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Australia Ends Ban on 18 Rated Games
Written Monday, June 18, 2012 By Lee Bradley
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After what seems like forever, the battle is finally over. Australia has passed a new bill, bringing an end to its ban on 18-rated video games.

After around a decade of debates and setbacks, the bill has finally been passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate without amendment.

The country’s game classifications will now follow those laid out by the film and television industry, allowing an 18+ category to usher in gaming’s mre “mature” offerings.

Australian Home Affairs minister Jason Clare said, "These are important reforms over 10 years in the making".

Just you watch, Aussies will be murdering each other in the street before the year’s out. That’s what happens when people play violent games, right?

[via CVG]


 
 

User Comments

Forum Posts: 1998
Comment #1 by Infection Ftw
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:34:35 AM
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Great news. I hope less crap in the world will be blamed on games now.
Star

Forum Posts: 7
Comment #2 by Drjimbo32
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:35:21 AM
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This is awesome.

Forum Posts: 57
Comment #3 by xduderx
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:35:29 AM
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This rules, good for Australia

Forum Posts: 218
Comment #4 by Cinderkin
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:35:31 AM
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I don't even live in Australia and this is still amazingly great news! Finally they can enjoy some fun games that they have missed out on. Maybe they will get a L4D remake as if I remember correctly they got a censored version.

Forum Posts: 123
Comment #5 by Space Cadet
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:37:13 AM
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Common sense finally prevails. My congrats to Aussies.

Forum Posts: 39
Comment #6 by MasterGazelle
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:37:15 AM
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Well about time. Because you know it was seeming a bit wierd. Finally My cousins will be allowed to make adult choices for themselves. especially as they are in their 40's lol.

Forum Posts: 84
Comment #7 by SlippedCircle
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:38:10 AM
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CONGRATS!!!!! :)

Forum Posts: 1
Comment #8 by zombieash
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:39:23 AM
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excellent news

Forum Posts: 10
Comment #9 by kaiyo penguin
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:39:35 AM
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good to know ill be meeting some aussies in the not too distant future on some games.

Forum Posts: 202
Comment #10 by Septic
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:40:51 AM
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Now I can get walking dead.

Forum Posts: 9
Comment #11 by AtomFire
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:41:01 AM
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It was never a 'ban'. They just never had an 18 Rated cert for games there.

Forum Posts: 198
Comment #12 by Kahn13
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:41:17 AM
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@4 - Well some of us have actually enjoyed those games regardless :P.

Just so you guys know though, it won't take immediate effect - it has to be introduced/incoporated by each state now since that's their responsibility now. But at least it's officially happening!

Forum Posts: 5
Comment #13 by Jornny Ramone
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:42:33 AM
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Good news for them. And yes, I foresee the crime rate and violence increasing over the coming months :D

Forum Posts: 40
Comment #14 by 123yhman
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:47:31 AM
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So happy that they can finally experience awesome games that they couldn't before! Been a long time coming

Forum Posts: 198
Comment #15 by Kahn13
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:48:36 AM
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@11 - They are pretty much banned actually. Everything has to have a rating here and if it's refused classification then it's illegal to be sold or imported.

Since MA15+ was our highest rating and those games were considered too violent they were refused classification effectively banning them from being imported or sold here (in Australia).

Forum Posts: 25
Comment #16 by trickyrebel06
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:52:14 AM
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AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!! OY OY OY!!!

Forum Posts: 927
Comment #17 by CHIRUNO99
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:54:00 AM
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Another first world problem solved. Oh boy!

Forum Posts: 590
Comment #18 by reaper527
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:54:10 AM
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maybe you guys won't be the laughingstock of the gaming world anymore! i guess now germany will be the new country to ridicule for excessively over regulating games and preventing games from being sold

Forum Posts: 2184
Comment #19 by upindat
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:55:54 AM
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about time!!! good for you guys!!

Forum Posts: 4
Comment #20 by JonAiello
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:56:15 AM
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glad to hear it !

Forum Posts: 0
Comment #21 by Th3D00mV1ru5
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:01:05 AM
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Huzzah for the xbox and the rest of the gaming community!
HUZZAH!!

Forum Posts: 107
Comment #22 by DEFCON 1
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:01:23 AM
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lol

Forum Posts: 25
Comment #23 by Dragonmarked
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:02:08 AM
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Now, if only the Germans would get something similar... It's a shame that it took Austrailia so long to get this passed.

Forum Posts: 237
Comment #24 by AgentOrange330
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:03:31 AM
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Congrats to the Aussies! This is great news...

Forum Posts: 25
Comment #25 by DarthTrakd
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:08:38 AM
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Good to see the convicts finally getting something right that isn't a hot chick, well done

Forum Posts: 401
Comment #26 by ademlakey
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:18:39 AM
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Now we sit back and watch people blame video games for committing crimes.

Forum Posts: 63
Comment #27 by punkrockfox
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:19:21 AM
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@25, you mean Yvonne Strahovski, right?

Forum Posts: 77
Comment #28 by NMANOZ
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:22:26 AM
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Hopefully we get games such as Mortal Kombat, Syndicate and L4D2 (the real version) released here.

Forum Posts: 0
Comment #29 by Joely
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:23:04 AM
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Those fools! Everyone knows video games are responsible for gang violence, rape, swearing, alcoholism and rock n roll. Those poor Australians!

Forum Posts: 261
Comment #30 by Mr Blonde 324
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:26:53 AM
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very happy for our aussie friends!

Forum Posts: 240
Comment #31 by SHMEEDIDDY
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:29:20 AM
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@29 those things been happening WAY before video games hit the streets and b4 video games were invented!

Forum Posts: 41
Comment #32 by oORuffusOo
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:36:10 AM
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@31 sarcasm, look it up jackass.

Forum Posts: 387
Comment #33 by Caramel Cardinal
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:00:47 PM
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if crime in austrailia sky rockets by 200% now over the next year were screwed :D

Forum Posts: 516
Comment #34 by Mister Spraggsy
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:03:47 PM
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Good news for Australia.

Forum Posts: 121
Comment #35 by BipolarGlenn
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:07:01 PM
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Crikey! That's great news cobber.

Forum Posts: 538
Comment #36 by fresh fish 101
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:15:46 PM
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welcome to adult-hood Australia

Forum Posts: 15
Comment #37 by Spartan375x
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:26:00 PM
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More players finally.

Forum Posts: 107
Comment #38 by NickA92
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:27:42 PM
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Shame games still cost ~$120 in Australia due to being imported from far away.

Forum Posts: 514
Comment #39 by Arenazombie
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 12:52:46 PM
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Good to hear, if only our government (Germany) would do something similar.
Connecting video games with violence seems so random to me. I've searched quite a bit and never found a scientific study showing a connection. There were quite a few trying, but they had quite a few flaws and though were confuted. Its safe to say, that there is no connection, that is scientifically proven (which should be the base of a law banning games unless you live like in North Korea where Gowernment gives a shit about science and common sense). Video games have always only been a scapegoat for politicans too lazy or stupid to find and combat the real source of their problems.

Forum Posts: 5352
Comment #40 by JuSt BLaZe
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 01:02:36 PM
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Yeah Germans are still fucked!!! -.-

Forum Posts: 32
Comment #41 by Fried Waffles
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 01:19:30 PM
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Congrats to you Aussies. Have fun gaming!

Forum Posts: 273
Comment #42 by TheGoldenReaper
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 01:50:00 PM
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Yay for Progressivism.

Forum Posts: 6
Comment #43 by Wabbit
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 01:57:23 PM
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Congratulations to you Australians. About time.

Forum Posts: 228
Comment #44 by JT Fever
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 02:06:01 PM
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Welcome to Rapture

Forum Posts: 18
Comment #45 by HumorousObject
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 02:32:25 PM
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@44
Welcome to the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland :)

Forum Posts: 373
Comment #46 by Optomistic
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 02:39:45 PM
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Ha, about time. Although we (NZ) have an R18 classification, we sometimes get the censored oz version GTA4 anyone?
Although, it's cheaper for me to import from UK than buy retail. :S

Forum Posts: 57
Comment #47 by Capt_Ron CFH 01
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 02:52:55 PM
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Now you guys can petition to have a good version of Left 4 Dead 2 released...among many other titles. Congrats to a victory for gamers.

Forum Posts: 11
Comment #48 by Neomalysys
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:02:00 PM
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Congratulations Australia your government has finally entered the 21st century.

Forum Posts: 2689
Comment #49 by LickableLemons7
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:06:10 PM
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Good God, we're all gonna nuke each other to death now, aren't we?

A happy day for Australian gamers. I tip my hat at them.

Forum Posts: 50
Comment #50 by Mickford
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:09:30 PM
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Hooray! Now I can finally get me that copy of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards ;)

Forum Posts: 1130
Comment #51 by InsaneKane87
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:17:14 PM
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Im happy for every single one of you! This should of happened a long time ago!

Forum Posts: 298
Comment #52 by Phantomzero17
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:53:34 PM
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Ooooh Valve oughta now make a commemorative hat.

Forum Posts: 448
Comment #53 by Ehrenfried
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:57:33 PM
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They did it just because they have seen how many taxes they flush down the importtoilet.

Forum Posts: 2
Comment #54 by XxJoaoPauloBRxX
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 03:59:18 PM
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Remind me again why should we care about an island that nobody actually cares?

Forum Posts: 88
Comment #55 by RollaJedi
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 04:12:34 PM
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welcome to the 21st century, mates!

Forum Posts: 88
Comment #56 by RollaJedi
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 04:14:15 PM
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cool game you goys ought to check out called mortal kombat. has lots of blood. real rad

Forum Posts: 128
Comment #57 by Fakan
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 04:40:06 PM
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If Australians can survive Australia, they can deal with 18+ games.

Forum Posts: 2017
Comment #58 by BluWolve
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 06:02:51 PM
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Yep, my balls just officially dropped. @Michael Atkinson, I hope your children and Grandchildren enjoy ripping arms off each other in MK9 you asshole.

Forum Posts: 0
Comment #59 by asilent boom
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 06:05:07 PM
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@54 It's called empathy. It's the first step in understanding you aren't the center of the world and actually caring about something or someone other than yourself for a change. I know it's a foreign concept to you, but there are people just like you in Australia.

About time. Great to hear adults will be able to decide whether they can play a mature game instead of the government deciding for them.

Forum Posts: 5
Comment #60 by Crazyfulla
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 06:06:56 PM
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This is great news!

Forum Posts: 8
Comment #61 by GalaxyCrusher
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 06:41:30 PM
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Great!!! This shall satisfy my thirst for change for a little while. In the meantime why don't you guys get finished on that inquest of Australian electronics prices huh. I mean it's obvious that we're being ripped off.

Forum Posts: 55
Comment #62 by Killswitch9000
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 07:00:55 PM
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very pleased :) No more censored versions for us!

Forum Posts: 6
Comment #63 by Nimble Ptolemy
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 07:30:27 PM
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Woo

Forum Posts: 2017
Comment #64 by BluWolve
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 07:31:16 PM
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@61 Give it about a decade and we might see some changes with that...

Forum Posts: 1
Comment #65 by SilentAaron94
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 08:39:29 PM
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Does that mean I can finally buy The Walking Dead?

Forum Posts: 1097
Comment #66 by DJConnelly
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 09:34:47 PM
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I must be dreaming.

Forum Posts: 4983
Comment #67 by iBuzz7S
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 09:55:41 PM
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@11 - actually, it was banned. Any game that was refused classification was not allowed to be bought/sold in Australia. You were not even allowed to import it as it carried large fines.

@66 - you could always buy it, just needed a different account. ;)

But yes, they have to re-submit it and wait for it to pass/get approved.

Forum Posts: 468
Comment #68 by IceBlox
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:18:12 PM
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Congratulations Australia! Have fun!

Forum Posts: 14
Comment #69 by KRiSX
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:41:02 PM
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about time... i'll still probably be importing most things still...

this is step 1... step 2 is reducing the stupid prices of games in australia :)

Forum Posts: 176
Comment #70 by Crims0nPenguin
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 10:47:21 PM
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Congratz to Australians, but now I'm curious to know why the prices for your games are so high, even when compared to value of other currencies...

Forum Posts: 24
Comment #71 by winkeh
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:06:24 PM
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Man i love the users on this website. A whole bunch of comments from people who aren't Aussie actually congratulating us and being happy for us. Then you go to IGN and read the comments on there R18 article and it's all the typical douches making smart ass comments lol.

Forum Posts: 1559
Comment #72 by HugTheBear
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:27:09 PM
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Congrats Australians :)

Forum Posts: 44
Comment #73 by The Splatterpus
Monday, June 18, 2012 @ 11:49:06 PM
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@71 I concur, the IGN comments sections is just as bad as a youtube comment section.

Forum Posts: 5
Comment #74 by wariomona
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 01:14:19 AM
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Yay. Now we can play porn games!

Forum Posts: 311
Comment #75 by Bohemian
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 01:16:34 AM
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@54 On behalf of Australia.....Fuck you!

Forum Posts: 428
Comment #76 by Ethiebeefy
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 01:26:23 AM
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YES YES YES!

Forum Posts: 49
Comment #77 by Joshi 82 AT
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 02:05:21 AM
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I am sure, crime rate will go DOWN, as all the over agressive kids will stay home and shoot each other through xbox live :D

Forum Posts: 57
Comment #78 by Shikamaru FTW
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 03:35:46 AM
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As an Aussie my personal message to Philip Ruddok who was the main reason for blocking this rating

SUCK IT!!!!

@54 Mate, y u such a massive cunt

Forum Posts: 2444
Comment #79 by DENAz666
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 03:35:47 AM
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@54 Well you must, you took the time to not only open the story, but comment on it too.


OT: Have been campaigning for this for years! About bloody time!

Forum Posts: 578
Comment #80 by rrushn
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 04:18:17 AM
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I'm glad for the aussies !

Let's hope some random troll doesn't pull a school shoot-out while shouting game quotes. That would drive the bill right where it came from.

Forum Posts: 31
Comment #81 by xNUKEx
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 04:19:38 AM
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who cares

Forum Posts: 125
Comment #82 by The Stig
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 04:52:36 AM
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Woah! The Gillard Government did something without making a complete trainwreck of it! Never thought I'd see the day. =P

Forum Posts: 831
Comment #83 by Graivul
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 05:27:40 AM
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They should never have been banned in the first place, all seemed way too draconian and 'Big Brother' for my taste anyway.

Enjoy the depravity and watch your society become bent and corrupted now....Sydney will look like Mad Max within a week! lol, that is what the puritanical tossers who brought this ridiculous ruling in in the first place would have you believe anyway.....

Forum Posts: 7
Comment #84 by Noone
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 06:14:06 AM
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People has been killing each other in the streets for over 2000 years way before computers was around.

Forum Posts: 400
Comment #85 by UltimateAuron32
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 07:03:00 AM
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this is certainly a good step forward, hooray for comman sense. i dont get why it took so long, its stupid how restrictive some places are and still continue to be *coughgermanycough*, most SANE people can tell what is real and what is not...

congrats Ausies, just dont kill each other on the streets :)

Forum Posts: 1200
Comment #86 by IXISHADOW
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 07:19:52 AM
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Great news!

Forum Posts: 262
Comment #87 by Pakhair
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 07:40:42 AM
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Finnaaaaalllllllllyyyyyy............. The gamers won in the end.


It was a long time coming, now Aussie gamers should be glad :D

Forum Posts: 12
Comment #88 by PledgedZebra4
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 07:43:18 AM
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@85(and many others) As an Aussie Gamer now living in the UK I've heard a lot of comments about how strict the Australian Classification Board is because we had no 18+ rating. But the opposite is, in fact, true. Very, very few games ever got banned, or even cencored. I have literally dozens of games which the rest of the world deem only suitable for people over 18 years of age which the Australian system would happily hand to a 15 year old.

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