Australia's Classification Board is to review the current PG rating for Ubisoft's We Dare , a cartoon charades game which came in for nutter criticism earlier this year mainly over its adult style promotional video.
The review will be
heard on June 17 by the Classification Review Board following an application being lodged by Federal Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O'Connor. He said to GamesSpot
I asked the Classification Board to review We
Dare following media reports that the game's PG rating may be inappropriate. I believe that this game is unsuitable for children and I look forward to the outcome of the Classification Board's review of its PG rating. I share the concern of many parents
that children may be inadvertently playing games that are more suited to adult gamers.
The censors initally gave the Ubisoft-published party game We Dare a PG rating for mild sexual references. A number of the party
games alluded to kissing, spanking, and stripping.
The censors ignored Ubisoft's initial advice during the application process to give the game an M rating. According to the board's initial report, classifiers did not feel that the game deserved
an M rating because there is no sexual behaviour actually displayed in the game and the graphics it contains are highly stylised and cartoon-like:
The Board disagrees with the recommended classification of
M, the report states. Given the reasons noted above, the Board is of the opinion the game warrants a PG classification with consumer advice of mild sexual references.
The game also caused controversy in the UK, where it was
given a 12+ rating by the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) ratings board.
Update: PG Retained
22nd June 2011. See
article from kotaku.com.au
Kokatu are reporting that We Dare
, the controversial game from Ubisoft has retained its PG rating. According to the Classification Board, the overall impact... does not exceed mild .
A statement from the Classification Board claimed that this decision was a
unanimous one.
A three-member panel of the Classification Review Board (the Review Board) has by unanimous decision determined that the computer game We Dare is classified PG (Parental Guidance) with the consumer
advice mild sexual references .
This game contains a series of mini games which provide a single player (or a multiple of players up to four) with a variety of tasks. These mini games, which are randomly
available to players based on a choice of moods , include dance moves and activities, which may require interaction with other players. There are no sexual references in actual game play. Text boxes, which contain miscellaneous facts about gender
differences and interactions, randomly appear whilst a mini game is loading. Some of those text boxes contain mild sexual references. The text boxes contain no interactive elements.