I'd been meaning to comment on the UK's recently banned video game Manhunt 2 (I've also added some stories to my shared items list on the right), so here's some brief thoughts on the matter:
Seems pretty lame to me. The point of a rating is to advize about content, that seems an agreeable thing for a givernment to do. But this is flat out censorship, with absolutely no claim to legitimate reasonsing. Even the Adults Only rating in the US betrays the purpose of ratings and borders censorship in my mind once it is linked with conservative mainstream retailers such as walmart which won't sell it, a defacto censorship and they damned well knew it.
At least some people seem to get it, however. I remember reading within the last year that the french had honoured some video game makers with prestigous art awards. I couldn't find the article, but this is from the wikipedia page:
On March 13, 2006, the French ministry of culture held a ceremony to elevate three famous video game designers to the dignity of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters. Rayman's designer Michel Ancel, Alone in the Dark's creator Frederick Raynal as well as legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto received their medal from the hands of minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. The Minister said: "Because they are a cultural entertainment medium, video games are more than welcome rue de Valois [note: where the ministry sits in Paris]. 'Art is a game between all men from all times' said Marcel Duchamp. I am convinced that our country's vitality in the video game creation field is a guaranty of its capacity to innovate, to evolve and to create."
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