Ratings News, Ratings Features

UK newspaper investigates guns and violence in best-selling games

Critics have been saying that violent video games have a negative impact on children for decades, but recent fatal shootings in the US have resulted in renewed debate on the topic. UK newspaper The Guardian has decided to investigate the issue by highlighting the violent content of...

Could Namco Bandai's brawler be fighting to the Wii U or 3DS?

The Australian Classification Board has rated Tekken Revolution, a hitherto unheard of entry in the long-running fighting game franchise. This follows the news that Namco Bandai has also rated Tekken Arena in Europe — could we be looking at two entirely new instalments, or is this a...

Classification finally comes through

Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition has been available almost everywhere since the launch of the Wii U, but poor old Australia has been missing out. Thankfully, the wait is almost over — the Australian Classification Board has just rated the game, meaning that it'

So you know what that means

Fans of numbers and colouring in boxes, rejoice: it looks like Picross E is finally leaving Japan. The Australian Classification Board has rated the eShop game, which says to us it'll come to PAL regions in the coming months or, if we're really lucky, weeks. The last we heard of the Jupiter-developed puzzle game was...

Castlemania

No sooner has the Australian Classification Board tipped us off to a future appearance from Castlevania: The Adventure on 3DS Virtual Console than it's told us about Vampire: Master of Darkness (simply Master of Darkness in PAL territories) coming to VC too. Developed by SIMS Co. — who later went on to specialise in fishing games,...

Ratings board whips it out

3DS Virtual Console fans have a spooky treat to look forward to, as the Australian Classification Board has rated Castlevania: The Adventure. Well, we say 'treat', but The Adventure is generally regarded as one of the weaker entries in the series, particularly compared to follow-up Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge. Still,...

That's right

No, not Pokémon Conquest — the Australian Board of Classification (who we love) has rated Nintendo's feudal Pokémon crossover under its original Japanese title Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition. The rating appeared earlier today and seems to guarantee a PAL territories release for the next Pok

Prayers answered

The Australian Classification Board is a treasure trove of hints at which games are waiting in the Virtual Console wings, and it's come up trumps again today with two more Game Gear games rated for 3DS. Shining Force: Sword of Hajya and Defenders of Oasis are both approved for sale on 3DS, and should hopefully hit the service later...

Rated Down Under

Fed up with never completing the epic storyline of SEGA's Vectorman series on Virtual Console? You may be able to play series closer Vectorman 2 on Virtual Console in the near future. The good old Australian Classification Board has rated Vectorman 2 for "multiple platforms". Virtual Console may be included in that — we...

Rating out

Remember the controversy when the localised version of One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP only came with half the content of its Japanese counterpart? People weren't happy. Stand by to relive those emotions. The Australian Classification Board has rated One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP 2 for sale, so it's very likely we'll get the second part...

Have a Blast

The Australian Classifications Board has rated two more Sonic the Hedgehog games for 3DS Virtual Console. The Game Gear titles Sonic Blast and Sonic Labyrinth have both been rated for 3DS Virtual Console, indicating we'll see them somewhere further down the line. While neither is fondly remembered as a classic title in the Sonic canon...

Slice of the action

The Australian classifications board has rated Neo Geo scrapper Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge for Wii's Virtual Console service. Amakusa's Revenge introduced brothers Sogetsu and Kazuki Kazama, an "honorable death" move and even featured fatalities under certain conditions. We've already got Samurai Shodown, Samurai Shodown II and Samurai Shodown III on Virtual..

Ripe for the plucking?

The Australian Classification board has turned up a rating for Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns. The official rating calls the publisher "RISING STARS", though undoubtedly this refers to Rising Star Games, the publisher responsible for the Harvest Moon brand outside of America and Japan. As HM is Rising Star's biggest series it's highly likely it'll bring the..