BBFC/PEGI decision coming this afternoon

I think the EU should all just have PEGI. Its really rediculous how countries trying to hold on to their own rating organizations.

It makes sense to retain the BBFC ratings in the UK IMO, they’re much more recognisable than the PEGI ratings – parents simply wouldn’t know what PEGI is, or to recognise its symbol. Not that they pay much more attention to the BBFC ratings either, but I should think it makes *some* difference, no matter how minute.

I can’t quite believe that the average modern parent is so dense he or she can’t figure out what a huge PEGI-style ’18+’ sticker on the front of a game could possibly mean.

LOL yeah i agree with Blerk. Everyone should be able figure out what 16+ means

BBFC ratings are already legally enforceable in UK law, PEGI ratings aren’t. I can’t see the BBFC losing their role this afternoon and considering how decent a job they’re doing, in the main, they shouldn’t.

It’s not that I’m particularly against the BBFC doing it, it’s just… we have a Europe-wide system which we’ve all used for ages and appears to work very well. Rather than making the UK an exception to the rule so that everything has to be rated twice for the region, why not just make PEGI ratings legally enforceable?

The BBFC has been rating games longer than PEGI has existed, it’s also a self regulated set up which is never going to fly for legal enforcement.

True, but very few games are actually submitted to them for rating these days. It just seems unnecessary to ditch a Europe-wide scheme that’s pretty much found its feet for something entirely different just because the numbers are in circles rather than rectangles and feature a wider variety of colours.

i don’t care who wins as long as it makes getting stuff on the eu.uk psn bloody faster than it currently is.

Does downloadable stuff even have to be rated? Most of the demos on XBL still have the logos and warning screens from the US ratings board.

“Rather than making the UK an exception to the rule so that everything has to be rated twice for the region, why not just make PEGI ratings legally enforceable?”

It’s not that simple. The BBFC is English, PEGI is European. We all know how much the English are obsessed about doing things themselves.

The English government aren’t going to sanction a European ratings board when they have their own one to do the job. And to be completely honest, I think video games have come far enough at this point that they should be *solely* classified under BBFC rating in the UK.

If someone is appearing on a download service such as PSN / XBLA I believe it does need to be rated. Though if it is under a certain budget it can apply for a cut in the standard PEGI rate.

My issue with BBFC taking over is not so much how well each will do, it’ll be the cost. It already costs 2000 euro’s to rate a game under PEGI, if the BBFC then want to be paid to do the same thing and to have their own logo on the packaging, that could be another 2000 euros to spend. Along with the cost of doing USK rating which is thankfully cheaper than PEGI at the moment, the cost for just having an age rating can risk and for start up companies or ones with limited resources it can be an issue.

I’d sort of imagined that if the BBFC win out, UK games wouldn’t be PEGI-rated any more. Are we saying that they’ll have to be rated by both bodies? There’ll be precious little room left on the packaging for the artwork before long. Game boxes will be like fag packets.

@Blerk:Just follow the German example ^.^

Holy shit!

Shouldn’t we be more concerned with which one does the best job at protecting people from material they don’t want to view, rather than which on is cheap for games industry or easier for them?

not really since you’d have to be a total muppet not to realise what a massive 18+ on a box means.

“Does downloadable stuff even have to be rated? Most of the demos on XBL still have the logos and warning screens from the US ratings board.”

Yip. I’ve seen PEGI and BBFC ratings for Videos and demos as well as some games on XBLA and PS Store.

Wow its amazing how people can argue about a rating system. How can Europe ever think of being united if people hold on to something as unimportant as a rating organization? Its really sad. Lets go people and be open for change.

They are being open, it’s called opinion.

Oh by the by, anyone who has Digital (for anyone outside the UK, cable basically), you can watch it on BBC Parlament at 3:30pm.

I cant remember which channel its on Freeview (if its even on Freeview), but its Sky 504.

Thats if you really wanna watch it.