Tag Archives: bbfc

The BBFC’s given Ninja Gaiden II an 18 and made no cuts, and has put out its traditional martini-dry, comedic plot detail thing.

Apparently, “The game was classified ’18′ for strong, bloody violence” and “includes sight of Ryu’s weapons sending body parts flying through the air and onto the walls and the ground, with blood splattering beside them.”

There’s a list of weapons through there, so don’t look if you want to stay pure. Also, “The game also contains a ‘cutscene’ in which a female character bathes in blood and talks to Ryu with her breasts and buttocks visible.”

It’s like being 13 again. You can read the full thing after the link.

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A little late with this, but the BBFC granted Metal Gear Solid 4 a 15 certificate yesterday, and made no cuts.

We’ve posted the info from the BBFC’s site after the link, but there are a few spoilers in there, so be warned.

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The EU’s executive body has given the European games industry two years to come up with a widely used general code of conduct to protect children from violent images in games.

“Creators have to enjoy freedom of expression but at the same time it’s an industry that impacts society,” EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding told a news conference.

“When children go out to play today they enter the world of joysticks. We are not quite sure where they go and there is real anxiety from parents,” EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva added.

ELSPA’s Paul Jackson was on hand to stand up for the PEGI, the currently used European age rating.

“Importantly, it protects children as games move increasingly online and therefore should be adopted by UK regulators. We look forward to discussing this at the forthcoming UK consultation,” he said.

Remember that in the wake of the Byron Report, the British Board of Film Classification will soon be in charge of rating games meant for people aged 12 and over in the UK, and its findings will be enforceable by law. PEGI will only be used for games rated under 12. The UK is the largest games market in Europe.

More through the link.

PEGI boss madman Patrice Chazerand has come to the ridiculous conclusion that people should stop thinking about competition between the BBFC and PEGI and focus on how the two ratings bodies can work together for the good of the British people.

“I don’t know if I’m being too visionary, but I think we should stop thinking in terms of competition and start thinking more in terms of cooperation,” he said. “You’ve heard me say that if asked what my preference is, and what the industry has said, that PEGI would be the single ratings system, but as long as the government takes on board the Byron recommendations, you’re confronted with a situation where you have to cooperate.

“I think it’s a different logic to that of competition – I would say that productive cooperation, the one envisioned by Tanya Byron to better serve the interests of the UK, would be true cooperation – not competition.”

We’re not sure what the hell you mean by public services working towards a safer society as opposed to playing a pathetic game of oneupmanship instead of doing some work, but we’d thank you to keep your opinions to yourself, Patrice.

Someone in British ratings might take note and stop fighting tooth and nail for money and power.

And where would we be then?

Here. EA boss Keith Ramsdale still thinks PEGI’s the best choice to rate UK games, despite confirmation that the BBFC will be rating all games meant for 12 year-olds and over in the wake of the Byron Report.

“As an Industry we have been unanimously clear that there should be a single system and that system should be PEGI,” he said. “PEGI is an efficient system to help people make appropriate content choices for players of all ages. A Nielsen study showed PEGI has 94% awareness with the UK game-playing public and it follows a tougher regime than the BBFC. In 2007 PEGI gave 47 titles an 18 rating but BBFC downgraded 21 of those to 15 or less. We believe that UK consumers will be far better served with this system and this route would offer the most practical, efficient and compliant system.”

He added: “EA believes PEGI is the most suitable system for rating video games. EA and the wider Industry have and will engage with the appropriate Government departments to ensure the right decisions are made in the best interest of the British public.”

Changing the mind of the Government? Good luck.

As if there was ever any doubt. The BBFC green-lit GTA IV for UK release today, giving the game an 18 certificate. The title releases for 360 and PS3 on April 29.

According to this, the new BBFC games ratings confirmed today as part of the publication of the UK’s Byron Report, won’t come into force for two years.

Hit the link for a roadmap for how the new ratings systems are to be implemented.

According to this, the BBFC will now rate all games in the UK meant for gamers over the age of 12.

From the piece:

Under [Byron's] proposals, backed unanimously by DCMS Minister Andy Burnham and DCSF Minister Ed Balls, the UK film censor’s well-known symbols will be on the front of all game boxes for games rated ’12′, ’15′ and ’18′.

At the same time PEGI will continue to rate all other games for children – ’3+’ and ’7+’ – with its symbols on the back of boxes.

The news comes following the release this morning of Tanya Byron’s report on games and internet use regulation in the UK. More through the link.

David Cooke, director of the BBFC, has said he believes the British body is a better fit for rating games in the wake of this morning’s Byron Report as it has the power to ban products.

“We co-operate closely with the Pan European Games Information Systems (PEGI) and will continue to do so,” he said in a statement.

“Unlike PEGI, the BBFC has the power, in exceptional cases, to reject films, DVDs and games which have the potential to pose real harm risk. We reject an average of two to three works a year (mostly DVDs) and will continue to do so where it is necessary to protect the public. At the adult level, we respect the public expectation that adults should be free to choose except where there are real harm risks. But we do not think it would be right to remove the reserve rejection power and we are pleased that Dr Byron agrees with this.

“The BBFC has been able to handle a major expansion of the DVD market over the last few years, and we are ready and able to take on the extra work envisaged by Dr Byron. We attach great importance to providing a speedy and effective service, primarily to the public, but also to the creative industries who produce films, DVDs and games. We will be talking to the Government, PEGI and the games industry about how to implement Dr Byron’s recommendations.”

Full thing after the link.

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Giving evidence to a Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee today, Matt Lambert, Microsoft’s head of corporate affairs in the UK, said that the PEGI ratings system was better than the BBFC version.

“If there’s going to be one ratings system, it should be PEGI,” he said. “With PEGI, they think very carefully about age appropriacy… but the BBFC is set up to rate films, and it takes that approach for games when a different approach is required.

“PEGI breaks it down to a different level. If there’s bad language it will give you a specific symbol, if there’s gambling there’s another symbol, and some games will have a whole raft of symbols on the back. It’s a different depth, it’s more sensible, and it also has a European aspect to it.”

The news is likely to cast fear into the hearts of games makers, who are banking on Tanya Byron to recommend that a new ratings agency is set up in the UK in her government report next month, as opposed to all games being rated by the BBFC.

The BBFC has admitted is doesn’t know what Tanya Byron’s going to recommend in her report to the government about UK games regulation next month, but has said that it’s prepared to take on the job of classifying all games for Britain is necessary.

“We don’t know what Dr Byron is going to recommend, but we’d be prepared to take on the role of classifying all games if that’s what’s decided,” said BBFC spokesperson Sue Clark, adding, “BBFC is a rating people understand from film and DVD, so it might give parents a bit more piece of mind… It would mean a bigger workload – but that’s our problem, not the industry’s – and we know we could handle it.”

Clark’s comments came after PEGI today said that a move away from the current, voluntary rating in the UK would be a “step backwards”.

The Byron Report, which is thought to recommend that all British games should be rated with a cinema-style system, is to be filed with the government next month.

Following this week’s news that wary glances are being cast behind the scenes of Tanja Byron’s upcoming report, British national daily The Guardian is this morning carrying, “Ministers plan clampdown on ‘unsuitable’ video games” as its main headline.

The story mirrors earlier reports this week in that it claims the Byron Report is to recommend a legal classification system for all games, but goes into further detail about plans to advise parents to not allow children to play games in their bedrooms and to only let them use computers and games consoles in places where the screens are clearly visible.

According to the piece, “A legally enforceable, cinema-style classification system is to be introduced for video games in an effort to keep children from playing damaging games unsuitable for their age… Under the proposals it would be illegal for shops to sell classified games to a child below the recommended age.

“At present only games showing sex or ‘gross’ violence to humans or animals require age limits. That leaves up to 90% of games on the market, many of which portray weapons, martial arts and extreme combat, free from statutory labelling.

Ministers are expected to advise parent to keep computers and games consoles away from children’s bedrooms as much as possible, and ask them to play games in living rooms or kitchens facing outwards so carers can see what is being played.”

The report doesn’t mention the BBFC as being the body to handle a new classification system, instead leading with a strap of, “New rating scheme devised.” Currently, only a handful of games are classified by the BBFC, with most in the UK carrying the voluntary PEGI rating.

The Byron Report, due next month, includes a lengthy review of studies into the effects of games on children, and has been discussed with the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Ministers are now said to have a “sense of the report’s direction”, said the Guardian’s piece, on which the article is based.