Anonymous Source Posts: 3 Joined: 9 Jul 2008 | |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 399 Joined: 6 Jul 2008     | God damn it, Australia, could you at least try to fail less? |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1114 Joined: 2 Jan 2008     | Please accept the following as the words of someone who has *no idea* what the process of bringing a game in from outside a country is like. If they do ban and/or cut it down, can you buy the EU or US version online? - J |
Anonymous Source Posts: 3 Joined: 9 Jul 2008 | Yes they can buy/import it online (subject to the typical regional restrictions) but once it is refused classification it is a criminal offence to import it into the country. Unsure of the penalties for it as I live in NZ and am not familiar with Australian legal systems. (Personally I think that the entire matter sucks, for lack of a better word, but the above is from a legal standpoint.) |
Anonymous Source  Posts: 3 Joined: 5 Jun 2008 | This is seriously going too far, Shellshock and Dark Sector, sure ok, not really games that will rock the world of gaming, but now Fallout 3!!??!?! I've been saying this for a while, the OFLC's motto is 'influencing your choices', to be honest it feels more like it should be 'MAKING your choices' |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2245 Joined: 4 Nov 2007    | Probably the game will have some marginal changes to get through and only the hardcore and the in-principle folks will care (ie, me and all others like me). This is how the R18+ hasn't been kicked out under popular outrage. Only fairly low-profile games have ever been kept out of Australia (though Manhunt's delayed banning came close, sorta, kinda, maybe) so not enough people really care. I just wish a really popular game would be shut out so that gamers all over get so pissed the pollies have to change the law. GTA 4 would have been nice, but instead we had a sex toy mission removed. I suspect Fallout will be the same. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 83 Joined: 4 Jul 2008    | I don' think the censorship boards of various locations are ready to look at video games as "open" media. Look at "open" in this definition - most if not all countries have X-rated movies, websites, and books. Pornography and explicit situations abound in after-dark specials on HBO, and you can order naughty flicks on TV so long as you have the credit card. There are methods in place to prevent "minors" and the easily "influenced" from buying such items; Parental Blocks on TV, ID checks at magazine stands, et cetera and so forth. Now, when you bring up the idea that a video game may contain sex, these people immediately think back to the days where kids on the block were playing Mario. They imagine what it would be like for those 8-year-olds to be exposed, unknowingly and forcefully, to the plumber cleaning the Princess' pipes. Never you mind that this can easily be found on FurAffinity, DeviantArt, or any number of websites you can get to by Google, right now; video games are innocent and for kids! There aren't any adults playing these things! No one needs to be stimulated by this easily-accessible and readily-buyable completely and entirely child-oriented media! [/sarcasm] |
Muckraker Posts: 281 Joined: 1 Jul 2008   | Perhaps I'm overreacting, but this seems like a gross violation of personal rights. I mean, what sort of society issues sweeping bans on particular media, under threat of legal action against someone who attempts to acquire it? GODWIN'S LAW OH YEAHHH Sorry. Also: let's all ask Yahtzee what he thinks. |
Anonymous Source  Posts: 7 Joined: 29 Jun 2008  | banning games should be banned... |
Paperboy Posts: 13 Joined: 18 Jun 2008 | Goddammit, I'm moving back to Australia in one month; I have a sudden urge to blow up the OFLC headquarters, not that I've been affected by video games or anything... |
Anonymous Source Posts: 7 Joined: 2 Mar 2008 | Ah, so no Zero Punctuation episode for Fallout 3 huh? Anyway, yeah, what the hell's up with the Australian government? The people are cool but it seems like the system's just retarded. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 2901 Joined: 18 Dec 2007     |
Yes, however it will not work on the 360 and (I think) PC as they are region coded. This news...it makes me want to cry. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 704 Joined: 19 May 2008  | Quit being panzies Australia, and pull the stick out of your ass. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1652 Joined: 29 Dec 2007   | Damn, and I thought the US was too moral and repressive. I always thought Australia was more liberal than the big ol' Religious Right morass we've got here. Looks like you've got to break Bethesda's heart and torrent the game now. |
Paperboy  Posts: 26 Joined: 6 Apr 2008 |
I think they LIKE it there, and that's the awkward part. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 940 Joined: 21 Feb 2008    | Yay Big Brother! |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1359 Joined: 25 Feb 2008 |
Sorry, but that had me in stitches. I dunno, if the game's banned that sounds more like a challenge than the end of the matter. |
Paperboy  Posts: 12 Joined: 16 Jan 2008  | Seriously in this day and age people can order anything from anywhere in the world right to their front door. Why does a ban matter? Just stupid if you ask me. Im sure Yahtzee will get his copy for review as will all gamers that really want to play it. Looks like the OFLC can suck it again. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 395 Joined: 27 Jun 2008 | Wait? A game that all the other countries aren't clamoring to have banned? Australia...I'm...I'm almost proud of you for not jumping on another bandwagon. But then again I want to slap you because Fallout is an amazing game series and I have no doubt that Fallout 3 will be great. Shame on Australia. |
Copy Clerk Posts: 83 Joined: 4 Jul 2008 |
Technically, isn't it still a "bandwagon" because a lot of other countries have beat them to the really controversial ones? I mean, Europe didn't much care for Manhunt, America screeched over the Hot Coffee Mod in GTA, but Australia has never been the first to say "Ban this sick filth." Now they've got a really popular game that's supposedly going to be "mature" and "graphic" and they're trying to beat the other bandwagons, but it's still the same tired song...they're just trying to open the curtain on the choir while everyone's still getting dressed. |
Red Guard  Posts: 2000 Joined: 16 Dec 2007    | The escapist is a news portal as well as a forum, please search the front page before posting news articles. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/84900-Fallout-3-Banned-in-Australia |
It's official, Fallout 3 is currently slated to be BANNED in Australia, once again due to the lack of an R18+ rating there (their highest rating for games is MA15+)
http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/07/its_official_fallout_3_refused_classification_in_australia.html
Really not happy with this. If they do end up resubmitting it they'll have to have cut something, probably either gore or drugs, both of which are quite integral in my opinion to the Fallout experience.
Direct link to OFLC rating: http://www.classification.gov.au/special.html?n=46&p=156&sTitle=fallout+3&sMature=1&sMediaGames=1&sDateFromM=1&sDateFromY=2008&sDateToM=12&sDateToY=2008&record=228415
EDIT: Fixed broken links.