Happy Australia Day everyone!
Australia’s national day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788.
Man your BBQs, grab a couple of cold ones, head down to the beach, watch the cricket or play in the backyard, head to the pub with some mates or do all of the above together! Most importantly remember to chuck some lamb on said BBQ; otherwise Sam Kekovich will come after you.
Tell us your plans for Australia day below, and feel free to wish everyone a happy (merry?) Australia Day!
Being a public holiday, jump on your gaming console of choice and get some MyMedia gaming sessions going! (We’ll make some threads if people are interested in gaming today, but by all means start them yourself for any game of your choosing).
E: Modern Warfare 2 on 360 from 1pm
26/01/2010
By Ben Salter
The Australia Federal Government last night announced (via news.com.au) that it will go ahead with its controversial Internet filtering scheme. They have concluded from the trial, which we’ve heard little about, that the filter works "with 100 per cent accuracy and negligible impact on internet speed". However, those heavily involved with the Internet world beg to differ, suggesting it will block a range of legitimate sites, and slow down our already behind the western world Internet speeds.
If you missed out on all the fuss a couple of months back, the filter will require all ISPs to block content that is refused classification (RC) when legislation is passed next year. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says RC content includes "child sex abuse content, bestiality, sexual violence and the detailed instruction of crime and drug use". I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re more than happy for such content to be made unavailable to Australians. Some of it’s flat out disturbing, and it’s not exactly comforting knowing someone can google tips on bomb making. If it stopped there we’d have no problem with it, but unfortunately completely legit sites are likely to get caught in the firing line.
Back in March a list of 1000 blacklisted sites, to be used in the trial, was leaked to the public. The list included perfectly innocent YouTube videos, Wikipedia entries, religious sites, poker games, and even a tourist and dentist website. In other words the censor did not work, and blocked sites it should not have.
There was also the issue of legal adult sites being blacklisted. While they may not appeal to everyone, they are perfectly legal. Referring to everything that was blocked, Mr Conroy said "It is important that all Australians, particularly young children, are protected from this material." In a way this takes us back to the R18+ videogames rating debacle. While he was referring to the illegal content mentioned earlier, does the government care if it means we lose legal content that is designed for adults only? While it won’t block all legal porn and online poker sites, is it fair that in a free country the government is able to dictate which lawful sites we can and cannot visit just because they’re rushing into a filtering scheme that does not work flawlessly, no matter what they claim? It’s exactly the same with an adults only rating for videogames, surely it’s the parents job to protect their children from such horrid content, they could opt in! Kevin Rudd did propose that there would be a two-tier system that would include opting in for the second level; with the announcement yesterday we didn’t hear anything about that. Does it still exist?
Maybe it’s a little harsh to use the term “dictate” in there, but with mandatory Internet filtering expect the comparisons to come. Australia will be placed alongside 15 other Western democratic nations that have, or will have, ISP filters. They include Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands, but with one key difference; they are all voluntary. That’s what we want! If parents want to protect their children from absolutely everything they can opt in. Meanwhile the rest of us don’t have to worry about perfectly legitimate sites, including family friendly ones, being caught up in this mess.
The biggest problem we have is who exactly makes this blacklist? The ACMA did it last time, and clearly not very well. All we know currently is that the list will be created and maintained by an “independent body.” Who is that, exactly? Knowing a majority of the Internet community wouldn’t take kindly to the announcement a public discussion paper has been released. What it actually achieves is another story, but at least they are trying to make it look like we have a say. For the record, we say no, at least until it works 100% flawlessly, which includes losing absolutely no speed. If that can’t happen, don’t make it mandatory.
"Given the pilot's modest goals, it was designed from the beginning to pass," said EFA spokesman Colin Jacobs, against the filtering system. With a limited trial list, and only a handful of Australians participating, the EFA have argued that the trial was designed to pass, but will collapse when it is implemented for everyone. The “pass” diagnosis seems to have ignored the fact that the filter blocked a vast range of sites that should have remained available. Putting that aside, it didn’t impact too much on speed. However, that’s more than likely going to change outside of the trial containment, when it tackles the entire Internet with a much larger blacklist.
Is the government rushing in to this? Or should we even have it at all?
16/12/2009
Written By Stephen Heller
The journey of an Australian Wii Gamer has been a long and bumpy road, full of ridiculously late release dates (RE: Super Smash Bros Brawl) lack of “hardcore” titles, and things don’t seem to be shaping up to brighter horizons. Nintendo have just announced news regarding release dates for the highly anticipated Punch Out!!! and the new racing title Excitebots
That news is there is no release date, in fact the games aren’t even being picked up by local retailers. Excitebots sales have been dismal at best in the USA, so Nintendo Australia has made the judgement not to bring it into the country.
Punch Out!!! devotees will have to travel to their nearest JB-Hi Fi store as they will be the only stockists of the game in Australia. Rose Lappin, managing director of of Nintendo Australia issued this statement.
To be honest we didn’t have a lot of requests for the game,” she continued. “There’s a few people… there’s a lot of noise but not a lot of sales, that sort of thing. However there was one retailer that was chasing it, so that’s why we’ve decided to go that way. Of course, if it continues and consumers want it then that’s what we’re here for. At the end of the day if we don’t support consumers then we don’t have a business. We’re certainly here to work with what people want.”
Nintendo sure are giving people what they want....IF they live near a JB-Hi Fi store. For those of us in rural areas who don’t have a JB-Hi Fi within 100kms from our homes, it’s going to result in an inconvenient process to get the game.
It begs the question will this become a common trend with Nintendo First Party releases? Will we be faced with late releases, or in some cases no release at all, totally dictated by sales in the USA?
Is the global economic crisis putting so much pressure on the industry that it’s harder for publishers to take risks? Instead of taking these risks will publishers just choose to not release games on our shores to avoid the possibility of bad sales?
Due to Nintendo’s strict region coding importing titles aren’t as easy as it is for PC or the Playstation 3. If this becomes a popular trend many Wii gamers could miss out on their most anticipated games, due to sales in another country....
Do Nintendo really care about us?
15/07/2009
Fighting The Good Fight
Season 1
Episode 2a: Public Service Announcement
Written By Gaetano Prestia
Directed By Stephen Heller
Cameraman - Laura Heller
Starring Stephen Heller as Justin Potter
04/02/2009
Some of you have seen the Justin Potter videos floating around the site, and while I have got some great feedback on what people are taking away from them, I thought it was time that I explained my motivations for making these videos.
We are one of the only developed nations NOT to have an R18+ rating for video games. This is a worrying trend, studies have proven that the average gamer is aged in their late 20's in Australia, and with games becoming more complex, the lack of an R18+ rating could slowly stifle what games we actually get out here
In 2008 alone we saw games refused classification, and these weren't just small games, these were huge titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3, Silent Hill Homecoming and many more. Instead we are given watered down, censored versions, which essential take away from the developers intention on how the games are meant to be played.
There have been many discussions about implementing such a rating, but one man stand in the way, Michael Atkinson, and by the looks of it things aren't going to change.
So I guess I made the first video mainly as a way to vent my frustration, but as I started to write down my ideas, news that F.E.A.R 2 had been refused classification broke and the material just started pouring out. I was at the chemist and I saw a black rimmed pair of reading glasses for $14.95, Justin Potter was born.
I intentionally made Justin with an American accent, to show that an American is working for an Australian board of classification. In theory he is not Australian, so he doesn't know what the Australian public wants or needs. This was done to highlight the fact that even though the OFLC have the information to see what the Australian people want, nothing is being done about it.
Also the videos were to show the inadequacies for the boards approval ratings. One minute F.E.A.R 2 is banned, the next week the exact same copy is put to the board and it is passed, inconsistencies don't stop there people. GTA IV was banned for consoles early 2008, we received a censored version, that's fine the damage is done we can deal with that. In November 2008 the game is released on PC, totally uncensored and no question of the board. WHY IS THIS SO? If they try to use the argument that children have easier access to consoles than PC's that is bogus!
That would be just like saying that it's ok to have R18+ Porn movies on Blu-Ray but not on DVD as more children have access to DVD. Time and time again the OFLC fail us, and it's about time things change.
So that is what Justin Potter is meant to represent. I hope now after reading this, you will go watch the videos and leave some comments
21/01/2009
kotaku.com/
Here is a conversation I had with a Microsoft rep a few weeks ago when i first found out about this. (NOTE: This conversation did not actually happen)
ME: So, the 360 still fails in Japan?
MS REP: Nah man. We have a new game coming out.
ME: Reals?
MS REP: Totals!
ME: Would I be dumb to say it's a Japanese-focused FPS?
MS REP: You don't need to say that. You're already dumb.
ME: hehe truth.
MS REP: It's a new "Tales" game.
ME: ZOMG! SONIC AND TAILS!?!?!?
MS REP: No. Tales of Vesperia.
ME: Exclusive?
MS REP: Yes.
ME: Expensive?
MS REP: Noooo!
ME: tehehehehe
MS REP: tehehehehe
ME: So is it going to sell?
MS REP: They're already out of stock!
ME: Really? Selling that well?
MS REP: No. We're going in the direction of the Wii at the time of its launch. Supplying stores with minimal consoles so that it sells out and people get the impression it's in high demand.
ME: You know that doesn't work, don't you?
MS REP: Yes it does.
ME: No, it doesn't. If I want something but I know it's sold out, I'm not going to want it anymore because I know I can't have it.
MS REP: But it's human nature to want things you can't have. This is ALREADY sold out.
ME: Hmmm.....So how much is it going for? Know where I can import it from?
12/08/2008