his actions: "It is...very unfortunate that my services were not pre-consulted before your letter to the Ministers of Interior was sent out," reminding him of the commission-backed self-regulating ratings system called PEGI that has operated across the European Union since 2003. The PEGI system of classification, according to Reding's letter, offers "informed adult choice" without censoring content: "This is in line with the Commission's view that measures taken to protect minors and human dignity must be carefully balanced with the fundamental right to freedom of expression as laid down in the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union." On March 7, 2007, a group of Member of the European Parliaments presented a Motion for a European Parliament resolution on a ban on the sale and distribution in Europe of the game and the creation of a 'European Observatory on childhood and minors'. The game was further suggested to be banned for sale in France, and to be kept from the public in Poland. At this time, the game had not yet been released in Europe; the public officials suggesting that Rule of Rose be banned had not played the game, only having read about its alleged content or seen the trailer. 505 Games' Australian distributor, Red-Ant, cancelled the game's Australian and New Zealand release, and 505 Games later cancelled the United Kingdom release as a result of complaints by Frattini and other EU officials, and "largely misleading" commentary from the British press, although review copies had already shipped to video game journalists. It was released in the rest of Europe. The British body which had granted the title its 16+ PEGI rating (the Video Standards Council) responded to the press and Frattini's comments: "I have no idea where the suggestion of in-game sadomasochism has come from, nor children being buried underground. These are things that have been completely made up. [...] We're not worried about our integrity being called into question, because Mr Frattini's quotes are nonsense." The Council further noted that "there isn't any underage eroticism. And the most violent scene does indeed see one of the young girls scare Jennifer with a rat on a stick. But the rat's actually quite placid towards her and even licks her face." Reception The game received mixed reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. The reviewer for video game magazine Play wrote: "I think everyone should experience this game,