For our UK Brothers and Sisters: PEGI beats BBFC, VSC given power to ban video games

[jefXfree]

Most of you in the U.K. and some of you in the U.S. will remember the Byron report, a government-commissioned report done by a TV psychologist. Many gamers found the report bland, but the basic gist of what she said was that video games don?t need to be banned, just regulated. She also thought that the current system of game regulation needed change. The government agreed.

The reactions and results are complicated, but this is basically what happened:

--The BBFC (they do film ratings and started doing game ratings) and PEGI (they rate games in just about all of Europe) both wanted to be the official body that gets to rate games in the U.K. PEGI won. The BBFC politely whinged and acquiesced.

--The Video Standards Council has been given the power to enforce PEGI standards. PEGI will rate the games, but the VSC will make sure the ratings are followed. Not only that, but they will have the ability to ban games and punish companies.

--The ELSPA (those are game developers and publishers) has announced it fully agrees with these decisions and that it will fully cooperate. Other industry leaders have chimed in.

To the average gamer, this may mean little, as PEGI has already been rating games for a long time. However, one must remember that when Manhunt 2 had trouble getting into retailers, it was due to a banning from a rating by the BBFC. This would explain why game developers are happy about the decision to use PEGI. Still, the VSC now has the ability to ban games outright, so it's possible there could be issues in the future. Again, though, game developers are happy about it, so those of you in the U.K. probably should be, too.
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[BlueCali]

Now that it’s official, PEGI has unveiled its new rating symbols and system. The ratings are 3, 7, 12, 16, and 18, and the eight category notices are bad language, discrimination, drugs, fear, gambling, sex, violence, and online gameplay. “Fear” is a category to explain that a game “may be frightening or scary for young children,” while the rest are self-explanatory.

PEGI will also feature “extended consumer advice” with specific details for each category. For example, for violence, there is extreme violence, comic violence, and unrealistic violence. A couple of other specific examples include “glamorization of crime” and “criminal techniques.”

Here are your new symbols!