Left 4 Dead 2 Banned In Australia
This is not a first for video games to be banned in a country. I remember back when Mass Effect was about to be released, Singapore decided to ban the game because it is possible to make a woman and a female alien to have sex if you chose to play as a female character in the game. Soon after, Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) lifted the ban and instead put a M18 rating on the box cover so as to “enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore”.
For Left 4 Dead 2’s case though, it seems unlikely that Australia will be lifting the ban due to their strict rating system. For Australia, video games’ ratings cannot exceed MA15+, whereas for films they cannot exceed R18+.
“The game contains realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon ‘the Infected’ who are living humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently.”
- via GameSpot via Australia Classification Board
The main reason for the ban was because of the level of gore in the game. There was a significant increase in the level of gore from L4D1 to L4D2 (e.g. more detailed limb dismemberment and increased amount of blood spray). The melee weapons in the game, like the axe, are probably the main contributor to the ban, because they are able to slice the infected humans in half, exposing the insides of the body.
Kotaku has contacted Valve’s (developers of L4D) spokesman, Doug Lombardi regarding this issue and this was his reply:
“We were surprised to hear of this news yesterday. Obviously, everyone at Valve is pretty bummed. It would be a shame if folks in Australia, or anywhere else, are unable to purchase Left 4 Dead 2 because of a ratings issue.”
- via Kotaku
Well, things will most likely be left as it is because I doubt Valve will be able to make any changes to such a major aspect of the game when its November release date is getting closer. I guess Australians will have to find other means to get their hands on the game =S.
Source(s): GameSpot, Kotaku
I read about this earlier this week…. it’s kind of ridiculous if you ask me. There are plenty of violent games like this out there, and they’re not banned. Way to be stupid Australia.
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That’s what you get when both major political parties in the country are socially conservative =P
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@kurando
I feel sorry for Australians who was looking forward to this game =(.
@Snark
Haha yeah. The main concern to them is that the infected are still “human”, so inflicting such graphic damage to them is too much I guess O.o
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I suppose they can (still) purchase the game directly from Steam?
Anyway, this kind of reminds me of the Half-Life ban in Singapore 9 years ago (though it lasted for like, a week?). xD
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Yeah, this is not the first game I’ve heard. There was another game that way banned as well. I can’t remember the name but it was on the nintendo system and it caused an uproar to lift the rating system from MA15+ to R18+.
Considering a majority of retailers especially games are not allowed to sell R18+ products, selling a R18+ game will require a license or some form of permission. Even if they do get the approval, I doubt they can freely display it on the self.
Anyway, I don’t really care. L4D isn’t my cup of tea and nor are any gore games. I’m sure we are smart to get it another way and considering we are Austrailians, there are always lots of ways.
As long FFXIII or any other related RPG games are not banned, I’m happy. :D
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@Ferolare
Hmm but wouldn’t it get Valve into trouble? Because it is considered as illegal for Australians to own the game.
@Optic
Was it by any chance called Mad World? It was a Wii game and it was pretty bloody and gruesome >.<. So in the end there was never a game being sold in Australia with a R18 rating?? =(
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That’s sad…
well…I think it’s really not a big deal, but this is Australia and they’re kinda strict with lots of things. Oh well
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Aussies banning games isn’t news anymore. :O
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according to cnet on fallout3 “which means any title that has content deemed unsuitable for a 15-year-old is illegal to sell or promote in this country,.” so technically, if im reading the law commentary correctly, you just can’t market or profit from it in that country. but if you buy it somewhere else and retain private ownership of it, it should be legal. err so long as you don’t try to resell it.
and i thought american rating censorship laws were bad, which pales in comparison. but it reminds me of riviera on nintendo gba rated teen for fantasy violence, use of drugs, and sexual themes. it always amused me that such a rating was allowed on a nintendo game
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@guuzen
It’s not. Madworld animation is not realistic and detailed and the hacking and slashing with blood splattering was enough to give it a MA15+.
And no. R18+ was never in placed in Australia as a rating. That’s why there still an ongoing debate whether to put it in place or not.
I really wish they just put it in place and make the those games as an ‘order in’ game only when ppl request them.
It was just make things simpler.
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@Minaru
Yeah that is sad… But apparently it is a big deal to the Australian government =(
@Jura
Oh man =( Lets hope things will change in the future…
@atmchino
Hmm ok so maybe they are allowed to purchase the game digitally? I guess if that is true, then maybe there shouldn’t be a problem for L4D fans in Australia to purchase it through Steam =S.
Heh I guess the American rating censorship laws are too sensitive >.<.
@Optic
Oh wow Madworld got a MA15+? O.o Anyways, I like the idea of “order in” games. I mean, there are people out there who are fans of maybe a certain franchise. But wouldn’t it be a shame if the next game of that franchise became “too violent or graphic” that it has to be banned?
Take Call of Duty for example. The Call of Duty franchise had been aiming for a T rating until Modern Warfare which was rated M. I know Modern Warfare was not banned in Australia, but I’m just giving an example =).
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[...] who were bummed out by their Classification Board for refusing to give Left 4 Dead 2 a MA15+ rating, should be happy to note that they will be able to purchase the game after [...]
the Australian censorship is good i am Australian and am under 18 but the fact that we only have and MA 15+ rating is good because games would be rated 18+ are rated 15+ and are rarely banned there are many ways to get this game like ebay for instance so its pointless to ban it but i guess itll stop some people only a small amount though
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@illusion
Ah yes I agree with you. There are lots of games like Assassin’s Creed that a MA15+ rating when in the US, they are rated Mature18+. Well, I am glad that you get to play the games that you like =). I can’t imagine not being able to play a game because of the censorship board o.o
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I’m glad I am Canadian and not Australian. I have friends living in Australia and they tell me that it’s getting worst by hour in the Land Down Under.
The Australian Classification Review Board cited “insufficient delineation between the depiction of zombie characters and the human figures” as one of the key factors in its classification refusal. Are you Australians that dumb? What do you think zombies are? Of course they are going to look like humans.
This is not the first time Australia banned a video games. And not only they ban them but also it is illegal to own one? WTF is that? Obviously the Australian government thinks that all adult Australians are dumb immature morons and can’t tell the difference between fiction/entertainment and reality. And that they can’t be trusted with playing games because they all can turn into criminals. And instead of people in Australia demand to have this change they are taking it like little bitches… Australians are wussies.
What’s funny that an Australian study found that only children already predisposed to violence were affected by violent games. So make up your mind. What’s the point of banning anything when the ones that are going to commit crimes will do it anyway?
@ guuzen – obviously you don’t know about ratings in other countries. In Canada and U.S. “M” stands for “Mature” and is 17+ and NOT 18+. Anything that has any kind of violence/blood/gore/sexual content is rated “M”… but of course it doesn’t get banned. By that age (17) you should be already mature enough to know the difference between fiction and reality. So for you and other morons that post about other countries here’s an advice: Before you start posting check your facts because you don’t know shit about others.
Oh, and by the way, the game has a setting for switching gore factor to high or to low. So if you want you can do that. I don’t know why would anyone switch it to low. Zombies… survival… FPS… DO THE MATH or go and play Sonic.
I’m glad I live in Canada and not in Australia or Germany where the people are not very smart.
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I never could understand the Australian government with the rating issue. I mean… they should allow the adults to buy whatever they want. Either you are adult or you are not. Anyway, I don’t judge others for the way they chose to live.
And for the Australian gamers go on amazon.com or other site and buy it from there. It’s worth the money.
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Sad story. Mates! Don’t put up with this shit. Fight for your rights… to party!
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Another stupid law made by stupid people.
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@ fu_australia: Obviously you don’t know about the ratings in our country too, M stands for M18+ here. Obviously you don’t know shit about OTHER COUNTRIES either :D.
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@Zenical
Ah thats not it >.< its my bad for not double checking my comments.
fu_australia
Sorry about the misunderstanding. As stated above I didn’t double check on my comment because in Singapore M is 18+ so I kind of gotten too used to that and forgot about ESRB’s rating system.
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