Australia gets it's R18+ rating for games, finally!

It has been a long time and long hard struggle for those who campaigned for it, but as of 1st of January 2013, Australia will have a R18+ for video games.

Up until now, the highest rating for a video game was MA15+, allowing children 15 years old to purchase more-or-less adult material games. High violence, course language, adult themes were all available to young children. Along with that some games like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto and Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 have previously been denied classification and sale in Australia due to the game being to "adult" for any previous classification and refused sale.

With the introduction of the new category for video games, children can be prevented sale of adult games and along with games that are "too adult" can now be classified and allowed sale on Australian shelves.

While this helps protect children at the store counter, nothing is stopping parents for buying the games for their kids. However, with this rating, like videos and movies, they can easily judge whether the content will be suitable for their child.

For more information on the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2012, please visit http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2012L01934

Also, for a brief history of Refused Classification games, check out this gallery from The Australian here.