GAMES PUBLISHERS ARE WHINING that the proposals for rating videogames recommended by the Byron report are going to cause delays in the publishing process.

In particular, big wig from Electronic Arts UK Keith Ramsdale says that the system recommended by the improbably foxy Dr Tanya Byron will result in the delay of games being released to consumers.

Currently, games rated 15 or 18 by PEGI, the self-regulating industry system, are passed to the BBFC for formal classification in the same manner as films and DVDs. Byron's proposal recommended that the system be changed to include games rated 12.

"An extra and unnecessary layer of administration beyond a single system slows the process, and that delay will get passed on to the players themselves, " said Ramsdale, who told Games Industry that, with the BBFC's limited capacity to rate titles, release dates would inevitably be pushed back.

Of course, it seems rather more likely that Ramsdale is overstating the problems such a change would cause in a bid to drum up consumer opposition to any changes in the system which could lead to increased oversight of the industry. Who'd'a thunkit?

After all, the BBFC rates thousands of movies every year in a timely manner. There's no reason to think that, should the Byron recommendations become law, a few extra grand in government money wouldn't fix any potential problems with the minimum of hassle.

Industry figure in self-interest shocker? Wouldn't be the first time. µ