Fear not North America and Europe, for it appears that Sexy Poker will make it to our virtual shores through WiiWare. The Germans rated the title last month and there's also a listing on the ESRB site. According to the ESRB's content description, the game not only titillates with visuals, but with "provocative comments" like, "I'll always know what's in your hand." What, the Wiimote? Let us waggle it for you, Sexy Poker lady.

[Via GamePolitics]

The OFLC website is back after being hacked, with the Australian ratings organization taking the opportunity to redesign it. Luckily, it's still revealing unannounced games!

The database has two new listings for classic Nintendo franchises that, really, should already be on the Virtual Console: Pilotwings and Super Mario Kart. We've actually booted up the Wii Shop more than once hoping to buy Super Mario Kart after forgetting that only the N64 game is available on Virtual Console, not the original.

Also of interest: Picturebook Games: A Pop-Up Adventure!, which must be Nintendo's original WiiWare board game adventure, Asoberu Ehon Tobida-Sugoroku!, and You, Me, and the Cubes, which is clearly Kenji Eno's WiiWare puzzler Kimi to Boku to Rittai.
[Via GoNintendo]

The website for the Office and Film and Literature Classification, the Australian ratings body that assigns age-based content ratings to media -- including, most importantly to us, games -- has been hacked by jerks. The website has been temporarily taken down.

The hackers added a message to the front page that said "This site contains information about the boards that have the right to CONTROL YOUR FREEDOMZ," according to GameSpot. "The Classification Board has the right to not just classify content (the name is an ELABORATE TRICK), but also the right to DECIDE WHAT IS AND ISNT APPROPRIATE and BAN CONTENT FROM THE PUBLIC [sic]." The attack could be in response to last night's ABC Q&A show, in which Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy spoke about a plan for mandatory Internet filtering.

While we don't necessarily agree with that plan, we really don't agree with any response that leads to the inaccessibility of the OFLC website. Did the hackers even consider for a moment how their actions would affect our ability to learn about unannounced games?

A rating for the DS Game & Watch Collection has popped up on the Australian OFLC ratings board, along with a bunch of other stuff, including Boom Blox Bash Party (under the bafflingly different title Boom Blox Smash Party). The collection, featuring Oil Panic, Donkey Kong, and Green House, has been used as a Club Nintendo reward in Japan and North America. News about Australia's Club Nintendo rewards program was expected last week, so this confluence of events suggests that this is to be handed out as a reward for Aussie gamers soon.

That is, whenever Nintendo of Australia gets around to setting up the Club Nintendo program.

[Via GoNintendo]

After the miraculous announcement of Sega's plan to localize Let's Tap (a game so weird we kind of didn't expect it to make it to stores at all, much less worldwide), we're not too surprised to see Prope's other Wii project, the much more conventional, lower-risk Let's Catch for WiiWare, on its way out of Japan. But we are pleased to see it happening.

Let's Catch is exactly what one would infer from the title: a game about playing catch, with multiple single-player modes (including a ... story mode?) and multiplayer. It's a concept so weird (or weirdly mundane) that we find it fascinating! Australia's OFLC ratings board has rated the game, suggesting that it will be released there soon -- and thus, probably worldwide.

Gametraders is organizing a rally in support of a long overdue R18+ rating for video games in Australia. Protesters are asked to cosplay -- that is, dress up in a video game costumes -- for the demonstration at 1:00 pm on March 4, on the steps of the Adelaide Parliament House.

Initial reaction to the idea has been met with criticism, as Aussie gamers apparently support the message, but not the medium. There are concerns that asking the government for an adult rating for games by those dressed up in costume could not be effective. This might be a time for gamers to put on their work uniforms, bring their children, and show they're a lot older than the Aussie government -- well, really, it's mostly South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson -- believes they are.

[Via GamePolitics]

Typically, when Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification (the game rating board for the Land Down Under) is criticized for shoddy job performance, the attacks are coming from ... well, people like us. This is because the board's highest rating is MA15+, meaning games containing similar content to games rated Mature by the ESRB are often refused classification and sent back to the developer for content cuts.

However, the OFLC has recently come under fire from its harshest critics, not due to its refusal to classify certain games, but rather, because of its rating for the recently released expansion to GTA IV, The Lost and Damned. These critics take issue with the fact that the expansion earned a rating from the OFLC without undergoing any content cuts, while GTA IV was forced to clean up its act before getting approved. These critics claim the similarities between the core game and expansion are evidence of major disparities in the Australian rating board.

These critics might have a point -- the OFLC could be taking on a more lax approach to their classification of mature content titles. However, it's just as likely that Rockstar made content cuts to Lost and Damned before the first submission in order to avoid a refusal of classification -- and a costly resubmission. There's only one way to tell: Australian readers, we need you to boot up the game and, well, check for any and all wangs. We know, it's a lot to ask.

We've talked about it in the past ad nauseum, but for those who are just now joining us: the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) doesn't have a rating for video games above MA15+. Thus, if your title is deemed too inappropriate for someone 15 years or older, it's Refused Classification (RC), essentially barring it from sale in the country. Except, it seems, if your game is an MMO.

Our friends at Massively took a look at MMOs in Australia, which -- with few exceptions -- are sold at retail without any rating whatsoever. Developers and publishers claim they've never submitted their titles to the OFLC because they didn't believe it was necessary to do so. That misconception may have come from the board itself, who is said to have given such counsel before it was merged with the Federal Attorney-General's Office. However, the now-assimilated group is saying that MMOs require classification, and selling an unclassified game is a crime. Hit up Massively for more information. This is gonna be a very interesting story to follow.

Australia's governmental ratings board, the OFLC, has classified the unabashedly violent MadWorld with an "MA 15+" rating. Sega informed IGN that the game was not "edited or adjusted" for the land down under. Last week, the title received an "18" rating in Britain, and having now passed both the BBFC and the OFLC, it's expected that the United States' ESRB will hand the title a "Mature" sticker.

It's certainly interesting that Australia let the game pass with an MA 15+, at least based on the footage and images we've seen. For better or worse, perhaps the region is loosening up its policies in lieu of implementing an R18+ rating for games.

[Via IGN]

We were afraid that Platinum Games' brutal black-and-white action game MadWorld would just be too violent for Australia's OFLC ratings board, and that the organization would force Platinum and Sega to bowdlerize the game -- or worse, they'd bar a release. But it turns out that despite the organization's history of harsh treatment of "mature" games, our fears were unfounded. The OFLC's rating for MadWorld is available in their database, meaning that the game has been given the okay for release.

Surprisingly, it's been rated 15+, which is even less stringent than the BBFC's rating! Thankfully, the database identifies the game as "original," meaning no edits were made to achieve the 15+ rating!



[Thanks, Foetoid!]

The British Board of Film Classification has passed Sega's MadWorld with an "18" rating. The Wii title received the classification for containing "very strong, stylized, bloody violence." Sega has been working with both the BBFC and the United States' ESRB to avoid the respective regions' "kiss of death." The publisher contributed builds at various times for feedback on what needed to be changed to dodge being "unclassified" in the Britain and receiving an "AO" rating in the States.

We're unaware if Sega has also been showing builds to Australia's conservative OFLC. If any region is going to "ban" MadWorld, it'll be the Aussies, due to the region's lack of an R18+ rating for games.

Atari, which is handling distribution for Silent Hill Homecoming in Australia, has explained what cuts were required for the title to receive an MA 15+ rating from the OFLC. Edge reports that edits were made to cutscenes, where "camera angles and techniques" will now "reduce the impact" of the offending material.

Atari emphasizes that changes were only made to some scenes and that the story remains unaffected. The OFLC originally didn't classify the game because of several gore-related issues -- particularly those involving drills. In good news for Kiwis, the game will remain unedited when it releases in New Zealand.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has passed the British Board of Film Classification with an "18" rating, which is equivalent to the ESRB's "Mature" rating. According to Edge, the DS title -- the first ever to receive an 18 rating by the BBFC -- passed with "no cuts made."

Apparently it was a very clear edict from Rockstar's Sam Houser to developers that the game receive an M rating and maintain the franchise's adult tone. The game has yet to receive ratings from the United States' ESRB or Australia's conservative OFLC.

[Via Edge]

After being refused classification by the OFLC -- Australia's ratings board -- Silent Hill: Homecoming is finally coming home Down Under with an MA15+ rating. The game had earlier failed to net an MA15+ rating in September of 2008, effectively banning it from sale. It wasn't alone, as several other titles, including F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin and Fallout 3, ran into the same situation (both of which were later classified). According to Gamespot, Silent Hill: Homecoming was apparently resubmitted to the OFLC and has now been classified MA15+, though it's unclear what changes were made to the game, if any.

Hopefully, the pervading creepiness is still intact, because that's all that matters.

[Via Joystiq]

Without requiring any edits, the previously "banned" F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has received an MA15+ rating in Australia. The title was refused classification by the OFLC last month, but the decision has now been reversed, following an appeal by publisher Warner Bros.

Upon review, the classification board deemed that the violence in the game could be "accommodated within the MA15+ classification." Of course, none of these semi-regular banning stories would be happening if games in Australia had the option of an R18+ rating.