EB Games now has a link to the online submission form currently being assembled for Parliament. The group promoting it is called "Grow Up Australia" and can be joined via Steam and Facebook.

The Commonwealth Government's Discussion Paper can be found here: http://www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification

You can participate in this public consultation by using the submission form found here: http://www.growupaustralia.com/show-your-support/r18-games-submission/.

Wake up Australia!

More and more games are being released these days requiring a constant Internet Connection for gameplay (on PC). It all started with Steam and GFW Live, which caused a few grumbles but not many. Then along comes Neoqb with "Rise of Flight" and Gaigin with "Wings of Prey" and we PC gamers now see the light. It's another form of DRM, only far more troublesome than Starforce, SecuROM etc.

The latest news that future Ubisoft titles (Silent Hunter 5, Splinter Cell Conviction, RUSE etc) are going to require constant internet connection has been recieved with anger and cancelled pre-orders. Ubisoft's new service, Uplay is at the heart of the debate and the Forums are ablaze with indignant gamers. What it boils down to is that not everyone has access to the internet at all times, and many not even in their homes. Also the big question: What if Ubi folds and support for the game vanishes? Not likely, but still. We feel we are renting these games now, not owning them.

The only answer appearing for many these usually fair/legit gamers is to turn to the guys with eye patches who offer cracked versions of these games that don't require internet connection. They don't want to and are angry they feel thy are being frced to.

Not a satisfactory reslut for PC gaming at present, and does not bode well for the future of PC gaming.
Any thoughts guys?

As new members are signing on all the time, I am just jotting down the Official Rules of the Member's Page once more. These rules will also apply to comments on NEWS items and Private Messages (as this cropped up recently). At present I do not have the ability to delete Individual Posts, so after a warning is issued and is ignored, all posts will be deleted for that member. If the action is serious enough (as has been the case recently), the Membership itself will be deleted. Bye Bye!

The following Posts, Messages, Comments will not be tolerated:

- Spamming (junk posting)
- Flaming (making insulting or inflammatory statements)
- Trolling (posting for the sake of being a nuisance)
- Offensive/ Racist/ Insensitive (religion/culture etc.) language
- Cut & Paste descriptions of games titles (Adware, in other words)
- Cut & Patse descriptions of hardware (Adware, again)
- Blatant advertising of other sites for that purpose alone
- Phishing (attempt to fraudulently obtain monies from members)
- Promotion of Illegal Activities in Gaming (eg. Piracy)
- Promotion of Illegal Activities (self-explanatory)

I can easily spot such transgressions on the Member's Page and the News Sections. If any Member's receive PM's that they find offensive, or something I may have missed, please let me know.

As you are aware these rules are not strictly enforced and a lot of leniency has been shown (other sites are far less forgiving).
H.

**PS. Feel free to pull me up if I break my own rules:)))

According to IGN's website, Blizzard has posted the minimum system requirements for "StarCraft II" Beta on their website, which could indicate that a beta release is imminent. The minimum operating systems include:
-Windows XP or XP64 running Service Pack 3
-Windows Vista or Vista 64 running Service Pack 1
-Windows 7 Home Premium.
-512 MB of RAM on a Windows XP machine, or 1024MB of RAM on a Vista or Windows 7 system. Blizzard recommends twice that for each operating system for an optimal experience.
-Pentium IV 1.3Ghz or AMD XP 1500+ processor, although it's recommended that players have a Pentium D or AMD 64 X2 to run the game well.
-Required: ATI Radeon 7200 or Nvidia Geforce 2 or better
-Recommended (minimum): ATI Radeon X1600 or Nvidia Geforce 7600 GT of better. Finally, you'll need DirectX 9.0c and 15GB of hard drive space.

Blizzard also cautioned that along with the hardware specs, players will need a valid email address and internet connection to register for the beta, as well as an active Broadband connection for Battle.Net play. Furthermore, it stated that these specs could change at any time, and that these won't necessarily reflect the final requirements for the retail game.

This was earlier today on IGN, and since it was published, Blizzard has pulled down the information. A Blizzard spokesman stated that the details were removed because the requirements were wrong, and stated that the proper info would be included with the beta client. There were no details provided on when the client would be released, however.

For me it is increasingly difficult to wish people a Happy Australia Day, when our Aboriginal brothers still call it 'Invasion Day'. I don't think things will change until we finally get a Referendum passed proclaiming Australia to be a Republic, and finally sever our culture from GB. Being a multi-culural society it is inevitable.
So fellow Aussies, enjoy the Bar-b-ques and beers, and raise a frothy brew to the day we proclaim complete independence from the Royal family and proudly fly the Southern Cross flag. That will truly be Australia Day for us all.