GTA IV: Should it have been multiplayer from the start?

[Luminaflare]

I live in Australia and yeah our ratings only go up to MA15+. I think thats a decent rating because after 15 your pretty much old enough to make your own decisions and know about all the content you may experience in games.

Though i play games underage, yes for example GTA IV. im 13 but im not stupid enough to get overwhelmed by this stuff.

I dont like american ratings (sorry guys :) ) but i think 18 is stupid. maybe 16 is more suitable than 15 but 18, what a joke. For example halo 3 in america is rated what 16+ or something? sorry if im wrong guys but if im right, thats rediculus and all it is, is science-fiction violence with the occasional bit of blood. which any body would have seen. im sick of americans complaining about 12 year olds playing the game when simply thats what its rated down here. sorry for rambling on :)

oh and to answer the question, no who cares. the old gtas arent good enough to support online game play.

Wow you really miss the point there, the problem with the ma15 rating in australia is that you either have your content cut or the game isn't released over there. American rating system goes M and AO (Mature and Adult Only respectively) with most games like GTA, Fable, Oblivion being rated M, AO is for stuff like porn. It's the UK that has 12, 15, 18 (Examples: Halo 3 - 15, Saints Row 2 - 18, Mass Effect - 12, Fable 2 15) and the ratings are there to stop offense and violent material getting in the hands of children (I'd like to see a 8 year old play through dead space and not be some kind of fucked up). Sure some people when they're 15 are mature enough to handle 18 rated stuff but not everyone is and they're still not legally adults therefore their parents get to choose.

Also GTA:SA is the best of the series in my opinion and EVERY 3D GTA supports online play on PC (Multi theft auto). Also GTAIV takes itself way too seriously.

[Drathmoore]

Wow you really miss the point there, the problem with the ma15 rating in australia is that you either have your content cut or the game isn't released over there. American rating system goes M and AO (Mature and Adult Only respectively) with most games like GTA, Fable, Oblivion being rated M, AO is for stuff like porn. It's the UK that has 12, 15, 18 (Examples: Halo 3 - 15, Saints Row 2 - 18, Mass Effect - 12, Fable 2 15) and the ratings are there to stop offense and violent material getting in the hands of children (I'd like to see a 8 year old play through dead space and not be some kind of fucked up). Sure some people when they're 15 are mature enough to handle 18 rated stuff but not everyone is and they're still not legally adults therefore their parents get to choose.

We actually have two systems; the BBFC one, as you mentioned, and also the PEGI ratings as well (3, 7, 12 and 17, as well as picture warnings on the back of the game showing any content that may be offensive, such as drug abuse, swearing, sexual content, etc.).

And oddly enough, they discovered recently a loophole in our system meaning that retailers could sell any game, no matter what the rating, to anybody. Loophole created because the law wasn't passed on to the EU, so it couldn't actually go into force...

But still, yeah. I agree with you.

but i think 18 is stupid. maybe 16 is more suitable than 15 but 18, what a joke. For example halo 3 in america is rated what 16+ or something? sorry if im wrong guys but if im right, thats rediculus and all it is, is science-fiction violence with the occasional bit of blood. which any body would have seen. im sick of americans complaining about 12 year olds playing the game when simply thats what its rated down here. sorry for rambling on :)

Hmm... Maybe. But I remember playing Halo at the age of about 13, with my 11 year-old brother. He had nightmares due to the Flood. 12 is a little risky for something like Halo; it's main concept is practically mass genocide as well. Not something I'd recommend for someone around that age... But hey, I don't make the ratings.

Complaining about 12 year-olds on Halo? I think that's more complaining about the screechy high-pitched voices that butcher the English language and insist on teabagging everytime they kill someone... :p

[Luminaflare]

Wow you really miss the point there, the problem with the ma15 rating in australia is that you either have your content cut or the game isn't released over there. American rating system goes M and AO (Mature and Adult Only respectively) with most games like GTA, Fable, Oblivion being rated M, AO is for stuff like porn. It's the UK that has 12, 15, 18 (Examples: Halo 3 - 15, Saints Row 2 - 18, Mass Effect - 12, Fable 2 15) and the ratings are there to stop offense and violent material getting in the hands of children (I'd like to see a 8 year old play through dead space and not be some kind of fucked up). Sure some people when they're 15 are mature enough to handle 18 rated stuff but not everyone is and they're still not legally adults therefore their parents get to choose.

We actually have two systems; the BBFC one, as you mentioned, and also the PEGI ratings as well (3, 7, 12 and 17, as well as picture warnings on the back of the game showing any content that may be offensive, such as drug abuse, swearing, sexual content, etc.).

I think they're supposed to be replacing the ESRB with PEGI soon with colour coded ratings on the PEGI symbols (I think it graduates from green to red based on rating).

[Tunco]

Wow you really miss the point there, the problem with the ma15 rating in australia is that you either have your content cut or the game isn't released over there. American rating system goes M and AO (Mature and Adult Only respectively) with most games like GTA, Fable, Oblivion being rated M, AO is for stuff like porn. It's the UK that has 12, 15, 18 (Examples: Halo 3 - 15, Saints Row 2 - 18, Mass Effect - 12, Fable 2 15) and the ratings are there to stop offense and violent material getting in the hands of children (I'd like to see a 8 year old play through dead space and not be some kind of fucked up). Sure some people when they're 15 are mature enough to handle 18 rated stuff but not everyone is and they're still not legally adults therefore their parents get to choose.

We actually have two systems; the BBFC one, as you mentioned, and also the PEGI ratings as well (3, 7, 12 and 17, as well as picture warnings on the back of the game showing any content that may be offensive, such as drug abuse, swearing, sexual content, etc.).

I think they're supposed to be replacing the ESRB with PEGI soon with colour coded ratings on the PEGI symbols (I think it graduates from green to red based on rating).

I thought that ESBR was more strict. Anyway, I think there were colours green(+3), yellow(+7 or +12 I think), brown(not sure), red(+17).

[jackass]

I live in Australia and yeah our ratings only go up to MA15+. I think thats a decent rating because after 15 your pretty much old enough to make your own decisions and know about all the content you may experience in games.

Though i play games underage, yes for example GTA IV. im 13 but im not stupid enough to get overwhelmed by this stuff.

I dont like american ratings (sorry guys :) ) but i think 18 is stupid. maybe 16 is more suitable than 15 but 18, what a joke. For example halo 3 in america is rated what 16+ or something? sorry if im wrong guys but if im right, thats rediculus and all it is, is science-fiction violence with the occasional bit of blood. which any body would have seen. im sick of americans complaining about 12 year olds playing the game when simply thats what its rated down here. sorry for rambling on :)

oh and to answer the question, no who cares. the old gtas arent good enough to support online game play.

Wow you really miss the point there, the problem with the ma15 rating in australia is that you either have your content cut or the game isn't released over there. American rating system goes M and AO (Mature and Adult Only respectively) with most games like GTA, Fable, Oblivion being rated M, AO is for stuff like porn. It's the UK that has 12, 15, 18 (Examples: Halo 3 - 15, Saints Row 2 - 18, Mass Effect - 12, Fable 2 15) and the ratings are there to stop offense and violent material getting in the hands of children (I'd like to see a 8 year old play through dead space and not be some kind of fucked up). Sure some people when they're 15 are mature enough to handle 18 rated stuff but not everyone is and they're still not legally adults therefore their parents get to choose.

Actually that makes alot of sense. I agree both ways if that makes sense. I dont reallly know how to explain myself but i guess you summed up everything that needed to be said