Notorious for banning Adult-rated games, the Australian Federal Government has made it public that they are considering an R-rating for videogames, roughly the equivalent of an 18-rating in the UK. This rating could finally allow the release of more adult titles in Australia.

At the present time the highest age restriction a game can receive is an MA-rating, which is essentially a 15+ rating, any game with a higher rating is refused classification. Gamers have been lobbying for the MA-rating to be expanded to videogames, as they have for movies, for several years, showing that a number of banned titles in Australia have been released elsewhere without trouble.

The move would assuredly come with some opposition especially from the Australian Family Association who believes that explicit videogames can be more dangerous than films because of their interactivity.

"We're concerned about the level of violence and so on in R-rated material," said a spokesperson. "But in terms of the games, it seems that there's a lot more scope to actually change people's brain structure and their attitudes with games."

On the flipside, the Byron Report due to release toward the end of March in the UK, is expected to petition for a stronger ratings system for videogames backed by UK law.

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