Borderlands Censored for Australian Market?
The Left 4 Dead 2 saga appears to have left the Australian gaming community somewhat spooked. Speculation is now mounting as to whether Gearbox Software’s upcoming FPS/RPG hybrid Borderlands has been modified for the Australian market. While hard evidence that this is the case is rather thin on the ground, the controversy does raise a number of issues in relation to Australia’s antiquated classification system.
The initial rumours of censorship stemmed from some peculiarities on the Borderlands page on digital PC game store Steam. While Australian customers could view the page, the ‘Buy’ button was, for a time, noticeably absent. This problem was remedied a couple of weeks later, but those viewing the page from Australian IP addresses noticed that the game was now listed as Borderlands Australia. The only other country known to have a region-specific version of Borderlands listed on the Steam store is Germany. Anyone who has followed the issue of video game censorship will be aware that Germany’s low tolerance for video game violence has seen numerous games (including Borderlands) modified for that country’s market. So perhaps Australian Borderlands fans in Australia do have something to worry about.
At this stage most forum users are willing to be optimistic. After all, Borderlands received an MA15+ rating back in August, and there has been no official word that anything untoward has occurred. But who’s to say a modified version of the game was not submitted for initial classification (as was the case with console versions of GTA IV) in order to avoid the very problems that have plagued Left 4 Dead 2? And what’s in it for the game’s publisher, 2K Games, in letting Australians know that they’re getting a modified version of Borderlands? Surely releasing this information will only drive consumers to either import the game– upsetting the publisher’s local retail partners– or to find a pirate copy of an overseas version.
Optimists have also taken solace in the visual style of Borderlands. The cel-shaded look of the game is far less realistic than that of Left 4 Dead 2, a game which is scarcely life-like to begin with. But looking overseas, the American ESRB rating summary for Borderlands gives some cause for concern. The following is their description of the violence in the game:
The combat is frenetic, and enemies moan or scream when they are hit. Damage from weapons also results in large spurts of blood, dismemberment, and decapitation. When a human or creature is decapitated, an effect resembling a fountain of blood will shoot from the neck for a few seconds and stop. Some weapons cause enemies to split in half, the top being separated from the waist.
Sound familiar? Remind you of a certain other game of post-apocalyptic survival?
All this speculation is probably just a storm in a teacup. It has been suggested that the quirks of the Steam page are simply the result of solving some glitch or other with the store’s listing of Borderlands. Elsewhere, there are claims that the Borderlands developers themselves told visitors to Perth’s GO3 Electronic and Entertainment Expo that nothing has been censored. All this sounds entirely plausible, but the lack off an official statement still leaves lingering doubt. And these seeds of doubt in gamers’ minds will only grow and prosper until an R18+ rating for games in Australia becomes a reality. For every game that is refused classification, publishers will be increasingly likely to modify their games in order to ensure smooth passage through the classification system. In turn, gamers will become less certain that they are getting the genuine article and become less and less willing to part with their money. This can only serve to harm the Australian video game industry at all levels.
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Glenn says:
Unfortunately, when a game is banned in Australia, the publisher has to spend the extra time and money to remove the elements that got it banned in the first place, then resubmit it for re-classification. It has been suggested that publishers should boycott the country due to our ridiculous game ratings so that in the end, the publishers themselves will encourage gamers to break the law. I am not sure if this would make the government implement the R18+ rating then.
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Matt says:
So far, everything points to it being a glitch with Steam initially.
The fact that it comes up with “Borderlands Australia” on the page is slightly worrying, but this may have been due to the possibility of a separate 2K Australia package (according to the Gearbox forums).
As pointed out by others before me, if you have friends in the US, you can always get them to gift you the game on Steam and get the NA content.
I’m torn — I really want this game and am tempted to pre-order it; but I also want to know if it is the ‘full’ version before I do.
As Sam stated, some official word would be nice.
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Sam says:
I decided to be optimistic and pre-order on Steam. It turns out the following file appeared in my ‘SteamApps’ folder: ‘borderlands_low_violence.ncf’. Hmm. Apparently this file has only shown up on German and Australian versions. Not looking good.
However, Australian Xbox360 owners are reporting that they are getting full gore in Borderlands, so who knows?
It may all be to do with the games release date. Australia traditionally shares release dates with Europe but Borderlands is releasing several days earlier in Australia, along with the US. Germany happens to be the only European country that shares this earlier release date and I’m hoping this is the only reason we appear to have been given the same Steam package.
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Matt says:
@Sam, on the upside, if that’s how it manages the settings, it may be possible to remove/replace the ‘borderlands_low_violence.ncf’ file.
Alternatively, it may be an optional in-game configuration.
I’m still torn — and today is the last day of the pre-sale on Steam.
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Saul says:
So, it turns out we DO have the censored version pre-loaded, but it was a “mistake”:
http://games.on.net/article/7266/Borderlands__Wrong_version_uploaded_to_AU_Steam_accounts
Oh, and they just delayed the Steam release by three days, literally at the eleventh hour. So we get screwed again. Hooray for us.
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Matt says:
@Saul,
Personally I’d rather wait 3 days and have the full version.
Nice that someone has finally admitted the mistake.