AFTER 10 years of fighting and negotiations, a bill that will usher in an 18+ category for video games has been introduced.

A bill was introduced into Federal Parliament today bringing classification categories for gaming in line with existing categories for films and television shows.



The amendments to the Classification Act 1995 and Broadcasting Services Act 1992 are expected to come into effect by January of next year.The Australian video games industry has expanded dramatically over the last decade.



It has been predicted that the gaming industry will be worth $2.5 billion a year by 2015 – a growth rate of 10 per cent a year.



“This has been such a tiresome issue for so many years; it’s great to finally have some real light at the end of the tunnel," IGN Australia editor Luke Reilly said.



"This is excellent news for parents, for gamers and for the Australian games industry. To have games designed for adults, and classified as such overseas, finally classified R18+ in Australia rather than sneaking in under the MA15+ category will be a real win for common sense.”



CEO of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) Ron Curry told news.com.au that the organisation was pleased the legislation had been introduced and said the bill should pass easily through the House of Representatives and the Senate.



"There are indications it should move through the states and territories quite well as there was a large amount of debate between the groups before the bill was drafted," Mr Curry said.



Mr Curry said delaying the effect of the legislation would allow each of the states and territories to reflect on legislation in their own districts.



"By way of example, the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory allow X-rated films whereas the states do not," he said.



"How the states and territories treat video games legislatively will be no different to how they treat film and video now."



Mr Curry also said the delay would give certainty to industry and the public about when the new guidelines and classification would come into effect.



A Bond University study found that nine out of ten Aussie homes had a gaming console.



The average age of gamers is 32 with women making up 47 per cent of Australian gamers.



The demand for an R18+ video game rating has been overwhelming.



The Attorney-General’s department received 58, 437 submissions in response to a discussion paper released last year, 98 per cent of which supported the introduction of an R 18 category.

GAMES REFUSED CLASSIFICATION



Syndicate

December 2011

The game was refused classification because enemies and corpses could be “explicitly dismembered, decapitated or bisected by the force of the gunfire".



Mortal Kombat

March, 2011

The most controversial video game in Australia finally was finally banned after family groups first called for it to be pulled from shelves 18 years ago.



"The game includes over 60 fatalities... which contain explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, disembowelment and other brutal forms of slaughter," the Board said.

Left 4 Dead 2

September 2009

In its report the Classifications Board said the game contained "realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence".

"The game contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons under 18 years to play," the report said.



Silent Hill: Homecoming

September, 2008

An Atari spokesman said Australia's Classification Board found issue with the high impact of Silent Hill's violence. Examples used by the board in its report include copious blood spray in the game, decapitations, partially dismembered corpses, and numerous scenes of attacks, fights, torture, and death.



Fallout 3

July 2008

"In the Board's view these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method bring the 'science-fiction' drugs in line with 'real-world' drugs," the Board's report said.