Okay, my opinion: This doesn't change a whole lot. The only big change is that someone else is guessing what the ratings should be.

VET (Finnish film rating board) game ratings were introduced several years ago. However, it was always more lax than film ratings.

There's basically two kinds of ratings: ones given by the rating board, and ones given by the distributor. If you're distributing a film, you can hand it to the rating board, and get a rating that way. However, you can also elect to just notify them that the film is unrated... and slap 18+ on the box. (I was pretty amused to find unrated 18+ label on the original Star Wreck 6 DVD release. =)

In general, the film ratings have gone more free than they were before. A few decades back, stuff was heavily censored. Now, you can publish anything; at worst films pass the censor with 18+, and you can always elect to publish them as 18+ *anyway* just to cut the bureaucracy. Pornography producers were delighted.

However, games were *never* rated by the board and probably never will be. Their ratings were *entirely* based on the importer's suggestions. When PEGI was introduced, the PEGI ratings could also be used as a guideline. Now, all they've done is codified that PEGI is definitely as solid as the VET ratings.

Think of the implications.

An odd example that'd make JT scream: Myth III: The Wolf Age, part of the glorious series with exceptionally detailed physics engine that makes the violent explosions pretty and blood flow downhill, got 11+ rating. =)

Basically nothing has changed - all I see is that we can *hopefully* trust the PEGI folks to make extremely important decisions like this better than some random overworked game importer. Besides, if PEGI screws up a rating like that, the whole Europe will scream.

jt must have peed himself with joy when he read this.

So now the minors parents will have to buy it for them or be there when the buy it... so how will this effect gamers who parents are game illiterate?

Ok so its status quo socialism.

As I understand it, all media are treated similarly. This is just a change of ratings body.

/b

Same question if other media is not "restricted" then this is socialism at its best.

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