O’Connor Does Comparison of MA15+ Games

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

According to GameSpot, Brendan O’Connor, the Federal Minister for Home Affairs, has released a comparison between 11 games currently rated MA15+ in Australia to those in different countries, supporting the argument that games that are restricted to adults in other countries are being shoehorned into the MA15+ category.

Among the games in the list are Borderlands Bulletstorm, Duke Nukem Forever, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, F.3.A.R., and Left 4 Dead 2. All of the games in the list are already restricted to adults in Europe, Germany, New Zealand, North America, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.

While touring an EB store in Adelaide, he told GameSpot:

There are dozens of games that are currently classified as MA15+ in Australia, but in other countries, these gaming titles are restricted to adults only. If the new category is introduced, it could result in computer games that are currently classified MA15+ being reclassified R18+, providing a new level of protection for children. Games that are currently refused classification and do not meet the standard required for R18+ classification will remain in the refused classification category.

This issue has been on the table for almost a decade, without the necessary progress to make a change. This is the right decision for Australian families and the right decision for parents who want to be able to make informed choices about the games their children play. The time has come for state and territory attorneys-general to represent their constituents’ views at a national level and lay their cards on the table.

This hopefully means that the new R18+ rating will have its own bracket of classification and any existing game that got rejected, such as Mortal Kombat, will get the rating they deserve.

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)

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)