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Julian Brazier, a conservative member of parliament, recently moved to apply more censorship in video games. Had this decision been approved, it would have allowed more appeals against the rulings of the British Board of Film Classification.
Basically, Brazier tried to pass a bill ruling that MPs would have more of a say over BBFC decisions. Although he gave some pertinent arguments, his bill proposal failed when the proceedings for the bill ran out of time (after five hours of deliberation).
One of Brazier's arguments focused on the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, a 14-year-old whose murder back in 2004 was linked to Manhunt (although this link was never suggested in court). One of his supporters, Keith Vaz, gave this argument regarding the matter:
[...] Videogames are different because they are interactive. People who are watching a film at the cinema cannot participate in what
is happening on the screen, or if they do they are removed from the
cinema.
However, someone sitting at
a computer playing a video game, or someone with one of those small
devices that young people have these days, the name of which I forget -
PlayStations or PSPs, something of that kind…
Well, whatever they
are called, when people play these things, they can interact. They can
shoot people; they can kill people. As the honourable Gentleman said,
they can rape women.
That last comment was directed at violence in films, which was also under consideration of additional censorship under the bill. However, MP Edward Vaizey did clarify further on this later by pointing out that the BBFC isn't aware of any game that allows rape.
Manhunt... Violent video games... Talks of more censorship... Hmmm, it's a wonder a certain ace attorney we all know isn't a part of this story. We'll keep you posted.
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