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New Aliens Vs. Predator Game Doesn't Make It Past AU Ratings Board
An anonymous reader writes "Australia refused to give Rebellion's new Aliens Vs. Predator game a rating, effectively banning it in the country. Rebellion says it won't be submitting an edited version for another round of classifications, however. (As Valve did with Left 4 Dead 2.) They said, 'We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.'"
Refusal to put up with bullshit like Australia and Germany's ratings boards is the only way to bring them down. Tolerance for censorship only breeds familiarity and further tolerance.
I think more games should be banned, especially popular ones, it's the only way something will eventually get done about it. Most people don't do anything until they get a kick in the arse.
And also this will hopefully let more people know about importing and digital distribution.
I'll be importing or buying it from Steam anyway, but I wonder if there will be any official Australian servers, might have to make do with New Zealand ones.
"we've got trenchcoats and bad attitudes" - John Constantine, HellBlazer
People who really want the game will just have it shipped in from a sane country.
"We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices."
That is the proper response. Good Job, Rebellion. I hope other developers follow your lead. I have a hunch there will be a lot of piracy of the game in Australia... but I guess it really won't be hurting their sales, will it? I wonder if they'll allow online play from Australia?
I'm glad developers are taking a stand and refusing to sugar coat their games.
When Australians decide to start acting like adults they can do something about their government. Meanwhile the rest of the world's people will continue to make make choices for themselves.
I am so Hyped for this game.
The fact that they are even rating it makes me giddy.
Quick explanation: Pretty much most of Australia would be happy to have an 'R' rating for computer games.
This guy (Michael Atkinson), however would not. He has the power to veto it and continues to do so.
Due to his geographical location, there's bugger all the majority of Australia can do about it from a voting perspective.
I don't blame game publishers for not releasing stuff here. Effectively we're all just waiting for 'Nanny' Atkinson to become senile and finally leave his post as South Australia's attorney general.
The thing that really worries me is how come they have this veto power for things like this in the first place....
I am sure that Australians that wanted to purchase and play this game, in Australia, will be disappointed, but I am very interested in seeing where this goes. If I were running a business internationally and a country put up artificial obstacles, I would cut ties immediately. It is issues like this that pushes the prices of all types of good higher and higher. There are too many different requirements from country to country and nanny states like Australia makes it all worse. Hell, I had to purchase a friend a copy of L4D2(I am in the USA, he is in Australia) so that he could play the games as it was meant to be played. Now, he has purchased two copies of the same game, which is beyond ridiculous. Perhaps, if more game studios refuse to playing by Australia's nonsense rules, there will be quick change to their rating standards.
Despite the fact that many video gamers want a R18+ rating in Australia for video games like there is in movies, and there is near unanimous to implement one, the Attorney General of South Australia (heavy Christian Conservative) doesn't approve, so it cant go through. It should be based on majority, not need for unanimity. Its not a jury, and doesnt require measures from one.
You are now mixing kids with adults and this game is not made for kids, it's for adults so your argument goes out of the window right now. Besides, how are the games as you listed wrong? I had tons of fun playing DOOM and Mortal Kombat. Not kids games, but i did play them as a kid, so did you propably but that doesn't mean that every violent game should be banned.
I love violent games. That doesn't mean that i go postal and kill everyone for real. It's entertaining to have some alien go up on a human, smack brains on the wall and go for next victim. It's fun. It's not real. It's a GAME.
Sure, i wouldn't want my kids to see that stuff, when they are kids but there are age ratings for a games for a reason. Why the hell Australia doesn't allow some games for anyone, not even over 18 years old?
Why some games are completely banned? Who are they protecting?
Yeah, because places like Canada and Norway, and most other countries where these games are also legally purchased are having those problems as well.
Oh. Wait.
I've heard of people making the mistake of assuming correlation to mean a possible causal link, but this doesn't even correlate in most countries that have no problem allowing these games. Your reasoning is the same as Homer wanting Lisa's tiger repelling rock.
The problems you describe have to do with much larger underlying problems than anything video games of any sort bring to the table.
Ice Cream has no bones.
Curious, how is violence shown in the media over there? I know in the states it's watered down compared to some international news I've watched (where you see actual bodies and not just a map of the general area). If anything, I think that helps people accept it and not feed into the hype around it. That said, this game would get an M rating over here, or from what I've read in the other comments, they need some sort of 18+ in Austrailia. As in, you won't be able to purchase the game unless you're 18, there's no valid "think of the children" excuse when you're old enough to buy cigarettes. Sure some kids will have their parents buy the game, but that's who should be putting the foot down. From your comment, it seems like you would decide not to purchase the game for your kids. Which is fine, as long as it's your decision and not the governments.
People even in their 20's and 30's grew up playing "games" of execution (Mortal Kombat) and mass murder simulators (Doom), alienating us from society.
How and why were you alienated from society?
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Any evidence that this ban on games has had any effect on crime rates in Austalia? Compared with a similar sized country with no strict censorship? Just interested actually, as I have no idea if there is any evidence.
If a ratings board bans their game, even if it's a derivative piece of movie-spawned crap, it's pure gold for marketing. There's no way that the Australian government is going to block kids from getting the game...they will find a way one way or the other. But they're definitely doing yeoman's work in promoting the game everywhere by giving it a big "bad" rating. All the ratings system does is provide a free benchmark for a particular genre to strive for because they know that's what will turn heads and sell their product.
I know that if I were representing the company for this product, I'd be scheduling a big party to celebrate the rating and ban, not trying to make a political/free speech point out of it. The ratings system is an amazing helping hand to this particular venue.
Because of course, as the level of detail in violent games has gone up, so has the rate of violent crimes.
Because of course, all those people who played "execution" games like mortal kombat (as an aside, are you bloody serious?) go around karate-chopping and executing people.
Because of course, all those people who played mass murder simulators like Doom (as another aside, REALLY? Have you actually PLAYED Doom?) go around... mass murdering people.
Because of course, there's a proven link between violent videogames and violent behaviour.
Because of course, having an R rating means children will buy R games.
Because of course, it's up to the state to decide what children play, not their parents.
Because of course, adults can't tell the difference between a game where you're an alien, or killing aliens, and reality.
What your post basically demonstrates to me is that you don't really get it. We don't want an R rating so KIDS can play R rated games, you tool, it's so ADULTS can play them. Also, before you go equating YOUR opinion to that of the majority of Australians, why don't you try MAYBE checking the statistics on that particular claim.
Finally - HOW DOES IT SAVE LIVES!? You can run over pedestrians in GTA and yet banning Left4Dead2 and AVP saves lives? Are you a troll or are you really that ConservAmerican?
Does Australia have a military where people are trained in various ways to kill other people?
And those same people who are allowed to kill people during conflicts in places like Iraq or Afghanistan are not allowed to play a video game where they could kill space aliens?
Is adult virtual violence against aliens worse than real violence against real people?
--jeffk++
ipv6 is my vpn
Jack Thompson, you've moved to slashdot. Your so called "public safety measure" is really censorship.
Normally I'd tell you to get the hell out of my country but, well, you already did. So, good job. I commend you. Most people who live in the US throw away their freedom and ruin it for the rest of us. You actually did the proper thing and moved to a country where you don't have that freedom in the first place.
Thank you, really, thank you.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
censoring games doesn't save lives. Comparing it to seat belts is idiotic. I have played violent games my whole life. I actually lean towards them. The more realistic it is when i hit the guy in the head with the hammer the better. That said i am known around my job and friends as the pacifist. Mind you i will fight when necissary but i would rather not go through the hassel.
Violence in society is not propagated by violence in games(or movies for that matter). The state of the youth of your country is directly related to how your children are raised by parents. People blame videogame violence to cover the fact that they suck at parenthood.
Here is they key. Make sure to teach children the line between fantasy and reality. Then they can play GTA and Postal 2 all they want and never have the urge to kill anyone.
and to Sexykellyosbourne(cant read that without laughing) My children, i hope, will enjoy Mortal Kombat and Doom as much as i did. I definately dont consider them wrongs, those are fond childhood memories.
"People here who want to get this game will, just as they will anything else out there -- but there's a difference between getting that in the underground and mass marketing it to society in a race to the bottom for a quarterly profit." yes people will get it but they shouldnt have to go to the underground to get it. If anything this hurts more than helps. Because now u took someone who might have never broken any laws and made them a criminal. As with many things it could serve as a gateway to other illegal activities.
The banning of violent video games has nothing to do with protecting anyone or lower the violence rate. IT is about forcing one groups morality(which is completely Subjective) on everyone. Just because your pathetic mind can't seperate the game from the real world doesn't mean i shouldn't get to enjoy my favorite passtime.
I would expect a headline when something does make it past the ratings board, not when it's rejected - much too common now.
I know it might come as shock to some here but Australia doesn't want to be like America!. Most Australians dont see being able to own a gun as "freedom" and despite participating in Iraq Australians generally have a different attitude to war. I dont completely agree with the game censorship, but we need to draw the line somewhere.
actually, if you read the reason as to why AvP was banned, its because of the highly realistic depiction of humans being killed... specifically by predators who can gouge people's eyes outs, tear off their heads and pocket them as a trophy.
Violent games don't turn kids into violent criminal. But bad parenting (or no parenting at all!) sure can.
Every time I hear: "Oh, my Johnny was such a nice boy, until he played those violent games. They turned him into a violent rapist and killer!"
I would like to respond: "No, lady, you did a crap job as a parent. He would have ended up that way anyway, without violent games."
People don't like to accept that fact that it is their own fault for how their kids grow up.
For politicians, it is easier to point a finger at the games companies. They don't have the courage to tell the general public: "Look, please spend more time with your children." That would be political suicide.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Would not a better way be to allow the 18+ designation but say, increase the fines for game stores selling high rated games to those too young to play them, hrmm, about 2000% higher?
This would help curb the flagrant disregard most games stores have for such ratings at least (particularly if the new funds were used to cover more under-cover checks.
...
I'm sure this will get played up eventually. Remember when that crappy game Bully was pulled from certain shelves? Banning stuff seems to make it more desirable to complete dimwits.
Even stuff that has never been banned from anything ever, but has implications of being banned is somehow more desirable. Consider that Affliction MMA special "Banned" from a few years back. I was in college at the time, and it seemed every cement head obsessed with mixed martial arts was going on and on about wanting to buy new special that had been "banned just about everywhere, bro" (or sometimes, "brah").
I sincerely doubt the devs are worried. In fact, they're probably pray for some retail chain in the states to "ban" selling the title.
Name...That...Autocomplete!
... the honest, hard-working pirates of Australia (and maybe the world) will dutifully punish them for not properly distributing their game.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
As an American who moved to Australia a few years ago and married into citizenship, I actually support Australia's strong stance against violent video games and a violent society. The contrast is especially strong when you return to the states for a month or two.
...
It's not a popular opinion, so rate me down, do what you want, but I'm speaking how I and most other Australians I know feel.
Do you consider yourself Australian now? If so, please, please, please renounce your American citizenship.
Thank you.
For the record, I and all of my friends (we're 17) play violent video games, but we are capable of distinguishing between real life and the games ourselves.
Ill be picking up a copy just for support. Its about time childish governments were treated like children.
And yet the rest of the world has these 'violent video games' and the contrast varies greatly from country to country. Hell, just try to tell me that these violent video games are making people in Switzerland more violent than those in Australia. Seriously...
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Non-sense! Only 18 year olds truely understand.
You should be playing games like Pokemon and battling out horribly drawn creatures till they 'faint' instead of 'die'.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Thus derailing the whole democratic process.
It's already derailed, at least in the United States. The general public tend to choose among the top two to four candidates that have been on national TV. The TV news networks (ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC) control which candidates can be on national TV, and they're all MPAA members. Of course they won't give screen time to any candidate that won't toe the copyright industry's party line.
And what about when you realize the banning is largely symbolic because the game can easily be ordered online?
And have customs stop it at the border.
And if you think it makes any difference to an otherwise-normal teenager or adult if they play violent games, or view porn, or not, you're sadly mistaken. A survey by a UK university recently wanted to analyse the difference between people who did view violent / pornographic material and those who did not. They could not find a single suitable person to analyse, who'd never been exposed to either. This is pretty much the same throughout human history once a person hits a certain age.
Humans are animals, we are built by nature to compete, be strong, even fight among each other, and to have sex. Like every other animal on the planet. And if you think that *viewing* such actions makes any difference to an otherwise-normal person, you're wrong. I can watch someone smoke on television (or in the case of one parent, every single day at home) and not want to fill my lungs with poisonous gases, even when I was a teenager and had my schoolmates encouraging me (never even tried it, never want to try it) - it's called a conscience and it's also called educating your children properly.
Unfortunately the exact actions you support (banning material of that nature) makes it impossible for people to adjust to and determine the proper place of such material. Nobody wants 11-year-olds playing Grand Theft Auto or psychotics playing Doom - that's what ratings are designed to prevent but require a *sensible* adult the other end to enforce, otherwise known as a parent/guardian - but ordinary, everyday, human beings should become acclimatised to such material - or you know what happens? The same as when you withhold a substance and then only introduce it later in life - over-reaction to that substance (e.g. allergies, intolerances, obsessive behaviour etc.).
When governments babysit, you end up with babies. When parents parent, you end up with human children and adults.
The extreme violence the US suffers is the result of NOT having the nanny-state. Except it has NOTHING to do with censorship on its own, but rather the "I want to do everything I want to do and nobody can stop me or expect anything from me" attitude. It is the attitude where the Simpsons are not seen as a parody but as a role model.
Since the 19th century we have moved slowly to a society where parents want things to be different from how things were for them. And I am NOT talking about improved living standards, schooling etc etc. Rather, more and more parents want fewer rules for their kids, to be more friendly with them and even, remain kids themselves. In previous times, kids were mini-adults, dressing the same as their elders as soon as possible and giving gradually the some responsibilities and chores. A kid was an adult to be. Now remaining a child has become an option.
On its own, there seems little wrong with this, until you realize what being a teenage rebel is all about. A teenager must rebel against the rules of his society. What people then get wrong is that they think it matters what those rules are. It does not. You can give a teenager a curfew of 21:00, 23:00 or even 3:00. A teen WILL attempt to push beyond it. Give the teen no curfew whatsoever and what must they then break? Stay out for several days?
It is in a way like the speed limit. It doesn't really matter how high you set it, people will still speed. You can of course argue to remove the speed limit altogether, but then people will just drive on the wrong side of the road. Remove all road rules? We introduced them for a reason. Ain't very handy to drive 120km/h and not be certain others will NOT be coming your way at the same speed.
When you see stories like "kid kills brother for x-box", this has NOTHING to do with gaming. You just have a kid who has never learned restraint. That you can't always get what you want when you want it. Censorship of games doesn't work, after all the same things happen over shoes and how violent can shoes be?
Violence doesn't teach kids to be violent, it is parents who are still acting as children themselves who haven't taught their kids ANYTHING, that causes violence. And this is not an instant process, it has been going on for many generations.
To those who applaud the increased rebellion and lack of rules, you forget, you can't rebel against no rules whatsoever. Society needs people who defy the rules but it also needs people to create new rules to keep society working.
"If I have furthest, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants". Nice quote, but most people then think those giants are other great visionaries, leaders, rebels. Nope. Einstein stood on the shoulders of the baker who baked his bread. His mother, who breastfed him. His teacher who changed his pants when he peed himself on his first day in school. The cop that kept him from being killed by highwaymen (what highwaymen you ask? Exactly) long before he even started thinking.
Society needs a core that works well. On it, a small group of people can rebel, push the limits etc etc. Hippies need the protection of the soldiers willing to die to defend them. Those soldiers of course also need someone to speak out against their lives being used for political gaines. It is how society works, or rather worked.
Or maybe it still works and we just pay more attention to the rumblings of the machinery these days. Extreme violence has gone on since the dawn of humanity, even chimps hunt and slaughter not for food but for the thrill of it.
But knee-jerk reactions by blaming something for all societies wrongs are as old as time as well. Society is collapsing, kill some christians!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Nanny State.
Refusal to put up with bullshit like Australia and Germany's ratings boards is the only way to bring them down. Tolerance for censorship only breeds familiarity and further tolerance.
But the censoryhip of naked breasts/problematic concepts in america is ok?
so people in aus can download it and not be a pirate?
at lest pc's don't have region lock out.
First, you're not yet an Australian. Technically and legally you might be, but you have a long ways to go before being one culturally. You also have absolutely no idea how most australians feel on the matter. I suggest you look into why the rating is held up in the first place. (hint: because of one man disagreeing with the majority)
You're also exaggerating the differences between the US and Aus greatly. The difference isn't anything like you imply.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
aliens vs predator board game doesnt make it past au ratings ...
about right.
if you, and everyone you know stands up for the truth; so that every jury rejects the false criminalisation and anal rape of non violent political prisoners, the old generation of greedy sado moralists will die together with their cannabis will be legalised; the future generations will look back at our contradictory confusion with bemusement.
That's a bad comparison.
Switzerland is not allready plagued with violence and crime. America is. And now let's go add some training simulations...
Why? Why do you have to draw the line somewhere? You are talking about a line where some adults get to tell other adults what material is safe for them to see?
No it isn't.
But it has violent video games. Thus, perhaps all this violence and crime is caused by something else other than video games.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
I'm not the GP obviously but I'm a dual US-Australian citizen and have lived in both countries extensively so I feel I can answer this.
The key difference between the US and Australia when it comes to censorship is not really the severity of censorship, but rather what it is targeted at. Australia frowns more upon depictions of violence, the US more against nudity, sex, and profanity
Violence on TV news in Australia is therefore glossed over much like it is in the US. The exception to this is the SBS news (SBS is a channel primarily showing content from overseas, including full, unedited news bulletins from stations in many other countries).
So with violence - not much difference. However, US media censors nudity and swearing WAY, WAY, WAY more than in Australia. In Australia full frontal nudity is perfectly allowable (and not uncommon) on standard free to air stations after a certain time of night. Similarly, even prime time shows can contain a decent amount of swearing (including 'serious' swear words that you would never hear on US TV). By comparison, I've heard US media bleep out some words that we wouldn't even consider swear words in Australia! Australian TV never 'edits movies for TV' or 'bleeps' anything out, really. Except maybe in the after-school timeslot (say 4pm-6pm).
So on balance, I have to say censorship is much more stringent in the US than in Australia. Similar for violence on TV, but much less strict with nudity, sex and swearing. As an example, the furore in the US over the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident a few years ago would never have even raised an eyebrow here in Australia.
You have to remember that the incident in the TFA is simply that the game was too violent to fall under the MA15+ rating, and because there IS no R18+ rating for games, it couldn't be classified. They didn't actively say "we are not allowing this because we don't like it". It's not strictly speaking a "ban". You are still perfectly entitled to import a copy or buy it from Ebay. You just cannot ~sell it on the shelves~ in Australia. It's simply that the classification board cannot place it under any of the ratings they have available to them. And as explained in several other posts in this thread, an R18+ rating for games is essentially being blocked by a single man - the South Australian Attorney-General. Every other jurisdiction (and most of the population) would support an R18+ rating for games.
There will be a black market for AvP now. You will go down town and find a drug dealer and be all like "yo homie, can I have a pack of death sticks? - Oh, and do you have a copy of AvP as well?"
Any time people pull this shit, kindly point out to them that since 1993, violent crime in all civilized nations has been on the decline, except in places like Sweden and Switzerland where it has stayed roughly the same, because it was never very high to begin with. This encompasses the era of pretty much all mass market video games. (For reference, Super Nintendo came out in 1992) Australia is actually an exception to this. I'm not saying that's significant, just that it's weird given the story.
An entire generation has grown up playing Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Doom, Quake, Postal, Carmageddon, Grand Theft Auto Cop Killer Simulator Edition, etc., and violent crime has gone down. The homicide rate in the US is the lowest it's been since 1965, when there were 100,000,000 fewer people.
--Obyron
Don't know why you got modded up so much, with this flamebait suggesting Australia isn't free. I could point to many areas where the US is substantially less 'free' than Australia (including censorship - the degree to which you censor/bleep nudity and profanity from movies and TV shows over there is kinda amusing).
Anyway, the poster you are replying to is a little misguided and certainly does not reflect majority Australian opinion. Most Australians DO want an R18 rating for games. We are generally far less prudish than the average American, actually, when it comes to what we do and don't want to see.
Also there's no real 'ban' here. You can still import the game or order it online, no problems. You just can't stock it on retail shelves in Australia because it hasn't been officially rated. The lack of a R18 rating meant the game couldn't be fit into any of the rating categories the classification board had available to it. Not much they can do about it.
Most people, the Federal Government, and every State government in Australia, ~except one~, supports an R18 rating for games being introduced to remedy the problem. I mean, there's an R18 rating for videos and movies etc...so it makes sense to have one for games. But the South Australian A-G is vetoing the amendment to the law at the moment.
As soon as that man is out of office (which will happen, sooner or later), I fully expect this situation to be remedied. There is substantial public movement behind this and we are doing it in a democratic way. In much the same way as Americans would go about getting an antiquated law updated. We aren't substantially less free than the Americans ... I don't know where that idea comes from. We have virtually the same democratic institutions and fundamental founding principles as you do (indeed, the drafters of the Australian Constitution and Federal Government system borrowed heavily from the good bits of the US system).
Mod parent up. The GP does not reflect majority Australian opinion on this. Once the one guy that is holding this up is voted out/retires, we'll get our R18 rating for games. But as with all things in Government, it takes time.
In the meantime, buy it from Ebay and enjoy the game. It's not 'banned' from being owned by people in Australia, it's merely not able to be sold on shelves ... that's all.
Ahh thats realistic
You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
The ban hammer situation on games here in Australia is a joke. The situation is made mostly because the peps I voted for won't introduce an R18+ rating for games.
I find it odd - I can obtain content of women and men (real, organic, breathing) engaging in activities many would find disturbing. I am legally allowed to do that. I am not legally allowed to do anything perverse in the digital world. That sex educator game I've always wanted will be illegal before a single line of code is written.
Mind you I am one of a minority group and would say most things is A-OK in the digital world. Yes yes. I want baby shaker app on the Wii with a bluetooth rag doll and loads of sensors. Bonus points for exposing said doll to 10G, 50kg of pressure and drowning.
It seems to me that there's an amusing lag in regulatory / legal processes. Seems like if you're an MP or a judge, the dangerous, illegal, subversive stuff if "Stuff that's happened since I was 21". The established Right Way that we all acknowledge as Truth is "How things were before I was 21". In a decade or two we're perhaps going to see MPs who have a more realistic attitude to internet censorship, copyright, etc (modulo lobbying by business, of course!) and the terrifying new technology that's corrupting our children will be augmented reality, neural uplinks, or fully functional Terminators or something - whatever the alarmingly young and unruly kids are currently playing with.
As others have noted, it's apparently not possible to assign 18+ (or equivalent) ratings to games in Australia, so it's not necessarily like the classification people are censoring it - you make a game that "should" have an 18+ rating, they're not able to give it that, they have no choice but to refuse classification. Who is responsible for this rule? It's they who is/are responsible for the video games being banned.
On one hand, I must applaud the integrity of a company that decides not to alter it's product to get around a stupid ban like this.
On the other hand, AvP is one of my least favorite franchises, and I wish it would just disappear and let us return to two totally seperate universes.
They are simply USK 18 or whatever it is called. Now censorship of nazi stuff is another can of worm imposed by the ally for the most and never repelled after they left (heck, imagine germany repelling those law, and all EU country MIGHT rise and maybe Israel MIGHT scream in anger. Safer for germany jsut to leave them, as they aren#t really damaging anybody TBH).
You are still perfectly entitled to import a copy or buy it from Ebay. You just cannot ~sell it on the shelves~ in Australia.
Despite what you'll read all over the internet, that is not true. If an item has been refused classification in Australia, its importation is restricted, and Customs will confiscate any of that item they find in incoming packages. Admittedly, looking for banned games being shipped in from Hong Kong or wherever isn't likely to be a particularly high a priority for them, so there's a good chance you wouldn't have a problem, but it's definitely not the case that you are 'perfectly entitled to import a copy'.
When they filmed their marionette sex scene for "Team America", Trey Parker and Matt Stone put in some crazy shit - literally. (And this was prior to the "Two Girls One Cup" phenomena :) They knew that the censors would not allow it, but they never intended them to allow it. They realized that the censors feel the need to remove something from these cutting edge films in order to sleep well at night.
Similarly, software designers could put some crazy stuff in (i.e. the airport scenario from "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", or "hot coffee" from GTA: San Andreas), and then submit the software for review, while they could automatically have the "censored" version ready for production or even shrink wrapped.
I dont completely agree with the game censorship, but we need to draw the line somewhere.
The first question that jumped to my mind when reading this is: Why? Don't feel special, it's something that always pops into my mind when someone "has to draw a line". Why do we have to draw the line somewhere on everything? There's IMO no reason that everything needs to be reglemented, sectioned into "ok" and "not for you". Who died and made someone else king to tell me what I may see?
Oh, it's gross, shocking, horrible and a few more things? That's war. You're lucky. You may choose whether you want to see it or not (ok, provided you're allowed to). A lot of people, including kids, ain't so lucky. But hey, here's a swell idea. Since you're so concerned with people seeing other people being mutilated, how about shipping everyone from a war zone who doesn't want to be there to you? I'm sure you have a spare bedroom or a million?
Or at least the kids under 18? Oh please, won't someone think of the kids? No?
Why is it that the same people who are so horribly afraid of shoing our kids virtual violence go apeshit over shipping kids out of areas where they see real violence (and towards them)?
Note: I'm not a US american and over 18. Just to refute the immediate knee-jerk response that I'd certainly get without this note.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's worse. You end up with unprepared, unfit to live people who are turning 18 and are suddenly switched from being unable to do anything on their own without someone holding their hand to being legally responsible for everything they do. You create people who are so used to everything concerning them being regulated, limited and pampered that they are unprepared for their actions suddenly having consequences. That their signatures suddenly has power. Over them, if they're not careful.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm pretty sure they won't be allowed to "faint" anymore any time soon, much too violent! Instead, when they're beaten they take their ball and yell "You're mean, I'm not playing with you anymore!"
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Before you all start pissing on Oz, saying we're all children, can't think for ourselves, etc.. oh, too late, fancy that. All I can say is, coming from 10 years of having your (US) gov't lie to your face and take you to war, those comments are a bit rich. This is just a computer game. When was your last "armed revolution", huh? Now shut the hell up about my country. Trot over to your precious WalMart, buy a broom and go sweep.
Now that's out of the way, here's some of the debate going on right now about this very issue. Yes, we're not happy having things banned for us, and it won't last. The problem is there's *no* "R" rating for games. None. As soon as we get an R rating into the system, there will be no need for a ban.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/13/2742345.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2009/2749224.htm
A petition was handed to Mr Atkinson months ago.. so much for petitions I guess.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/25/2526244.htm
The problem is not with "Australians", or our culture, so get out of our face with that. It's idiots in high places thinking they know what's best for everyone and try to make their personal little mark on history. Every country has them.
That is no where near the same as not being able to bring the game into the country, if they don't stock the game, fine, I will buy it on steam or order it in anyway. When a game is banned, I have to resort to questionably legal methods of getting said game.
...
And here's a citation:
From the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995
10.99:
level 2 prohibited material means:
(a) a publication, film or computer game classified RC; or
(b) an unclassified publication, film or computer game that contains material that would be likely to cause it to be classified RC.
10.102:
A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person has possession or control of material; and
(b) the material is level 2 prohibited material; and
(c) the material is in a prescribed area.
Penalty: 100 penalty units.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Also there's no real 'ban' here. You can still import the game or order it online, no problems. You just can't stock it on retail shelves in Australia because it hasn't been officially rated. The lack of a R18 rating meant the game couldn't be fit into any of the rating categories the classification board had available to it. Not much they can do about it.
Wrong. It is illegal to possess anything refused classification. At all. Go read the act.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
DO YOU PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!?!?!
THEY DIDN'T FUCK UP THE GORE!!!!!!!!!
You may not be aware of Rebellion's history in video game violence, but they did a DAMNED good job of making a bloody FPS.
So did Valve.
What you don't understand however is that Valve has re-created SOF2's level of gore.
It's so good you won't believe it.
Sure they can regulate store sales in Australia. But there is no way they can really regulate download sales from places like Steam.
Better watch out for all those crusty Warcraft jugglers, they're being trained to kill things as a group. You'd better lower the standards to G ratings or i'm sure all the WoW nerds in Australia will start banding together and rolling against each other for who gets to loot your house.