Nintendo, SEGA, Ubisoft, EA All Back PEGI Over BBFC

After the Bryon Review suggested a new system requiring games that would normally receive a 12+ Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating be subjected to review by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), publishers like EA started to worry about even longer UK game release delays. Both the BBFC and PEGI are trying to carve out control in a UK game ratings power scramble. Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association head Paul Jackson explains why PEGI is superior to the BBFC:

PEGI represents the “gold standard” today, and will undoubtedly be the best system for tomorrow. PEGI is clearly the only ratings system which has the power to prevent game publishers distributing unsuitable content to children, online and offline. Only PEGI fully assesses all games content. It is designed specifically for interactive software. It understands games and their potential for infinite variations. That’s why it is backed by the vast majority of the computer games industry.

And it's not only the ELSP that supports PEGI, but also Nintendo UK, Ubisoft UK, SEGA of Europe and EA UK, Ireland and Nordics. Hit the jump for comments from each of those companies:

BBFC Disappointed By Publisher Delay Concerns

Recently some UK game publishers - notably EA - expressed concern that proposed changes to the ratings system that would require the British Board of Film Classification to review all games 12+ and up would cause delays in getting titles into the hands of consumers. BBFC Director David Cooke finds their lack of faith disturbing, and says so in a lengthy statement released today.

“We are disappointed and concerned about attempts by one or two video games publishers to pre-empt, through recent press statements, the forthcoming public consultation on video games classification. Their statements are misleading in several respects:

The BBFC’s current average turnaround time for games classifications is eight calendar days. In terms of international comparisons, this is notably quick. There is no reason why the increased role for the BBFC envisaged by Dr Byron should lead to delays.

Cooke goes on to explain that the BBFC is fast, efficient, and more than capable of dealing with games both online and off in a timely fashion. Hit the jump for the full statement without delay.

UK Government Forms Byron Review Action Plan

Britain's Byron Review, in which the big-smiling Dr. Tanya Byron made a series of measured, generally reasonable findings and recommendations regarding children's use of video games and the internet, has now produced an "action plan" from the UK government.

Starting in July, the government will work on proposing Britain's classification system, and propose changes by 2009. Another phase of the plan will involve agreeing on a classification for online games, launching an awareness campaign for game ratings, developing appropriate parental controls in conjunction with the industry, and working with Trading Standards to ensure that games don't get sold to kids of an age inappropriate to the ratings.

EA: UK Game Ratings Changes Spell Delays

The last thing gamers in the UK need is additional delays to the games that can already take months to make the jump from Japan and North America, but that's just what they'll get under the new system under consideration by the British government. Suggested in the Byron review, the new system would require games that would normally receive a 12+ PEGI rating be subjected to review by the British Board of Film Classification. Speaking to Eurogamer, EA UK head honcho Keith Ramsdale worries that the new system wouldn't be in the gamers' best interest.

"The government's proposed changes to the existing age rating systems will create further delays in getting hit games to the UK," he said. "An extra and unnecessary layer of administration beyond a single system slows the process, and that delay will get passed on to the players themselves."

If you ask me the UK just needs to have the whole shebang handled by PEGI and be done with it, but that isn't a very British way of doing things. Why they have to go and make things so complicated?

New ratings system could delay UK releases [Eurogamer]

Metal Gear Solid 4 violent? Let's hear what the British Board of Film Classification says:

METAL GEAR SOLID 4 is a third person tactical/stealth game. The player takes on the role of an aging soldier, Snake who can be armed with knives, guns and grenades. The game has been classified '15' for strong violence.

During battles enemy soldiers die with small puffs of blood. The weaponry includes petrol bombs, however there is no detailed portrayal of injuries. During cut scenes slightly more detailed violence is portrayed, such as enemy creatures spearing friendly soldiers and one protracted fist fight.

GTAIV's Naughtier Content Detailed

During gameplay the character can pick up prostitutes... What follows is an un-detailed portrayal of masturbation, fellatio and intercourse. The character can also visit lap dancing clubs and request a private dance.

BBFC Clears GTAIV For Release

Read The Byron Review Yourself

Byron Review Released, Much Ado About Nothing

We twice rejected Manhunt 2, and then pursued a judicial review challenge, because we considered, after exceptionally thorough examination, that it posed a real potential harm risk. However, the Video Appeals Committee has again exercised its independent scrutiny. It is now clear, in the light of this decision, and our legal advice, that we have no alternative but to issue an '18' certificate to the game."

British MP - Games Let You Rape Women

The time-honored tradition of stodgy men arguing over things they know nothing about continued in England during last Friday's game censorship debate in the House of Commons, with MP Keith Vaz showing us how it's done while speaking in defense of Julian Brazier's bill to add a censorship level above the British Board of Film Classification. In comparing the interactivity of video games to movies, Vaz unleashed this little gem:

However, someone sitting at a computer playing a video game, or someone with one of those small devices that young people have these days, the name of which I forget— [Interruption.] PlayStations or PSPs, something of that kind.

"Well, whatever they are called, when people play these things, they can interact. They can shoot people; they can kill people. As the honourable Gentleman said, they can rape women."

BBFC Manhunt 2 Judicial Review Is Go

The BBFC was today given permission to judicially review the decision by the Video Appeals Committee to overturn the Board's rejection of the video game Manhunt 2. The Board has also been granted a stay on the classification of the game. It is expected that the case will be heard in January.

BBFC Makes Take-Two Sad

"We are disappointed that the BBFC has decided to appeal its own Video Appeals Committee's judgment in favor of an 18-plus certificate for Manhunt 2," said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

BBFC Fights Manhunt 2 Appeal

We knew it wasn't over. The British Board of Film Classification has applied for a judicial review of the appeal that the Video Appeals Committee passed a week ago regarding granting Rockstar's Manhunt 2 a classification, allowing the title to be released in the UK.

"The BBFC is contesting the VAC judgment because in the Board's view, it is based on an approach to harm which is an incorrect interpretation of the Video Recordings Act. The VAC judgment, if allowed to stand, would have fundamental implications with regard to all the Board's decisions, including those turning upon questions of unacceptable levels of violence."

BBFC applies for judicial review [GamesIndustry.biz]

Rockstar's UK Manhunt 2 Appeal Succeeds

Rockstar's appeal against the British Board of Film Classification's ban of Manhunt 2 from release in the UK has passed, garnering a narrow victory of 4 to 3 from the Video Appeals Committee. The game was originally banned / refused classification in the UK back in July, with the recut, happier version of the game denied as well in October. The BBFC has stated that they will consider the judgment of the VAC and its reaction once they receive the pertinent paperwork, while issuing a lengthly statement on how right they believe they were in their decision.

Such balancing judgments are inevitably complex and multi-faceted, and are made only after very careful consideration of the contents of a work. We played Manhunt 2 for well over 30 hours prior to our decision.

How the British Board of Film Classification Views Things

Well, the BBFC is a British organization; and therefore, prone to inconsistencies. One of my first lady friends was a Liverpool lass who became a member of the BBFC, and she would tell me the kind of things that they would debate at their meetings. At what point was a penis actually erect? If it flopped around still in a sort of half-dead fish kind of way, could it possibly be removable?