VSC: "PEGI is stricter than the BBFC"

With PEGI about to take over full-time compulsory game ratings in the UK, Video Standards Council boss Laurie Hall, the man in charge of implementing PEGI in Britain, has said its system will be stricter that the BBFC ratings currently in place.

"PEGI is stricter than the BBFC," Hall told GamesIndustry. "We're not ashamed of that at all, because the methodology of rating films is not appropriate for rating games. Games and films are totally different.

"The new law doesn't fundamentally change our processes," he added. "It formalises what we've been doing since 2003. What's changed is the PEGI ratings themselves now have the full force of the law at '12', '16' and '18'."

Few games are banned in the UK under BBFC guidelines, with notable exceptions being Manhunt 2 in 2007 and the original Carmageddon.

It was decided after 2008's Byron review that UK game ratings would be moved from the BBFC to PEGI. The change will take place next month.