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2008 couldn’t have started out on a worse note for the struggling Indian gaming community. Already reeling under problems such as delayed releases of titles (and the complete absence of others, like UbiSoft ones), game price stickers tugging heavily at our monthly incomes and less-than-average broadband connectivity, Indian gamers will now have to bear the additional burden of trying to get their game past the eagle eyes at the Indian censorship board.

Confirming the decision by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the Censor Board chief, Sharmila Tagore has said that they will now actively censor computer game software as well, in an attempt to keep objectionable content out of the hands of children who shouldn’t be playing them in the first place. According to DNA India, Sharmila Tagore says:

This is true that there is a proposal that the Censor Board should start censoring all video games - and I agree with proposal totally. We have already submitted our proposal to the ministry and the draft is being considered by them.

Apparently, it looks like this issue began with a number of parents voicing their concerns that their little ones were playing games that are entirely unsuitable for them. According to the proposal, the Censor Board will identify games with aforesaid “unsuitable” content and will advise age limits for children to access the videogame content. But chillingly, in a move that we are used to hearing coming out of Germany’s radical game ratings board, Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK), the Censor Board will also reserve the right to ban a videogame if it deems it unsuitable for an Indian audience.

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