I realise that this really only applies to us Brits, so I apologise to those who need not read this article. I write now from the very pleasant Costa del Sol, Spain currently undergoing my summer holidays, and on reading the Daily Mail (British paper, but available in Spain) I came across the news that computer games sold in Britain are to get a new ‘cinema-style age warning from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

At present the overwhelming majority of games are rated under a voluntary European system known as PEGI, which is represented by a white or black square in the bottom left of the game, however those games that contain ’scenes of gross violence to humans or animals, explicit depictions of sex, or material that may help criminals commit a crime’ require an age classification from the BBFC. So for obvious reasons games like Gears of War and of course the infamous Grand Theft Auto 4 are awarded the ’over 18s only symbol’ whilst Halo 3 is rated 15.

These BBFC rating make it illegal for a retailer to sell that game to a person under that age but only around 2 percent carry these ratings . The PEGI system is not backed up by heavy penalties for underage sale so back in 2004 when Halo 2 was released with a PEGI rating of 16+ I had no problem walking into GAME and purchasing it at 13 years of age.

There has also been the debate that violence in games is inextricably linked to crime and with the current increase of knife crime and other acts of violence in the UK, ministers believe that too little is being done to regulate games. The changes will mean that all games will now have to be certified by the BBFC and retailers who sell them face up to 5 years in prison! Of course kids will still be able to outwit their parents and many parents will just accompany their child into the shop in order to buy the game for them. I know my Dad did for Gear of War haha. Also as always the internet retail market still provides a sanctuary for those wishes to buy games underage.

Okay I know what you’re thinking. Why is this bad news for Britain? Most of us are over 18 and as I said the internet is your friend. However sadly this move to enforce the ratings is likely to piss off game manufacturers and I hate to say it but I agree with EA on this one. Being the world’s largest games developer their word must count for something and they say,”The new scheme will be confusing for parents and will lead to games being released significantly later in Britain than the rest of the world.” I just hope that the great organisation skills of the British will be able to sort out this mess so we get our games on time, because I’m looking forward to going into GAME with Dad on November 7th and getting Gears of War 2.

P.S I don’t think there is any change for the ‘Yanks’ who still use the good old ESRB. “Rated T for Teen” haha I love that.