Venezuela passes anti video games law. Scrabble fans rejoice.

On October the 30th the Venezuelan Government passed legislation that effectively banned the sale, promotion or use of video games.

The law, which also placed restrictions on the sale of toy guns and artificial firearms, was established to reduce the access of youth to games that depict or embelish war and violence.

Those who choose to sate thier pixellated bloodlust do so at their peril. The new law is intended to:

"prevent the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, rental and use of videos, games and war toys of a violent nature"

Those caught breaking the law face harsh prison sentences of three to five years.

Gamers in New Zealand can rest assured that there are no such moves by our own parliament to criminalise epic fragging or leet kill streaks.

However, the Venezuelan move has interesting parallels to the debate over game classification in Australia.

Australia has no R-18 or equivalent rating, which has caused some serious headaches for gamers and developers. The lack of an R-18 rating skews Austrlian's gaming access.

Games can be given low ratings compared to other countries - for example Halo 3 was classified as MA-15+ as opposed to New Zealand which classified it as R-16 - or games that are deemed to be too violent are banned completely, when in reality an R-18 classification may be more appropriate.

Everyone still remembers the confusing debacle that was Austrlia's nation-wide banning of Manhunt after it had originally received an MA-15+ rating.

Moves to implement a higher age restriction have been building, however a nation-wide implementation is being blocked by South Australia's Attorney General Michael Atkinson who withdrew his support for a review of the classification system.

The reform of New Zealand's own censorship and classification laws is also beginning to be suggested. The current system is being described as outdated and unworkable. Victoria University Law Proffesor Stephen Price said:

"It's difficult to say restrictions are justified in one case and not in another, and that's where you're going to strike Bill of Rights issues. It's becoming increasingly untenable to keep this system."

Any changes to the current classification system would effect the way computer games are classified in New Zealand.

Keep it Locked to NZGamer.com for the lastest gaming news.