The panel consisted of Mike Bantick of IT Wire, Jason Hill, whose work graces the pages of The Age newspaper and his Screenplay blog, and rounding up the group, Matt Burgess of Australian Gamer.
Much of the panel centred on censorship, starting with the Australia’s lack of an R18+ rating for videogames. Mike discussed a recent report showing that “upwards of 80 percent” of parents are present when their children are purchasing games and the new possibilities that parental locks on consoles offer. He postulated that bringing the videogame ratings in line with those of film would protect children, reducing the amount of games with mature content “shoehorned” into the current M rating. Stating that he believed that the industry would be then more “self regulating” if an R18+ rating was introduced, he felt that companies would aim more towards the M rating as a means of gaining greater amounts of sales. Jason added that a discussion paper coming out of the Standing Committee of the Attorneys-General (SCAG) would be released before the end of the year, followed by a public consultation process. He urged people to remain vocal about the issue in order to force the current government to look at changing the ratings system.
It was noted that lobbying power of film groups was more powerful than that of games, with Mike suggesting that this was partially the result of the general perception of videogames as being a medium for kids, even though, according to those on the panel, the average age of a ‘gamer’ is 31. Both Jason and Mike were optimistic that these perceptions are changing slowly.
Manhunt 2: One of the higher profile victims of Australia's lack of R18+ rating.
The group also looked at the general censoring of the internet and the current government plan to filter ‘inappropriate’ and illegal content. Matt spoke on the issue, stating that it has been proven that this filtering is ineffective along with the fact that many have postulated that it will decrease overall speeds by 2-80 percent. He also raised concerns that those opposing this mandatory filtering have been labelled supporters of child porn when in fact there are far more issues involved.
At one stage the discussion shifted to how the current economic climate may impact on the gaming industry. Matt spoke to the fact that the low price of the Australian dollar may in fact cause overseas investment in the country’s industry to increase. Jason went on to add that many people will actually put off large purchases such as expensive holidays and direct their money instead to games and other forms of media which cost much less overall. Mike felt that we may see some more of the larger global companies consolidate their studios further. He noted that these companies will most likely focus on “safe titles”, such as sequels, that they know will sell. Jason added that in the current climate it is difficult to obtain loans and that this may impact on smaller Australian developers.
When the issue of the consolidation of Australian developers came up Mike spoke about his discussions with local companies who “surprised and pleased” him by informing him that they already “cross pollinate” in an informal manner, sharing their ideas and thus preventing the local industry from becoming stale. Jason noted that over the last few years Australian developers have excelled in creating small, innovative, “world-class” titles such as Puzzle Quest and de Blob.
The panel closed with a light hearted question asking the panellists to choose between Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band. Unfortunately for the new kid on the block there was a resounding vote for Activision’s Guitar Hero title.
what can you do. For anyone who says we are Free hahah i laugh thats all i do. Also for anyone who says this is the best country i laugh even more hahah.
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