These will become the standard in the UK soon

For those of you unlucky enough to live outside of these sceptered isles, you may be confused by the two game classifications systems currently in place. Well, you can count your lucky stars, as the British Government has announced that PEGI - that's Pan-European Game Information, folks - is to become the sole classification board of video games, meaning there'll be no more BBFC certificates on games.

In future, PEGI ratings will be legally enforced by the Video Standards Council (VSC), meaning retailers could face fines and other legal trouble for providing the games to underage customers. The VSC will also gain the power to ban games outright if there the game doesn't conform to PEGI guidelines. These are both powers that currently rest with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the ratings board that classifies the most adult games in the UK.

With the BBFC gone, PEGI are proposing a "traffic lights" system of rating indicators, with clearer content descriptors on the back to warn buyers of the adult content contained with the titles.

There's no official word on when the changeover will take place, but the days of seeing the red circular BBFC ratings are certainly numbered.

[source edge-online.com]