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New Australian AG backpedals on R+18 rating
Remember those fuzzy, triumphant feelings we felt when new South Australian Attorney General John Rau supposedly voiced his unswerving support for adopting an R18+ rating for violent video games in the region? Yeah, those feelings have officially been depleted -- in a recent interview with GameSpot, Rau stated that he "can neither support nor wisely argue against a position if I am not aware of the relevant factors." No, it's not like Rau's adopted the staunch anti-violent game stance of his predecessor, controversial AG Michael Atkinson. However, considering Gamers4Croydon president Chris Prior said Rau's stance on the issue was that it would be "just common sense to introduce" the mature rating to the territory, his actual, noncommittal stance is a little disappointing. We're not sure our delicate emotions can take much more of this back-and-forth. [Via GamePolitics]
Silent Hill: Homecoming refused classification in Australia
Looks like the Homecoming won't be hitting the land down under after all. Screen Play is reporting that the sixth title in Konami's Silent Hill series won't be able to release in Australia in its current form. Silent Hill: Homecoming focuses on violence to rid the world of evil horrors by way of "ramming pipes through enemies' heads and stomping on their faces to pull them out [and] tearing their entrails loose with an axe," as described by Edge Online. The crux of the issue stems from the OFLC rating standards which currently has a peak rating of 15+ for games, despite the fact that movies and magazines can be given an adult rating (R18+). The Australian government, which maintains the rating system in the country, has said they are looking into adding an adult rating to games but have yet to implement any changes. Silent Hill: Homecoming will join System Shock 2: Blood Trails, Dark Sector and Fallout 3 as the only four titles to be refused classification in 2008, although the latter two titles were eventually released in a modified form to meet the rating standards. Silient Hill: Homecoming hits the Xbox 360 next week in North America followed by a November release in Europe.
SingTel confirms iPhone for Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia
In a singularly uninformative press release, SingTel, Singapore's largest telecommunications company, has announced that it is bringing the iPhone to "Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia later this year" through several subsidiary carrier brands: SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Globe and Optus. The latter confirms our earlier post that Aussies won't be limited to Vodafone for their iPhone needs. Unfortunately no dates or pricing have been announced; it seems safe to assume this will cover the forthcoming 3G iPhone. In any case, this is good news for some of our Asia / Pacific iPhone brethren.Thanks Peter!
New Oceanic PvP realm for transfer
Well, now it seems that you can't say Blizzard's ignoring the Oceanic community any more. Starting next Monday, April 21, at 12 PM PST, free character transfers will be made available from the following Oceanic PvP realms: Barthilas Frostmourne Jubei'Thos Thaurissan The destination will be a brand-new Oceanic PvP realm called Dreadmaul. It will be in the Bloodlust battlegroup. New character creation on Dreadmaul will be disabled until transfers are over, and the realm will have its Ahn'Qiraj gates open automatically. As always, transfer early if you want to, because Blizzard may close the transfers before the deadline if there's a mad rush on them. The transfers are scheduled to run for a week, until April 28, 12 PM PST.
Google barred from Sydney flyover for Australia Day festivities
It looks like Microsoft is teh win in this little arms race down under. Both companies planned elaborate flyovers on January 26th, Australia Day, which encouraged people to get creative and get noticed by aerial photographs being snapped, which would later be integrated into the respective companies' mapping software. However, while Google managed to take in a good bit of Australia's scenery, their Aero Commander wasn't allowed to fly over Sydney due to some no-fly zone restrictions. Microsoft's higher-flying plane was able to scan the city and scoop up the festivities, including grabbing some shots of an official event at Centennial Park where Aussies formed themselves into a map of Australia. Some of the disappointed include a company that had spent more than AU$10,000 on a hugemongous sign, and an environmental group that trotted out 200 supporters to form a slogan on a local beach. The change of plans was due to winds which required planes to take off from Sydney Airport in a direction that would've messed with Google's flight path.[Via El Reg]
