No age rating on discs caused Lair Europe release delay

Ever wondered what caused the delay of Factor 5‘s Lair in Europe? Wonder no more, as it seems that the dragon-riding game blessed with the SIXAXIS‘ motion controls seems to have been snagged with a manufacturing issue. Yes, it’s the game discs themselves that warranted a slight delay of the game’s release, having no age rating printed on them. And apparently, in Europe, that’s a big legal no-no.

Check the full article for the entire details about the delay.

For those of us in Europe who were disappointed with the sudden delay of Factor 5‘s Sony PlayStation 3 exclusive, Lair, here’s some news that might explain why we won’t be riding dragons with the SIXAXIS just yet: the delay may have been caused by the game discs themselves having no age rating printed upon them. Ouch!

This tidbit of bad news comes directly from employees at UK video game retailer GAME. As required by law, all game discs should have an age rating printed on them – and it seems that someone in the manufacturing side of Lair forgot to slap the age rating on the discs themselves. The entire shipment of Lair then had to be pulled back, thus causing a phenomenon in the video game industry that can be charitably described as a brief delay, and uncharitably described as a very irritating annoyance for gamers.

While we don’t have any confirmation from Sony if the age rating issue is indeed the main cause of the delay, it jives with the rumors that have been circulating ever since news of it broke out – i.e. a manufacturing issue. Here’s hoping that Sony resolves the problem posthaste – either by reprinting discs or slapping small stickers onto the current ones.