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San Andreas Banned In Australia
UoNTidal writes "The Sydney Morning Herald reports that following the revelation that the 'Hot Coffee' sex minigame was included in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the Office of Film & Literature Classification has revoked the game's classification, making it illegal for the game to be sold in its current form in Australia. As the highest classification available [PDF link] for computer games is MA15+ (as opposed to R18+ for films that can be sold in all states and territories), the sex scenes in 'Hot Coffee' pushed the game outside the permitted content for that rating, effectively banning the game."
Only outlaws will have games!
A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
Over the past couple of years, whenever there is a story about censorship involving the net or games, chances are it was coming out of Australia.
And I used to think the US was bad in these types of things. I'm sure the congressmen senators will be going to Australia now for censorship training camps. But who knows...
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
I'm consistently confused.
Why is blowing people's heads off considered less serious than sex? I San Andres I could conduct a drive-by shooting, or otherwise brutally murder someone. But having sex results in an older age limit?
Even if this is sex with a prostitute, or going several steps further if it is rape, then surely that remains less serious than murder, or mass murder.
It is said that murderous video games don't make murderers (on the whole, for the millions that play). Is the assumption different for other crimes, if so is there any evidence, and if not why restrict them?
It could be said that minors (however defined) shouldn't be exposed to sex (or sex in a violent context), but then why is it more OK for them to be exposed to murder? Does anyone have a rational argument either way?
Wasn't australia FOUNDED by outlaws?
What's next, Rockstar employees get put on no-fly lists, and are forced to walk around in public wearing special armbands?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
If this is the only requirement to ban/reclassify games, then anything modifiable (or hackable) can and should also be banned.
If the content is in the product, but is not able to be accessed through "normal" means (read: non modification, either via patching or device such as PAR) then why is the product being rated based on said effectively disabled content?
Killing police, running over people in cars, drive-by shootings, massive gang wars, drugs, stealing cars, prostitution, hate crimes, explicit language, and everything else in the game are somehow appropriate.
Consensual sex mini game that isn't very graphic or raunchy? BAN BAN BAN BAN!!!
If you want to ban GTA:SA for the violence, drugs, and language that's fine by me. If all of a sudden sex is so wrong to be a bannable offense, I wonder how much longer Australia will have people in it? A little extreme, but still.
I'm curious to know how Australians feel about this. Hopefully outraged and pissed off, because I know I would be.
assuming that MA15+ means 15 and older, does that mean that an Australian 15 yo kid is equally equipped to handle graphic violence as a 17 yo kid in the US?
Like Robert Heinlein said: "government is 3/4 parasitic and the rest stupid fumbling". Just another instance of the really fucked up governments we've created and given power. More and more I think we should line all the politicians up and shoot them. Get me close enough to any of the bastards behind this and I'll spit in his face.
Also, to anyone in Australia who needs GTA I'm sure you can find someone elsewhere who will mail it to you for the cost of the game + shipping. I'd be happy to. Or hit limewire, grab it, and send 40 bucks to Rockstar.
I use to complain quietly, but I'm increasingly willing to be loud and obnoxious about it.
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
We're still trying to get an adult games rating out here in convict-land. Australian Adult Gamers was the fore-front of an organised effort but it looks like the site has gone and I cannot find a replacement
How would Australian politicians feel if they found out about the unseemly underbelly of MMOG's? Seriously, for a second, what's so different from poor Johny (protect the childrens!) applying a mod to a game and seeing content that's at the very least R-rated (haven't seen it m'self, dunno how bad it is) and poor Johny stumbling into someone's weird little chat in a MMOG? Or, forgetting games altogether, a chat room?
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
And GTA:SA never had that hot coffee mod turned on by default. It's the same as nude skins in The Sims s, which I assume is rated T for Teens.
The Sims 2 should get banned in Australia too, and a whole other list of games I'm sure someone else would provide here.
At least there is a specified rating guide for content instead of an arbitrary one. According to Australian rating codes from TFA, the mini-game pushes it beyond the acceptable rating in the sex category. A mini-game is a little bit more than implied (although it is still modified in order to access the content).
MA15+: The impact of material classified MA 15+ should be no higher than strong.
THEMES: The treatment of strong themes should be justified by context.
VIOLENCE: Violence should be justified by context. Sexual violence may be implied, if justified by context.
SEX: Sexual activity may be implied.
LANGUAGE: Strong coarse language may be used. Aggressive or very strong coarse language should be infrequent.
DRUG USE: Drug use should be justified by context.
NUDITY: Nudity should be justified by context.
R18+: The impact of material classified R 18+ should not exceed high.
THEMES: There are virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes.
VIOLENCE: Violence is permitted. Sexual violence may be implied, if justified by context.
SEX: Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is "simulation, yes - the real thing, no".
LANGUAGE: There are virtually no restrictions on language.
DRUG USE: Drug use is permitted.
NUDITY: Nudity is permitted.
The Overall Stupidity Quotient of the world just reached a record level...
Unbe-fucking-leavable...
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Seriously, there have been like fifty stories about Hot Coffee on Slashdot, and yet each time the same comments get modded up:
1. Violence and crime are worse than consentual sex.
2. The sex minigame wasn't even accessible without modification/it's very difficult to access it.
3. Parents who bought a game called "Grand Theft Auto" for young kids shouldn't be able to yell at other people about irresponsibility.
4. It's much easier to get real porn than to get this mod.
5. All this is just politicians trying to gain support among the "think of the children" crowd.
6. (this one doesn't apply so much to Australia) The difference between its old rating and its new rating is only one year of age.
So moderators: I'm only half kidding when I say that these posts should be marked "Redundant", not insightful or interesting. Not anymore.
"As the highest classification available [PDF link] for computer games is MA15+ (as opposed to R18+ for films that can be sold in all states and territories), the sex scenes in 'Hot Coffee' pushed the game outside the permitted content for that rating, effectively banning the game."
But but, but Bill Gates said "MA15+ ought to be high enough a rating for anybody"!
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
A game being banned because of content which is disabled and requires installing a mod to enable it? I sincerely don't see why there should be any legal difference between the content being already on the CD and it being added by a mod (which isn't the case). But what do I know?
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
7. *whine whine* there was a story about this yesterday, and the same comments got modded up, *whine whine*
Seriously, we heard that one before too. Geez, try being original for once. An amalgamation of crappy posts does not an insightful post make, but I'm sure the mods don't know that.
Assume that you're either a) government official or b) the elderly.
What is the last thing you want to see? Of course, more mouths to feed. What do you want to see? Less mouths to feed.
Thus we have legal abortions, outlawed sex, encouraged violent games, needless ground wars that can't be won, ipso facto, et cetera, et cetera...
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Great. Now to get GTA in australia, your going to have to go to your local Mafia boss to get it for you.
In fact, that could be a pretty good mini game for the next GTA.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Are these the same people that said not watching commercials is illegal?
You know, it just occured to me that anyone savvy enough to download the Hot Coffee mod would also be savvy enough to download the whole damn game. So who have they stopped from seeing a poorly-rendered, fully-clothed comic sex game? Not a single goddamned person. They have, however, prevented plenty of innocent 17- to 26-year-old white males from knowing the sublime joy that is unloading two sawed-off shotguns into a cop.
Another one bites the dust
Selling hardcore pornography in Australia is still perfectly legal, even in the form of a game, so long as it's name is not GTA: San Andreas.
I could be wrong, but wouldn't "modding" this game in order to unlock the Hot Coffee mission entale cracking the game? Wouldn't this be a violation of the DMCA here in the US? If so, then why doesn't Rockstar/Politicians just prosecute everyone who has unlocked this mission? Sure its hidden in the game, but if it takes an illegal act to access, why is Rockstar to blame? Silly political posturing....
itadakimasu
I wonder if Australia knows about the vile sexual imagery I was able to unlock in Mario Paint?
I'm glad I don't live there. If any country is the first to ban or censor anything it's always good old Australia. Way to go guys.
I'm confused about the use of the word "ban". By the sounds of it, the game cannot legally be sold. But that doesn't mean it's banned. If you already have a copy, surely you're still allowed to run it?
And more to do with all the in-game jokes about the US-Austrailian War.
Why do I M2 everything negatively?
We don't actually have freedom of speech laws here. It's generally more of a "Freedom of speech is good, as long as you're not pissing anyone off" kind of thing.
This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
It's the same as nude skins in The Sims
No it isn't. As I understand it, the GTA:SA mod was essentially an Action Replay hack to unlock a door to a "Hot Coffee" room that already existed on the disc. The mod for The Sims, on the other hand, is user-created content.
Hacks in Mario Paint are more like the nude hacks for The Sims games than like the Hot Coffee hack for GTA:SA. There's a big legal difference between unlocking a door to a room that already existed (Hot Coffee) and adding completely user-created content to a game (Nude Sims, Mario Porn).
HE WASNT BEING SERIOUS
it clearly makes no sense when i can kill people...so wait..hey kids sex..whats that that doesnt exist but heres an m25 with m203 granade laucher..just for fun also i can see the amount of Bit Torrent traffic hitting the roof over in oz land
Visit My Blog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/chrisharries
I can just shake my head. sex in a game. Needs to be banned. Blowing heads of innocent bystanders, no problemo, go ahead.
:)
HOW stupid has the world become? Perhaps its time for some astroid wipeout. So that we again NEED sex to survive
[btw, I just had sex and it was definitly better than holding and shooting any gun]
"Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
Jokes do not prohibit serious replies.
I used to work at walmart during the gta3 release, apparently if I remember correctly, it was temporarily banned in the Au for lack of receiving a proper rating...That finally blew over, but not before seeding a myriad of roomers here in the states that gta3 was going to be banned and made illegal by the government. At least among typically joe sixpack walmart shoppers. I recall statements multiple times of the sort "Oh good you guys still have this yet, I need to get it before the ban" - or something to that effect.
It's just sickening how grossly a misunderstanding these people have of free speech and it's effect on them. And how they were perfectly complacent and saw no wrong in what the government was "doing." - Gross
I lived in Australia in the late 90s and all I can say is what a load of hypocrisy....
I remember after I moved there two distinct events. One was a television show which if I recall correctly was on the ABC (We Americans would call it PBS) was called "Sex Live" and I was stunned to see the level of graphic sexual content in this show. The 1st show I remember seeing was on how creative a woman could be with her "Map of Tasmania" - Muff to the Yanks - and all I remember thinking is "This wouldn't even pass Cinemax at 2am".
The 2nd was the day after I arrived in Melbourne 2 local policemen were killed in the line of duty. The Australian press had this as a front page headline for nearly 2 weeks. As a transplanted New Yorker living in California, I recalled thinking "This would make the front page news for what, a day?"
I own the PC version of GTA:SA and I can't think that anything I've seen in it so far would raise the hackles of Aussies aside from the violence. If they can show muff makeovers on their free-to-air TV, during a primetime slot no less, why on Earth would the stupid sexual mini-game in GTA:SA even BOTHER your typical Australian? Did Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton start randomly ringing 011-61 numbers and get hold of John Howard or Kim Beazley? Frankly, the fact that there's as much cop killing in GTA:SA and the fact that it seemed all of Australia was in an uproar about these two cops getting shot I could understand the game being banned due to violence - but the sex?
Granted, Aussies are subjected to alot of American TV and idealisms but most that I remember either looked at it as crap or weren't impressed. Funny how it turns that moralisms change upon which way the wind is blowing in North America.
We Welcome Austraila into the union as the 51st state and will hence be renamed "South Hawaii". Please turn in all your stores of Vegemite and 4-20's for peanut butter and frozen burritos.
I had actually stopped playing GTA:SA after only an hour or two because it just wasn't that interesting. I'd liked GTA3, even. Now that everyone's talking about the game, I strangely have an urge to reinstall it....