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Left 4 Dead 2 Approved In Australia After Edits
Last month we discussed news that Valve's upcoming shooter Left 4 Dead 2 had been denied classification in Australia, which meant the game could not be legally sold there. Now, after a series of edits which removed "considerable amounts of gore from gameplay," Australia's classification board has given the game an MA15+ rating. Their new report (PDF) says, "No wound detail is shown and the implicitly dead bodies and blood splatter disappear as they touch the ground. ... The board notes that the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment." The unmodified version of the game may still be approved, pending a review that concludes on October 22nd.
Make friends with people around the world to get around this, simply get them to buy you L4D2 as a gift through Steam and because your buddy bought it in a 'unmodded' country, you'll get all the gore! BTW - this does work, a friend buys a German guy all his stuff so he has the gore and then PayPal's him back the cash
The whole issue about an R18+ rating not existing for games in Australia is down to a single person - the Attorney General of South Australia - Michael Atkinson, refusing to sign off on it. All of his counterparts are in support of the R18+ rating.
His argument revolves around people under 18 being able to obtain the game somehow and the game making an 'impression' on them.
A fair argument to some extent (when I was in my teens not too long ago there were a few things online that made an 'impression' on me), but the lack of R18+ rating is making the problem worse.
Unfortunately, his state government seat is a very, very safe seat. If he won't budge until the next election (next year?), I hope some idiot corporation tries to lure him out of government.