Leisure Suit Larry Banned

An anonymous reader writes "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude has been refused classification and banned by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) due to its sexual content. Being produced by Sierra, Larry's exploits are more cheeky than they could ever be offensive, so is this really justified? Oh well, off to bit torrent I go..."

Comments

Why?

[JavaLord]

refused classification and banned by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) due to its sexual content.

Maybe some of our Australian friends can help us out with this, but why would they ban this game? It can't be any worse than an "American Pie" type movie, or any other recent comedy films. Is Australia this strict with it's movies also?

Re:Why?

[DrSkwid]

why would they ban this game?

because the Australian Game rating system only goes up to 15

so *all* games that would be classified 18 in other parts of the world are automatically banned for sale in Australia

American Pie the original was classified 15 but, according to this bbc report American Pie 2 was classified R which means that if it was an Autralian Computer Game, it too would be banned for sale.

Re:Why?

[jc42]

The first thing that occurred to me was "I wonder who they had to bribe to get it banned?"

This should be even better than an X rating. I'll bet they're shipping out lots of copies to the "underground" dealers right now.

(Here in the US, there are open discussions in the media of the lengths that producers sometimes go to in order to get an R rating, which is the minimum that will bring in most adults. Sometimes they have to add a nude/sex scene that has nothing to do with the plot, just to get that all-important rating. ;-)

Re:Why?

[isaac]

(Here in the US, there are open discussions in the media of the lengths that producers sometimes go to in order to get an R rating, which is the minimum that will bring in most adults. Sometimes they have to add a nude/sex scene that has nothing to do with the plot, just to get that all-important rating. ;-)

What? Movie producers never want a movie to be "barely R" - Look how few R-rated films are on the box office charts. http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

Movie producers are usually cutting things out to get an lower rating (either R->PG13 or NC-17->R) to broaden the potential audience.

-Isaac

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know the specific details, but from memory I think computer games are classified much more harshly for sexual content because of their interactivity.

I pity Australian children. No doubt they'll soon be cutting the little wanker's hands off due to the "interactivity" possession of hands enables.

Re:Why?

[warrantyVoidIfRemove]

Unless the group who made the decision were all 15, I just can't fathom the logic behind this.

If the group that made this decision were all 15, it would be mandatory for all games and films to be chock full of porn.

Sheesh, what is up with Australia?

[sgant]

It's like what's next...they're going to outlaw all forms of sex there too to "protect the children".

Growing up, always thought that Australia was this free wheeling, laid back country...but they seem more uptight and puritan than the US (Janet Jackson's evil nipple not withstanding).

Is it really that bad "down there"? (decypher "down under" any way you want)

Re:Sheesh, what is up with Australia?

[Marlor]

Sheesh, what is up with Australia?

It is called a "Conservative Government". The ratings system for games is outdated, based on the assumption that games are for kids (hence the highest classification is 15+), but there is no way that a Conservative Government would fix this, because they would be worried about newspaper headlines like "Government allows kids to play porno games". They have also done everything they can to stack the Office of Film and Literature Classification (which also rates games) with conservative cronies.

The Government has also realized that since computer games and the Internet are seen as "scary new-fangled technology" by many older and more technophobic Australians, that they can use them as a ploy to gain support. So, they are constantly announcing plans to "keep the kids safe from the evils of the Internet and computer games". This is definately a vote-winner, because given that Australia's population is skewed towards the older demographic, there will be a lot more people pleased by this policy than upset. Censorship is also an effective bargaining chip when trying to get ultra-conservtive independent politicians to help pass legislation.

The contrast comes in TV and radio. Any attempts to censor them would be met by outrage, because they are not a niche market like computer games. So, while the Government is trying to save us all from being morally corrupted by computers, prime-time TV and radio regularly feature profanity. Australia's TV censorship is self-regulated by the industry, so you will regularly hear "fuck" and "shit" on prime-time free-to-air TV chat shows, and all day on certain radio stations. Music is played uncensored on the Government-funded Triple J youth radio network, and radio hosts will regularly swear their heads off and frankly discuss sexual matters. The partly Government-funded SBS free-to-air TV network regularly features shows that could only be described as "European soft-core porn".

So, it is not that we are a country of prudes or anything like that, it is simply the case that computer games and the Internet have gained in popularity, and hence caught the eyes of regulators and lawmakers, while we have been suffering under a conservative Govenment.

Hopefully they will be voted out in tomorrow's elections, but that seems unlikely based on present polling.

Who Cares?

[TheRealMindChild]

Sure it is a whole country that Sierra can't sell to, but I think the very content that they are banning the game for is the very reason a lot of people play the game (or at least got into the series in the first place), so changing it in any regard to get around the sensorship would comprimise the marketability of the game.

Eventually, we will look back on these days when we tried to control the media content people were exposed to and laugh.... or we will all be in cages with a barcode tattooed to our necks.

really funny

[alatesystems]

If you really want to experience this game in it's full glory, you can rip it to you hard drive after you buy it and then apply a patch to it that you can download online. It unlocks all these things like nudity and other stuff that isn't normally available. This isn't like the nude hack for DOA replacing textures, this is actually unlocking portions of the game that I guess they had to lock for distribution in various markets.

It's a very hilarious game.

Chris

Shhh!

[koi88]

It can't be any worse than an "American Pie" type movie

Shhh... don't say the name so loud. It won't be cheap, but I know somebody who can get you this kind of stuff...

So we're advocating piracy now?

[bluemeep]

"Oh well, off to bit torrent I go..."

Assuming the poster is from Australia, can't he just import instead of resorting to theft? Or is flat out possession of the title illegal?

Re:So we're advocating piracy now?

[ajd1474]

Yes it is illegal to sell, import, hire or own the game now that it has been refused classification. For god sake, why cant they just introduce an R Rating! There are so many MA15+ games that SHOULD be R rated, but they arent bad enough to ban, so they just make them MA15+ instead... i mean how daft is that! For those who've been following this. Steve Bracks, the Victorian Premier is talking about introducing R rated games legislation for Victoria. (it'll never happen) but at least someone is doing something.

Oh my God!

[Anonymous Coward]

These depictions occur in "full-motion video sequences" and include instances such as Larry receiving below-screen fellatio from Koko. "Sucking sounds are heard," said the OFLC.

Oh my!

Seriously, come on, why exactly should this game be banned? Who exactly is it going to shock? Veterans of the series will know what to expect when buying this game, but then so will newcomers because the game is marked as 15+ only!

Honestly, if this is for 'the kids' then why can't you just accept that most of them have seen porn already and this is not exactly the kind of thing that is going to have them complain is it?!

How about

[EvilNutSack]

It should be banned because it's a crap game? The joke wore off after Leisure Suit Larry 1...

I Love America

[BigDogCH]

"Sometimes they have to add a nude/sex scene that has nothing to do with the plot, just to get that all-important rating."


And to this I say, I LOVE AMERICA!

Copyright violation advocate?

[myc_lykaon]

Oh well, off to bit torrent I go..."

A friend of mine is involved in the production of LL:MCL - its sales pay my friend. So, rather than protest the rather odd decision of the OFLC by contacting/protesting/petitioning the OFLC or even importing a copy you wish to penalize my friend... Your logic is infallible.

Re:Copyright violation advocate?

[aelbric]

With all due respect, there are those that believe it is perfectly ethical to disregard a law that one considers immoral or unjust as long as it does not present risk to anyone else. True, grabbing this title from P2P will not give any revenue to the developers, but they are not getting any revenue from Australia anyway. Also, P2P presents only risk to the person acquiring it instead of the person trying to illegally bring it into the country for someone else. I would say that if they can grab it, go for it. Be prepared to suffer the consequences if necessary.

Now, anyone who does this outside .au has my contempt.

Copy it?

[isorox]

Oh well, off to bit torrent I go...

So you're going to copy it (hurting the game maker) because your government is stupid? The real solution is buy it from abroad and import it, and while you're waiting for it to arrive, write to your MP and newspaper and point out the fact you're sending money abroad instead of keeping it local.

Re:Copy it?

[QuantumG]

"copyright theft" is not an actual crime, you just made it up or are repeating some bastardization of the law. Here in Australia we don't have criminal copyright infringement, that's some crazy shit the americans made up. On the other hand, you're statement about importing is more debatable. I'll just ask my girlfriend who happens to work in freight and knows all the customs regulations. She says that customs would not be involved because they don't regulate internet traffic. Recently some movie critics were apauled that Ken Park was refused classification. They decided to import it and put on a screening. These are well respected movie critics and it would not do to have them locked up and thrown in jail for importing the movie. So thier lawyers instructed them to send the film over the net (with the permission of the creators of the film) and this would not be considered importing it. They did this and when they announced the public screening of the film the police showed up and took the CD out of the drive and physically prohibited them from playing it.

I think Kevin Smith gonna sue somebody!!

[bckrispi]

Brodie : Hey, look at that ring. What is that?
Jared Svenning : That is, um, my Junior College class ring. Cum Laude, '69.
Brodie : I also hope to cum loud one day, preferably in a 69.

You could have given a spoiler warning

[Russellkhan]

Of course it's too late now, you've ruined the plot for the rest of us!

Without Al Lowe?

[glowimperial]

I'm not buying a LSL game that doesn't have Al Lowes greasy paws all over it. I used to buy Sierra games because they had the best designers, making the best games. Now, they are just milking licenses.