Could finally fix the eShop down under.
Good news gaming fans, today an amendment to the Classification Act was passed through the senate which means that things could get a whole lot cheaper, faster and easier for developers and publishers to get their games classified in Australia.
About time!
The entire document and bill itself is quite lengthy and filled with big words you probably don’t care to know about but the key part, the one that affects you, the eShop and gamers is the following;
[quote]Amends the: Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 to: enable certain content (including online and mobile device content) to be classified using classification tools[/quote]
This change to the act means that it will be possible in the future (once the government talk about it) to get games classified online through a form and not having to be sent to the board itself. This mean that games classification should become cheaper and easier for every and maybe we won’t miss out most independent games that hit the eShop. All games over and including MA15+ rated (or expected to be) will still have to be done the old fashioned way.
The double edged sword here potentially is that now stores like Steam, Google Play and the App Store may require games to be classified under this new arrangement since they actually can be now. We doubt will happen, who’s going to tell Apple and Valve what to do right?
This will be a slow process, the government is like molasses rolling down hill.
Now maybe we might see Shovel Knight, Master Reboot, Wooden Sen’Sey, Armillo, BLOK DROP U, Gravity Badgers, Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails, Unepic, Moon Chronicles and many more finally hit the eShop here in Australia. Remember these games haven’t been released yet (or won’t be) because of the costly classification system we currently have.
From Mario to Zelda, to Splatoon to Donkey Kong. Everything on Nintendo Music.