Michael Atkinson's replacement, John Rau, is said to support the introduction of an R18+ rating. Gamers4Croydon party president Chris Prior recently spoke with South Australia's new Attorney General when attending an election forum in John's electorate.

John indicated to Chris that "the lack of an R18+ for games seemed absurd, and that it was really just common sense to introduce it, considering the vast majority of adult content is already available under the MA15+ classification."

Further discussion of an R18+ rating for games is scheduled for the next meeting of attorneys-general in late April....

It's election time in South Australia, and Gamers4Croydon are running against Attorney General Michael Atkinson. For those living under a rock for the past 6 months, this was to contest Atkinson's anti R18+ classification stance, which was forcing adult content into Australia's MA15+ classification, and thus into the hands of 15 year old gamers.

In this period, Atkinson delivered some controversial statements - calling gamers criminals, and more dangerous than biker gangs. It was also revealed that he funded a study claiming that the link between gaming and violence was stronger than the link between smoking and cancer.

Thankfully, his reign of ignorance in a position of such power is over. A number of community members have sent word that Michael Atkinson has abruptly stepped down, citing that it's so he can attend all of his son's soccer matches. I can't help but think there's more to it than that, especially considering the timing - and if there is, whichever person or persons putting pressure on him to call it a day deserves a round of applause....

The plot thickens. Remember the article we ran regarding the Channel Ten News report on video games being as damaging as smoking cigarettes? Well, it turns out that Michael Atkinson - the South Australian Attorney General single-handedly standing in the way of reformed games classification in this country - funded it with tens of thousands of dollars......

The public consultation period for the heated R18+ classification debate is over. Thousands of note-worthy submissions have been made, including a 17 page demolition of the South Australian Attorney General, Michael Atkinson, by Paul Hunt - formerly Deputy Director of Australia's Classification Board. It's a shame then, with such intelligent and credible support for the tightening of classifications, that a flurry of mindless press continues to corrupt public opinion with scare-tactics and outrageous hyperbole.....

ABC's Good Game have had the pleasure, or displeasure, of interviewing South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson. Unsurprisingly, his paranoid ignorance has delivered another few gems of conversation, including his explanation that he feels his family is more at risk from gamers than the motorcycle gangs who also hate him.

I'm certain that bikers state-wide are up-in-arms that they've been likened to such a broad demographic of society. Who knows, maybe they'll now want to make a point that they're far scarier minority than Atkinson suggests......

Michael Atkinson would have you believe that gamers are a minority, and that it's a minority among them who desire an R18+ rating - so that they can participate in brutal murders and enact depraved sex acts. Of course, we all know that gaming is as big as any other mainstream entertainment medium and that most of the core demographic would like an R18+ rating so we can play games such as Left 4 Dead 2, uncensored.

It seems that now Atkinson has more than the voice of individual gamers and a newly formed political party to contend with. Big business is getting involved. Australia's largest games retailer, EB Games, is now setting up petitions in every single one of their 350 stores across the country. Why? "Our customers asked us to", said Managing Director, Steve Wilson......

Gamers4Croydon is now fulled registered, as noted on the party's Twitter feed. South Australian Attorney-General, Michael Atkinson, has taken the time to talk with GameSpot AU about his anti R18+ stance and what Gamers4Croydon will mean for him in the next election......