get the point across. If things like censorship and freedom of speech didn't reach them, money might just be a language that the politicians will respond to. You can take part in the movement by accessing the petition here.