It looks like the Australian game development community has been hit again by another round of layoffs - this time at a Sega studio. According to GameIndustry.biz, 37 employees have been laid off at Sega Studios Australia in Brisbane. The studios' most recent work was London 2012: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games. Prior to that the studio went under the name The Creative Assembly Australia and worked on Rome: Total War, Medieval II: Total War and Stormrise.

Even as the Pirate Party petitions the Australian government to rescind its ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), party leaders admit that it's probably too late to cause a sea change on that front.

The Australian Government will finally debate and vote on an R18+ video games classification in February, according to several published reports. Former Federal Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O'Connor had taken responsibility for the bill, and had been pushing for a vote on the subject for a very long time. 

Update: This story is apparently ancient history from March 2010. While it's fun to refresh your memory, it's not news. We apologize for presenting it as such.

The Australian Christian Lobby is doing its best to slow down the momentum of an R18+ ratings classification in Australia by using a new tactic: comparing mature video games to cigarettes. The group used the public consultation period for the R18+ classification to assail the games industry.

Former Federal Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O'Connor, a staunch supporter of R18+ for games in Australia, was today renamed minister for Human Services and minister assisting the School Education. He'll be replaced by former Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare. Naturally he'll inherit his portfolio of issues including the R18+ ratings classification for games.

Samsung should be happy today as Australia’s High Court removes the country-wide ban that was put on its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet - the result of an injunction in its continuing trademark disputes with Apple. The tablet had been under an injunction since July of this year.

Australia’s court froze sales of the device earlier this year after Apple filed an infringement suit against the Galaxy Tab. At the time Samsung called the court's ruling "grossly unjust." The thrust of Apple's lawsuits is that the Galaxy tab shares many similarities with the iPad.

Games designed specifically to help improve mental fitness and to help the disabled and mental health sufferers to practice life skills are being explored by the Melbourne-based Young and Well Co-operative Research Centre.

While Americans were enjoying Thanksgiving last Thursday Australia's Internet service providers held a meeting to come to a consensus on how to deal with illegal file-sharing in the country.

Psychiatrist Philip Tam believes internet addiction should be classified as a disorder. The Sydney, Australia based psychiatrist and some Australian parents think that internet addiction and online game addiction need to be officially classified as addictions so that children can be treated for the so-called disorders.

A web ad for EB Games Australia is being called sexist, with one game developer calling it "massive step backward" because it enforces stereotypes about men, women and games. The online ad, "A Man's Guide to Trading" shows a man being nagged by a woman outside of an EB Games store about spending money. After she leaves he goes in and the clerk suggests that instead of spending cash he should trade in some games. He does just that and then uses the money he saved to buy the woman a fancy dinner. The ad ends with the woman dusting while the man plays Arkham City.

The final guidelines for the new r18+ games rating classification have been released by the Australian government (thanks to Cheater87). Federal Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O'Connor also announced that all of the states have signed off on these new guidelines. The guidelines, made public this week, finally explain the important parts of the R18+ rating, and show changes to the existing MA15+ rating.

David Emery, manager of applications at the Australian Classification Branch, has warned the public at large in Australia that there will probably be a two year delay before the country finally sees the full implementation of an R18+ rating.

Another day, another story about game developer layoffs in Australia. This time it's at the 2K Marin studio in New South Wales. According to a Kotaku report, citing asource who wished to remain anonymous, 15 employees have been laid off from the studio formerly known as 2K Canberra. 2K Marin co-developed BioShock 2, and is reportedly involved in developing a new X-Com project.

Less than a year after it was founded, the Brisbane, Australian division of KMM that developed the video game adaption of Happy Feet 2 closed its doors on Friday, according to a Gamasutra report. According to Gamasutra, the company started laying off artists earlier this month. That was only the beginning of the end, as the company let go the remainder of its 40 employee strong workforce.

Plans to classify mobile and online games in Australia may be abandoned under new legislation being introduced by the federal government. The government has proposed an amendment to the classification (publications, films, and computer games) legislation to include a temporary measure that would allow mobile and online games to be released in Australia without classification for the next two years.

The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association has released a new report this morning that provides some interesting demographics on just who is playing video games in Australia. The Digital Australia 2012 report found that nine out of ten Australian households own some sort of device for playing games, and nearly one in five gamers play social network games. In households that play computer or video games, 43 percent said that they use a mobile phone and 13 percent use a tablet computer device to play games. Another 13 percent play video games on a handheld device.

Earlier this week we reported that LA Noire developer Team Bondi would be closing its doors as it sells off its assets to pay off creditors. Today we have learned who the Sydney, Australia-based studio owes most of its debt to.

The Australian Law Reform Commission's (ALRC) review into the country's classification system has determined that that only games likely to be rated MA15+ or hired should be classified by the government. The review was commissioned late last year by Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland. The point of the review was to find ways to reform Australia's classification laws in light of changing business models, globalization of retail, and new distribution methods.

Sony did not break Australia’s Privacy Act during the PlayStation Network cyber attack, ruled Australia's Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim. Pilgrim’s report, released today, said that the Commission found "no evidence that Sony intentionally disclosed any personal information to a third party." Pilgrim said that he was satisfied that Sony Australia took reasonable steps to protect its customers’ personal information, including encrypting credit card information and ensuring appropriate security measures were in place.

According to the International Game Developers Association's (IGDA) Melbourne, Australia chapter, Electronic Arts is set to close the local division of Visceral Games. EA's Visceral Melbourne studio is best known for its work on Dante's Inferno. EA Visceral Melbourne staff will meet with human resources personnel on September 19, to discuss the studio's closure.

"More sad news emerging about #EAVisceral Melbourne studio closure," the IGDA chapter posted on its Twitter account. "Happy to help all affected in any way we can."

Video game retailer GAME Australia has revamped its customer reward card with a risqué new feature that lets customers use their fingers to simulate various male naughty bits. The cheeky marketing gimmick has drawn a lot of attention - with a slight bit of it being negative. MCV is reporting that multiple complaints have been filed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). GAME did not acknowledge or comment on those complaints; instead it talked to MCV about how wonderful the rewards program is for its customers.

Team Bondi, the Sydney, Australia-based game development studio behind LA Noire, has entered administration (what we like to call bankruptcy in America), according to a report from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. This year the company found itself in the media spotlight over its workplace practices after several of its employees claimed that they were forced into unpaid overtime, and that they were not included in the game's credits.

Australia has had more than its share of studio closures and mergers over the past few months, but one Australian developer says that the industry's death in the country has been exaggerated, adding that it isn't even "wounded." Australian videogame developer Stephan Shutze says that, despite appearances, the Australian videogame industry is not in trouble at all.

According to a report in Computer & Videogames, House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut for the PlayStation 3 has been refused classification in Australia, even though an R18+ rating has been agreed upon "in principle" and will inevitably be launched in the country later this year.

Researchers at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney, Australia, are building a virtual heart to study the fatal effects that electrical disturbances can have on patients. This virtual heart, a real-time computer simulator, will allow medical researchers to study how structural changes to the body's most vital organ can interfere with its beating.

Australian video game prices will drop by the end of the year, according to Rob Blythe, consumer analyst for Macquarie Bank. According to Blythe, the Australian dollar moving towards parity with the US dollar is the major catalyst for the Australian growth in online shopping. But, he claims, when it comes to the video game market online sales in Australia are lower than in the US and UK.

Neuroscientist Stuart Smith of Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney is using video games to make rehabilitation exercises for stroke patients less boring. Smith says that the biggest problem with rehabilitation exercises for stroke patients is that most participants find that they are about as exciting as watching paint dry. Many of Smith's stroke patients find the traditional exercises associated with rehabilitation repetitive and frustrating. Traditional rehab improves motor control and reduces sensory and intellectual impairment.

Australians who won't get access to BioWare's upcoming Star Wars-themed MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic got some good news today from the game's developers: it won't be region locked and can therefore be imported from other regions.

"There are no plans to ‘region lock’ or ‘IP block’ players from the game," says BioWare Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid. "You may experience some latency issues if you’re not playing in a launch territory."

THQ announced this week "a strategic realignment" of its internal studio development teams - which in laymen's terms means it has shut down a studio or two and cancelled some long-standing game project. The company announced that it was shelving the MX vs. ATV franchise, closing two studios in Australia, and laying off the development team at the company’s Phoenix location. The Quality Assurance team in Phoenix will remain. The closures will mean 200 layoffs, according to THQ.

Australia's Productivity Commission, an independent advisory board that focuses on the "economic, social and environmental issues affecting the welfare of Australians," is now setting its sights on video game prices in the country. A new report entitled "Economic Structure and Performance of the Australian Retail Industry" details the sticker shock Australians face when it comes to buying video games. The report details the practice by publishers of artificially increasing the price of games.