Australia To Get Half-Life 2

Aussie gamer gimpacause writes After reading about the possibility of HL2 not coming to Australia I was shocked and angered, but a story on Gamespy says I don't have to worry. Better start saving for a new graphics card!" From the article: "Half-Life 2 will be released Down Under, since OFLC rated Half-Life 2 MA 15 + for High Level Animated Violence."

Comments

I knew this all along

[HeavyK]

I don't see how anyone could have thought that Half-Life 2 would be banned in Australia.
If SOF and SOF 2 could get passed totally uncut with the MA15+ rating then HL 2 definetly would.
The person who started the rumor obviously knew nothing about the classification system in Australia. Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs or even R ratings for games and movies. I'd say 90% of films and games rated 18+ in Britian and rated R/M in the U.S are given a MA15+ and sometimes even a M15+ down in Australia.

Re:I knew this all along

[urbaer]

Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs or even R ratings for games and movies.

When was the last time Australia gave out an R rating for a game? Some people might point out that Australia doesn't have an R rating for a game, which means that games like Larry are outright banned. Perhaps if we had an R rating in this country we'd have less games banned and less whining from 'current affair' shows about the dangers of gaming.

Re:I knew this all along

[brumby]

The person who started the rumor obviously knew nothing about the classification system in Australia. Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs or even R ratings for games and movies.

Um, we don't have an R rating for games in Australia. That was one of the things the Liberals abolished (or more accurately, never allowed to be brought in) when they were sucking up to senator Harradine. Got to take care of those poor, fragile Christian morals.

I'd say 90% of films and games rated 18+ in Britian and rated R/M in the U.S are given a MA15+ and sometimes even a M15+ down in Australia.

I don't have the figures to hand to say whether that's right or not, but yes, the OFLC does seem to be more leniant than it's overseas counterparts. As far as games go, they don't seem to like not having an R category, which would let them rank things on a similar scale to movies, so they appear to be letting the MA15+ rating accept a little more than it would if they were ranking movies. It's a fairly subjective process, so it depends heavily on the attitudes of the person making the final judgement call. However, a small change in the makeup of the OFLC and we could see games like HL2 being banned, so I can see how rumours like this get started.