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Left 4 Dead 2 Banned In Australia
An anonymous reader writes "According to Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification, Left 4 Dead 2's content exceeds that allowable for an MA15+ rating. Any such game is rated as Refused Classification, effectively banning it. From the report: 'The game contains realistic, frenetic, and unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon "the Infected" who are living humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently. The player can choose from a variety of weapons including pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and sniper rifles. However, it is the use of the "melee" weapons such as the crowbar, axe, chainsaw and Samurai sword which inflict the most damage. These close-in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore.'"
I didn't know valve did such a good job of making a proper gorey zombie game.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
The player can choose from a variety of weapons including pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and sniper rifles. However, it is the use of the "melee" weapons such as the crowbar, axe, chainsaw and Samurai sword which inflict the most damage. These close-in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore.
Seriously. Did they pay the ratings board to write that?
'However, it is the use of the "melee" weapons such as the crowbar, axe, chainsaw and Samurai sword which inflict the most damage.'
That's odd, I think I'd rather be hit by a crowbar than blasted with a shotgun. Oh well, only one way to find out.
" These close-in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore."
Sounds like a pretty convincing advertisement for the game! Darn astroturfers....
Seriously, the game is sold on Steam. Will steam sell you the game and let you play online if you have an australian IP address? Do they have to block you from purchasing it or not?
Looks like somebody high up in Austrialia is a wee-bit angry about not having any of the promised downloadable content of l4d...
Don't they have an 18+ rating for games in Australia?
Polls consistently show that the vast majority of gamers are adults.
The game that was so good it was banned in Australia.
Aren't there people over the age of 15 in Australia? If not the level of drinking in that country is really worrying.
This is different than the evening news? I'm all for sex over violence and a happy world but honestly the stuff that happens in that description is up nightly on TV.My friend down in AU says he watched 28 days/weeks later, so how is this any different?
Well, don't take this as support of the ban, but there is a difference between totally passively watching violence (and simulated violence) and actively controlling simulated violence. Different bits of the brain get used, and I believe there's some evidence that both can negatively impact social development in children, with the latter having a measurably stronger impact. I'm not aware of any research showing that either adversely affects adult behavior when viewed as an adult.
That, my friend, is where you're unfortunately wrong. You thought you didn't like the Witch before...
The silly thing is that when they ban a game, they increase the number of local torrenters, which increases availability to those under 18.
By this logic it should be just as illegal to direct a film like 28 days later in Australia
By the way, you should be modded down for the "but its harmful to children" argument you just used. The average age of an australian gamer has been shown to be over 30
We are not asking for games like this to be available to children, only that we can have a suitable rating for adults that wish to play games with adult content not intended for sale or consumption by chidren.
Valve's Zombie shooter has been refused classification, which means it can't be made commercially available in the country.
Valve should thumb their nose at Australia's rating board and make the game freely available there.
Yeah, I was tooootttally going to buy it in the shop before, but now I'll just have to pirate it.
Actually, a lot of people will have that reaction. I'm not planning on buying it any time soon (too many other great games coming out at the end of this year), but a local ban on it would certainly remove any of my moral reasons not to pirate it.