GAME CASA .NET

We need more Australian stuff round these here parts so I felt the need to highlight some of the stuff on the Australian EB Games website (EB Games mightn’t be big in the states but over here, it’s pretty much our Game Stop – isn’t EB games owned by Game Stop?) There will also be rage in this post about the prices of games in Australia.

I’ll start off with the best part, rage. As some of you might be aware, everything costs more over here(fine.. the vast majority of things do), whether that be phones, games – whatever. Shit costs more! Take for example, the iPhone. The cheapest one in the states on the Apple store(online) is an 8GB 3G which is $99. That isn’t all that bad and It’s under a $110 AUD if it was sold at the same price but in the Australian currency rather than the American currency. The same model on the Australian Apple store(online) is $799(about $660 USD), which is fucking bullshit. The same goes for games over here. Take for example, God of War III. The EB Games in the states have it for sale at $59.99(About $65 AUD) and  the Australian EB Games is selling it for $118.00(About $110 USD). What I’m trying to say is that all of you American fucks better stop bitching about the price of video games(I’m going to disregard that the American Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25($7.90 AUD) and that the Australian National minimum wage is $14.31($13.55 USD) or $543.78($500 USD) because our money looks like monopoly money)

Read the rest of this entry →

Australian Industry Group Submits R18+ Rating Proposal–Gamasutra

The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, an industry trade group active in Australia and New Zealand, has submitted a proposal for an R18+ rating to the Australian attorney general’s office, hoping to alter long-standing practices effectively banning games which exceed a certain threshold of violent or sexual content.

Unlike its ratings for films, Australia’s game rating system does not include “R18+” or “X18+” ratings, which pertain to content rated for those 18 years of age or older. The game system tops out at “MA 15+” — meaning games with content deemed more mature than is suitable to an MA 15+ rating are denied classification entirely, and cannot be sold at retail in the country. read more…