Rebellion developer Jason Kingsley has given a stinging sideswipe to notorious pro-censorship South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson, describing him as “wacky”.
In the second part of the computerandvideogames.com interview with Kingsley over the upcoming – and much anticipated – “Aliens Vs. Predator” game, the conversation inevitably turned to the trouble the game faced in Australia, where it was initially banned before an appeal saw it allowed for release – uncensored – with a M 15+ certificate. “Australia’s got its own rules, and the authorities have to obey by them – but that doesn’t stop them being a bit odd,” he says. “I love Australia – they’re basically Britain in the sun, aren’t they? They’ve just got this weird anomaly in their legal system, which means adult gamers aren’t considered.” The “weird anomaly” Kingsley is referring to is of course the country’s backward reluctance to allow the creation of an adults only “R” rating for video games – something which both makes Australia a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the world, and which it is an open secret that Atkinson is the primary stumbling block in the creation of.
“There’s one particular person over there in a position of power over changing the laws,” Kingsley notes. “He has his very strong ideas over what you can and can’t do with your life. He’s patriarchal and entitled to his beliefs, I suppose, but that doesn’t stop them being wacky.” He notes also that Rebellion and Sega’s refusal to censor the game for a lower certificate after it was initially banned received an almost universal “”Good on you”” from gamers. “It wouldn’t have been right to do so without completely losing the reason for the game itself,” he says.
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Wacky is a good way to put it, the Attorney Generals stance annoys me greatly. The thing that I think Mr Atkinson doesnt understand is that we are adults wanting this not his children. We enjoy immersing ourselves in an alternative reality for a time but we can tell the difference between reality and fantasy unfortunately Mr Atkinson seems unable to do the same thing as his reality is obviously quite skewed, I have been to many lan parties and have never seen a fight yet. We get in there have a great time and escape from the reality of morons like Mr Atkinson oh well game up Bye.