F.E.A.R. 2 Ban Overturned

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

As you may recall, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origins was recently banned in Australia for containing high level violence that could not be accommodated at an MA15+ rating. Two days ago however, it was reported that the Australian Review Board had, on appeal by the game’s publishers, overturned the ban on the game and that it would now be available, unedited, to the Australian public under an MA15+ rating.

“We’ve always believed in the merit of the game as an MA15+ title, and we’re pleased that the Review Board saw it our way,” the Warner Bros. spokesman said. The appeal process involved Warner Bros. representatives performing a live game demonstration with the Review Board members, as well as taking questions from the Board. The Warner Bros. spokesman said the appeals process allowed them to better explain the “detail, context, and storyline behind the game.”

Although it would be nice to label this as a victory for common sense, all that this ridiculous process has proved is that the Australian Classification System is confused and inconsistent. As long as Australia lacks the framework necessary to restrict adult-content games to an adult audience, this sort of farcical, “make-it-up-as-you-go” sort of result is going to continue to be the norm.

Source: F.E.A.R. unbanned in Australia (Randolph Ramsay, Gamespot AU)

R18+ Petition in Gametraders

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Gametraders stores currently have a petition available for people to sign, aimed at convincing the Attorney-General to bring about an R18+ rating for computer and video games in Australia. Last time I was in the Perth store, the list of signatures was nearing 1000 people. So if you’re in the area, please head into your local Gametraders shop and add your name to the list of people who realise that the current broken, inconsistent system desperately needs to change.

NB: This might be for Western Australia only. I can’t confirm any other states. If you know otherwise, please let me know in the comments or by email.

Uncut GTA IV Rated MA15+

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

In what can only be described as the most completely incomprehensible move yet by the Classification Board, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV has been rated MA15+ for sale in Australia later this year.

As you’ll recall, Grand Theft Auto IV was previously rated down to MA15+ for consoles following a series of voluntary edits by its publisher Rockstar Games to remove certain options involving violence and prostitution. However, today Rockstar Games released this statement:

“Grand Theft Auto IV PC has been rated MA15+ strong violence, sex scenes, coarse language, and drug references by the Australian Classification Office. The PC game is unedited in any way and identical in content to the international version.”

So if the edited version is MA15+ worthy, and the unedited version is also MA15+ worthy, how is any parent supposed to have faith that the Classification Board has the transparency and consistency to properly inform them of content? Inconsistent nonsense like this from the Classification Board just goes to show how badly the Australian video games ratings system is in need of an overhaul.

Source: Uncut GTA IV PC coming to Australia (Dan Chiappini, Gamespot AU)

F.E.A.R. 2 Refused Classification

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Another day, another highly-anticipated title is refused classification in Australia. This time it’s F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, the sequel to the 2005 first-person shooter F.E.A.R. According to New Enthusiast, the key factor in the game’s refusal was the depictions of violence.

The violence is considered highly impactful in such scenes as where Michael uses his sub machine gun to explicitly bisect an enemy, the two parts of the body lying separately on the ground, with copious blood spray. There are also a number of explicit close range decapitations involving both human and mutant creatures. The decapitations are the result of close-up throat slashing from behind and close-up gunshots to the throat.

Enhanced graphics and the realistic behaviour of human and mutant foes increase the playing impact of the violence to a high level.

The Board considers that the cumulative effect of this type of violence is high and as such cannot be accommodated at the MA15+ classification and the game must therefore be refused classification.

As Kotaku points out, the inconsistency in this ruling is maddening. Luke Plunkett cites the example of Gears of War 2 where you the player is at times literally swimming in blood, assuming they are not using their gun-mounted chainsaw to violently bisect an enemy and cover the screen in the resulting gore. Also consider Fallout 3, where the game’s slow motion combat system allows you to sever opponents limbs with precise bursts of gunfire and watch them trail blood through the air.

Both of these games have been rated MA15+ and are currently available for sale to Australian children. Both of these games should, by all rights, be classified at R18+ and be restricted to adults. Keeping F.E.A.R. 2 off the shelves does nothing while games like this are still available for sale – Australians need an R18+ rating to make sure that these sort of games are freely available to the mature adults who want to play them.

Source: F.E.A.R. 2 Is So Banned (In Australia) (Luke Plunkett, Kotaku AU)