The
Herald Sun reports the Australian federal government has announced support for the addition of an adult-oriented R18+ rating to allow the sale of mature video games to those over the age of 18. While this sounds like good news for gamers down under eager for the implementation of a rating to allow the sale of games that cannot be sold if refused classification under the MA15+ rating, this may result in a more restrictive environment. This is because Home Affairs and Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor explains that the goal of adding an R18+ rating is to apply it to some games currently rated MA15+ since the lack of an adult rating in Australia results in some violent games earning an MA15+ rating: "I'm more concerned about having the MA15+ games reviewed to see whether in fact they should be in an adult only classification." As for the games that are currently not available, he says: "I am not contemplating placing those RC (refused classification) games into an R18+ classification." Implementation of a new rating will require approval of each state and territorial attorney-general, who will be meeting Friday. Prior efforts in this direction have always failed, with the main obstacle to adoption of the new rating was always seen to be former South Australia Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, who
resigned in March, but they also note that South Australia has already expressed opposition to "relaxing the ban on R-rated computer games."
A new
World of Warcraft Community Website is online, offering new social functions, various guild and character pages, new game guides, forum improvements, and more. Word is: "That's just the start of the exciting future we have planned for the new World of Warcraft community site. We'll be working in the months ahead to bring you more exciting new features, but we hope that you'll settle in and enjoy what we've built so far." Thanks
Ant.
The
In Country: Vietnam Website now offers a new teaser trailer from this upcoming Vietnam War modification for Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad 2, Tripwire's yet-to-be-released World War II shooter sequel (they explain their team includes professional developers, which may explain work on a mod for a future game). The trailer offers a look at the project's impressive-looking weapons and environments, including rain, though not the sort that even seems to come straight up from underneath. Thanks joao.
The
Minecraft Website reveals that over 700,000 players have now purchased the independently developed sandbox game (thanks
Big Download). Also, the
Markus Persson interview on Hooked Gamers talks with the man behind the game. Along the way Markus discusses the inspiration of games like
Dungeon Keeper and
Dwarf Fortress, the present and future of the project, and an amusing take on his own style of play: "The game is designed to be as broad as possible, so what you do is up to you. For me, that usually ends with me exploring caves and getting lost."
Here's this week's list of the ten bestselling games on
Steam:
- The Orange Box
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam
- Metro 2033
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Super Meat Boy
- Colin McRae DiRT 2
- Aliens vs. Predator
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Mount & Blade: Warband
We picked up a big batch of smoked chicken wings to share with some neighbors when they visited last night, and we managed to snag enough that there were still some left over. This lead to me being unable to resist having a few for breakfast this morning. It's a good thing we don't live closer to the BBQ place, or I'd be 600 pounds in no time.
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