Most people now have had time to sit back, relax with a cup of tea or a pint of beer and read through it all. So just a few follow ups regarding the Byron Report.

First off I would like to direct everyone to John Walker’s very good piece regarding the Byron Report on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. With a rating of 8/10 John thinks that the report is pretty darn good!

I have to agree with John, the report does make a lot of sense and presents a good balanced take on the issue of video gaming and the internet in todays society. That is unlike The Times which lost credibility in my eyes for being pretty crap in their coverage of the report.

Secondly we have Seniath who takes a look at the increasing confusion that will occur with the dual-rating system that Dr Byron recommended in her report.

And I agree with young (or slightly older) Seniath, the plans that Dr Byron has set out for using both the BBFC rating and PEGI rating systems are just going to further confuse parents. This is where the report falls down in my mind as Dr Byron sets out in the report to help stop the confusion for many parents, but yet makes a recommendation which will just further the confusion.

But still, the report was generally very good, but as we all know it is up to Gordon Brown et al to pick and chose what they want from the report and use it to their own ends. Hopefully they don’t ruin it all.

According to Games Politics the all important (to the UK at least) Byron Report is due to land on March the 27th.

I must say I am highly anticipating the report being published to see how Dr Tanya Byron has navigated her way through what is bound to be a mass of conflicting arguments, and also to manage the current anti-gaming sentiments in the Houses of Parliament.

This report could be make or break for the UK gaming industry and its significance cannot be underestimated. It the report is straight down the middle as it should be, then we should expect to see recommendations for legally enforceable age ratings on games and a recommendation to adopt the PEGI rating system over the BBFC.

I can’t wait to see what the report says, it will be of great benefit to me in my university dissertation. Soon we will find out what will happen here in the UK.

Random Bob Dylan song reference aside, are the days of the BBFC soon to be up in regards to games classification in the UK? According to MCV it is! Following the Manhunt 2 affair which saw the BBFC refuse the game classification, but then get overruled by its own appeals body it seems that the BBFC is facing an uncertain future in games rating here in the UK.

The MCV article mentions that some commentators think that following this disaster for the BBFC it has lost credibility and that DR Tanya Byron is due to give her support to PEGI, the European rating board in her report due to be published soon.

It will certainly be interesting to see if the BBFC can recover from the Manhunt 2 affair and regain credibility. The PEGI rating system which currently rates games accross Europe is, in my eyes the better system offering clearer advice to parents on what different games contain.

However the PEGI ratings are not currently enforceable under law at the moment in the UK and it will be interesting to see what happens if the BBFC is forced out of the games rating scene.