What the hell is PEGI?

No its not the newest cute character for the "family friendly" Wii, its the new censorship system for games. Instead of having PEGI
competing with Britain's BBFC, the Labour government has surrendered yet more power to Brussels.

"The Video Standards Council (VSC), has also been handed a new role. The independent organisation has a mandate to implement the PEGI classification system for all video games in the UK."

MCV reports that Tanya Byron, author of last year's Byron Review: Safer Children In A Digital World, has welcomed the adoption of this new system. The Byron review was not exactly welcomed by many in the gaming world including me. It should be a bit worrying that a "TV expert" with no experience with the gaming industry has had her recommendations made into policy by the government.

In the light of the moves in Germany and Europe to ban "violent" video games it remains to be seen if this is good news for computer games companies in the UK like Rockstar (Grand Theft Auto etc) and others.