Could the BBFC face the axe? Manhunt 2 fiasco has 'bruised' credibility

Good.

Wait, what's PEGI's stance on bullshittery and inane chillun protection?

This is relevant to my interests.

Wait. I was incorrect in my previous statement.

It's not really a Manhunt 2 issue anymore. This will affect every videogame release in Britain. I think that's pretty important for our British readers.

It will be good news for the UK because PEGI can't prevent games from being released.

However, the precedent for legally enforced game ratings has been set... either PEGI's standards will be taken as the new enforceable standard or a new board will be created, I would think.

I think the BBFC dilute the rating system. The BBFC rate things on violence, sex, and language; nothing else.

So I think a lot of games have been screwed over by this because they had too much of the above, or none at all. Thus their market were torn in half.

PEGI seem ok; whilst their ratings aren't (as far as I'm aware) legally unenforceable in the UK, they do seem to have a better grasp of which games will be suitable from which age.

I believe they also provide a brief description of the themese present in a game, something the BBCF doesn't do and thus giving off the "Mother knows best" airs.

Hurray for free speech!

sweet

Not that deferring to the PEGI system would change much really.

After Manhunt 1 was implicated in a murder case, many shops simply refused to sell it, as a result of that it was nigh on impossible to find.

When any rating is granted it is no way a guarantee of actually getting the choice to buy the game. The government can still block release, as can local authorities, for example if Cambridgeshire County Council decide a game is unsuitable, they can affectively 'ban' it from sale in the area.

While I personally favour a single ratings board for games, I can't blame the BBFC for doing a fantastic job 99.9% of the time. Two games banned in twenty years is hardly the sign of an outdated, single-minded organisation.

Instead of crying victory for Destructoid, or by extension Jim, we should instead remember that most of the decision will fall upon Tanya Byron's report, not the continued rantings of a blogger on a gaming site.

Nothing personal Jim, I leave that kind of hate to Bouncybhall, but you have to admit that you had no part in this decision, and letting people state "Mission Accomplished Mr. Sterling" is only ego boosting, and purely speculative.

I wrote a statement to Byron, I have been contacting the BBFC for over a decade on a number of matters, and I have spoken to my local MP about getting a better system of ratings in local stores where general ignorance on the part of indie shop owners and parents alike often resulted in underage gamers getting mature titles. At no point do I claim any victory, because we all contribute to the results, one way or another.

@mistic

Bollocks to that, one unified system for the whole of Europe would be worse than the BBFC.

It's all fine and well inpractice, but there have to be regional differences, and I think the UK should most definitely come under seperate scrutiny by the one group.

If PEGI had to make rating decisions based on an entire continents ideology and view on censorship/gaming/the word cunt, well it would be farcical.

As things stand, the PEGI rating in the UK is suggestion, not law, and this should continue. However, the retailers should be made responsible for materials, under new laws that encapsulate the PEGI ratings. No amount of ratings and critics can stop a dodgy retailer selling a copy of GTA IV to a kid.