In a statement to AU GameSpot, South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson said he plans to appeal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's MA15+ rating in the region. If successful, the game will be banned in Australia and this would be Atkinson's first time intervening on a rating by the Classification Board. Atkinson explains, "I worry about any game that encourages gamers to perpetrate extreme violence and cruelty on screen, but this game allows players to be virtual terrorists and gain points by massacring civilians." Those points for killing civilians aren't the only ones Atkinson is missing. >>>

The anti-game antics of Atkinson are coming dangerously close to reminding us of the United States' disgraced, former attorney Jack Thompson. The Age reports Atkinson was recently on Aussie national radio and expressed that the Classification Board in Australia "does everything" to "get games in under the radar, and film, generally." Later, he stated that he has "no trust" in the board to apply guidelines, thus drawing up guidelines for games to have an R18+ classification "would be to draw them up in sure and certain knowledge that they would be stretched and then broken." So, games aren't being rated properly, but he won't support an R18+ rating. Feel free to drop your "facepalm" reactions below in the comments.
via http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/24/australian-attorney-general-atkinson-plans-appeal-of-modern-warf/

Posted: Nov 26, 2009 4:03 pm