Australia bans Fallout 3?

[Masquerouge]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6193496.html?tag=latestnews;title;1

The most recent update for the Web site of Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) shows that Fallout 3 has been refused classification. Unlike films or DVDs, the highest rating allowable for a game in Australia is MA 15+, which means any title that has content deemed unsuitable for a 15-year-old is illegal to sell or promote in this country.

I still have my doubts about the veracity of that story ( I couldn't find the update they're referring to).

Could anyone from Australia confirm this? Because if it's true, then it's the most ******** rating system I've seen.
First of all, I don't see why games should be rated differently than films or DVD.
Second of all, I don't see why they picked 15-year-old as the threshold.


But each passing day is getting us closer and closer to the the day where the legislators and politicians will have a gaming background, and such ******** nonsense will be as funny as the anti-rocknroll attitude of the '50s.

 

[scy12]

Stupid,idiotic,fascist,pathetic.

 

[Lillefix]

I really don't think Betesda will be able to make a dark, immoral and ban-worthy game, but we can always hope.

 

[JerichoHill]

Oh, Fallout is a dark, dark game. It definitely could be.

I can confirm that right now, that's the correct situation. I got some friends in Bethesda.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

If I remember right in the first game there was an option for turning off the blood. What they could do, at least for the 360 version as the 360 has parental controls, is to have things like blood turned off automatically depending on the age rating set on the console. If the console is set at that rating then the blood will be off but if it's the next above or there isn't one then it appears as normal. They might be able to do something similar with other things like language, but I don't know what would be done if it affects something core to the game. Most people probably don't use the controls though.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

A reason why aussies should play it.

 

[Masquerouge]

If I remember right in the first game there was an option for turning off the blood. What they could do, at least for the 360 version as the 360 has parental controls, is to have things like blood turned off automatically depending on the age rating set on the console. If the console is set at that rating then the blood will be off but if it's the next above or there isn't one then it appears as normal. They might be able to do something similar with other things like language, but I don't know what would be done if it affects something core to the game. Most people probably don't use the controls though.

You're totally right.

The thing that bugs me the most, though, is the 15-year-old limit, basically considering that anything too "hard" for a 15yo deserves an outright ban.
I'm pretty sure Australians are rather like other people, and there is a huge difference between being 15 and being 18, in terms of maturity.
What next, banning voting because 15-year-olds can't do it?

 

[Thorbal]

That system is nearly as silly as ours (although we have an additional "18+" rating), but at least they are not removing content... or do they?

 

[Masquerouge]

That system is nearly as silly as ours (although we have an additional "18" rating), but at least they are not removing content... or do they?

I kinda remember a RTS being altered for the German market so you would kill robots and not soldiers...

 

[warpus]

Does the OFLC think that only kids under 16 play video games?

 

[Thorbal]

I kinda remember a RTS being altered for the German market so you would kill robots and not soldiers...

Yeah, I remember that as well... C&C iirc. But the sequels were left unaltered.

But, to be fair, it was altered by the software company and not by state organs (but the result was the same, of course). I wish more companies would have the guts to risk an 18+ rating or the even worse one instead of proactively removing content (but it is getting better over time). Most people are importing the UK/US versions in that case anyway.

 

[m4gill4]

Any Aussie with half a brain will get it anyway. I give it two weeks from the release date before it's cracked and released on Bit Torrent networks.

Prohibition is always the same. Lame old nannies and patricians being constantly outsmarted by wily smugglers/bootleggers/hackers/rogues. Evading any kind of prohibition is like a national tradition here in the states, and we seem to share a sort of national contrary/rebellious streak towards authority with the Australians, likely due to our mutual histories of immigrants moving from Europe to escape authority/repression.

And of course the whole Penal Colony thing only adds to that.

 

[scy12]

Any Aussie with half a brain will get it anyway. I give it two weeks from the release date before it's cracked and released on Bit Torrent networks.

Prohibition is always the same. Lame old nannies and patricians being constantly outsmarted by wily smugglers/bootleggers/hackers/rogues. Evading any kind of prohibition is like a national tradition here in the states, and we seem to share a sort of national contrary/rebellious streak towards authority with the Australians, likely due to our mutual histories of immigrants moving from Europe to escape authority/repression.

And of course the whole Penal Colony thing only adds to that.

10 CHARACTERS.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I kinda remember a RTS being altered for the German market so you would kill robots and not soldiers...

The first Fallout game was censored in Europe, removing children from the game.

 

[scy12]

The first Fallout game was censored in Europe, removing children from the game.

Finally a game where you can kill children ?! In that case i will certainly love Fallout.

 

[downtown]

Oh, Fallout is a dark, dark game. It definitely could be.

I can confirm that right now, that's the correct situation. I got some friends in Bethesda.

In Bethesda Maryland, or the actual game company?

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Finally a game where you can kill children ?!

You could kill them, but the game discouraged it.

 

[Godwynn]

Didn't Mad Max (the post apocalyptic movie) take place in Australia?

 

[downtown]

You could kill them, but the game discouraged it.

I thought they removed that from the European versions of Fallout 1 and 2?

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I thought they removed that from the European versions of Fallout 1 and 2?

They did remove them from the games, but fans made a patch to add them back to the first game.