Just a general question...about region modifications made to many media...

[Firecat]

Hello everyone :)

I've been seeing that certain games have modified versions for their North American, Asian and European Editions. Many PC games have been rated 17+ in the US, 16+ in Europe, 15+ in Australia and to my utter surprise, 13+ in India! (There is no common rating system...so the importers rate it themselves.)

I also noticed that the game itself is modified for Europe, Asia and AU. I wonder why. Take for example the PC game Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, they had the burrow and diagon alley levels as an extra in the US, but we Europeans/Asians did not get it.

This applies to movies (and sometimes books) too. 'The Rundown' was renamed 'Welcome to the jungle' in many countries.

Any idea why this happens? Why can't we have a global rating system?

This question has been eating me for about a year now. :'(

Regards,
Firecat

P.S. Have a nice day ;)

[Firecat]

Dunno if the movies also suffered from cut/added/changed scenes though....

[Detox]

Hm the ratings are done by individual countries - unless the EU does it for their members now. As for the "extra" stuff - most games tend to be released first in Europe. Initial problems are ironed out and patches made, then released in US. This has been my experience, anyway. Operation Flashpoint was released at version 1.0 in Europe but was 1.1 when released in the States. Generally speaking there should be patches available anywhere - Europeans had easy access to a 1.1 patch for OFP.

[Firecat]

Yes...but there was no patch for Harry Potter....we Europeans/Asians didn't get the extra levels..

Through the PEGI system (www.pegi.info) many countries of EU are rated one and the same.

But I still don't get why a 17+ game in one country is 16+ and 15+ in another?

[Firecat]

And what about the movies and books?

[Detox]

Hm well the movies and books I really don't know - I'm not too heavily into movies and I never thought about "book ratings" so to speak.

It stinks if you couldn't get extra levels for that game though...

Anyway you will find different countries simply make different decisions. You will find the same kind of thing in other issues such as drinking ages, ages at which drivers licenses may be acquired, legal age of consent and legal age of marriage.

In the States one must be 21 years of age to legally purchase alcohol while the age is 18 in Mexico. These things just vary according to the decision making bodies of the particular countries. Age of "adulthood" also varies by culture which can account for a lot of this. In some cultures a person is considered an adult when they turn 15, others 16, and so on.

[Firecat]

I see. Thanks a lot.

[Firecat]

Have a great day! :)