australia

The People Are Stirring

Posted December 13, 2008 - 9:21pm

Beware Stephen Conroy, your time in parliament will soon be coming to an end.

Anti-internet-censorship protests took place around Australia today in seven cities. While the Sydney protest might of been only around 300 strong, the next protests will be bigger and louder.

It also seems that the only major ISP interested in running a trial of the censorship filter is also very outspoken about why they want to be involved in the trial - to prove that it will not work.

I'm hoping that when the censorship plan is shelve, that Stephen Conroy is shelved as well.

PlayStation Home Beta

Posted November 28, 2008 - 10:27pm

This morning I woke up to a strange email in my inbox. A redeem code to access the PlayStation Home beta. Why was this strange? Because as far as I was aware beta codes were only being given out in the US and Asian Territories.

So, excitedly I entered the code and downloaded the small (77MB) install for Home. After it installed, I fired it up... It wants to reserve 3GB of my. Okay, I can let that go. I've seen worse PS3 required installs.

F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin Refused Classification

Posted November 28, 2008 - 5:08pm

Michael Atkinson (ultimately) strikes again. The OFLC has refused classification to F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin.

Michael Atkinson, if you're unaware, is the Attorney General for South Australia. For an R18+ rating to come into effect all Attorney Generals have to agree to it. Whilst the others have agreed, he is still holding out. See my previous rant for a bit more information.

Oh, and if you needed another reason to hate the guy... He's a supporter for the plan to censor the internet in Australia.

Video Game Censorship and Sock Puppets

Posted October 15, 2008 - 12:41pm

Funniest thing I've read in a newspaper article in a long time...

Since there are only two people left in the country who think Australia doesn't need an R18+ rating for games – those being South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson and the sock puppet on his hand – I won't preach to the choir and labour that point.

That quote comes from this opinion piece written by Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame.

I'm a big believer in a proper rating system for video games in Australia. Yes, that means an R18+ rating. No I'm not a axe murdering, blood loving, crazy person (or am I?). Why shouldn't an adult in Australia be able to play the video game as it was intended.

The average age of the gamer in Australia is now 28. Twenty-freaking-eight. Our rating system needs to reflect that. Not some crazy "games are bad, mmmkay" thinking by Michael Atkinson where if a game can't by played by a child then no adult can play it either.

As a side point, I'm also a big believer in parents not being complete fucking asshats about games. If you buy your precious snowflake Timmy GTA4 for his 13th birthday, you have absolutely no rights to complain about the violence or themes in the game as it was clearly marked MA15+ on the cover. Take some damn responsibility for your own choices for once and stop trying to ruin everyone else's fun.

Top Gear Australia

Posted October 6, 2008 - 6:54pm

Top Gear Australia is like a bit on a sketch comedy show - only there's no punch line and we are all left wanting the original back.

The characters are the similar in personality to the original UK version, the entire look of the show is the same as the original. Only... It isn't funny and it's not remotely entertaining.

The saddest part about Top Gear AU is that while it's being shown, we are denied the original UK version.

Someone please take it off the air and destroy any copies and production notes.

Why does Sony hate Australia?

Posted April 21, 2008 - 11:37pm

Whilst this rant is specific to Sony, in reality it's more about the Australian video games in general.

For many years (possibly decades) Australia has had a weak dollar exchange rate with the US and as such, many gamers had grown accustomed to paying a a premium for our video games - around $100AU for a console game. This price wasn't acceptable, but we dealt as there was no real way of getting a (legit) copy of a game imported any cheaper than what we could get here.

Shortly before the Playstation 3 was released, Playstation 2 games started being having a recommended retail price (RRP) of $90AU

Enter the "very good exchange rate" character.