I could totally get this if the fuss was just about keeping it out of the hands of children. But jeez, this is too much. It's inevitable that the media will cross over and touch on points of reality. And I don't really feel any interest in playing this, but the simple solution seems to be to not play it.

So let me get this straight, a more accurate depiction of a crazed gunman's psyche is bad but shooting civilians in the head for teh lulz and jacking their cars is fun?

Why do I feel like my country is on the precipice of being overtaken by Puritan zealots?

I love this kind of bullshit, down here in Oz we have more than enough of our share of social and economic problems, and yet this is what our politicans choose to waste our motherfucking taxpayer dollars and government sitting hours debating.

So why can't Australia just up and get an 18+ rating already??

I am assuming that by

CantFaketheFunk:

the Australians don't like it one bit.

You mean the crazy government, and not the sane citizens? I think Australians deserve to be distanced from the insane politicians and judges they have down under.

It seems to me that activision is just doing this to contoversial, and sell a few extra games.

Glefistus:
I am assuming that by

CantFaketheFunk:

the Australians don't like it one bit.

You mean the crazy government, and not the sane citizens? I think Australians deserve to be distanced from the insane politicians and judges they have down under.

Last I checked, Australia was a democratic country. You elected those crazies - or those crazies who appointed the other crazies.

Michael Atkinson is the devil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFQ2JbW__rs
there is a video of him playing wii tennis and bitching,

fuck i hate living in aus sometimes...

I think its a good idea, we shouldn't always have to be the good guys. There needs to be an entire game devoted to being evil, but in a CoD style.

I.E: Playing as the terrorists instead of Americans for a change.

I've been doing the same in GTA since I was 13. Why's this such a big deal?

As games become more sophisticated, expression must become more complex. Part of that is finding ways in which you can paint the antagonist's side of the story. Its confronting a controversial issue that most people are not comfortable or too weak to look at. Things aren't black and white people. Even antagonists need to be motivated by something, and seeing things from their side is the perfect opportunity to see what it is and why they are doing what they are doing. That is not unlike issue of terrorism we're seeing today, and it isn't going to go away by turning a blind eye and deaf ear to these people until they start coming for you. That is exactly the kind of attitude that is the problem with society in the modern world. Keep an open mind people and give this piece of cinema a chance.

My only real concern is that the antagonists are going to be painted as Saturday Morning Cartoon evil, that is evil just for the sake of being evil and because someone had to be. There is potential for true greatness here, We'll just have to see what comes along

In my eyes, forcing the gamer to shoot civilians will have a much more powerful storytelling effect than just having it in a cutscene.

One of my favorite examples of forcing a gamer to do something that they'll probably find repugnant is... Metal Gear Solid 3. The last boss fight. Come on, you had to have cringed when you squeezed the trigger. It had a much more powerful effect than just having it shown offscreen in a cutscene.

How many innocent pixels suffered for your possession of a GTA game? Did you have an unrighteous cause or were you just being a digital diabolical dick?

Sure slap a 'terror' label on it and watch the controversy boil over, but it's still a double standard.

I'm in Oz and I haven't flipped out, I'm no more or less interested in this game than I was before.

ChaosTheory3133:
My only real concern is that the antagonists are going to be painted as Saturday Morning Cartoon evil, that is evil just for the sake of being evil and because someone had to be. There is potential for true greatness here, We'll just have to see what comes along

This is my main concern with the sequence. I'm pretty sure it has been stated that the goal of the level is to make you hate the terrorists more. Not to look at what drives these guys, what their goals are and why it's imperative that they be stopped, only to make sure you don't forget that these guys are the bad guys, they are bad, don't show them mercy.

If all it does is make sure that you know that the bad guys are eeeevilll (with wiggly finger motions), then I think they will have wasted whatever opportunity they had to make a statement.

Chadling:
In my eyes, forcing the gamer to shoot civilians will have a much more powerful storytelling effect than just having it in a cutscene.

One of my favorite examples of forcing a gamer to do something that they'll probably find repugnant is... Metal Gear Solid 3. The last boss fight. Come on, you had to have cringed when you squeezed the trigger. It had a much more powerful effect than just having it shown offscreen in a cutscene.

There are no words to how upset with myself after pulling the trigger at that point. If Modern Warfare 2 can even get half-way to that emotional response, then it's an incredibly successful set piece in my eyes.

Woo, love being Australian. Fuck it, other games allow us to slaughter innocents, what makes this different?

I still miss the days where games were created in which one could hit a child in the groin with a cow prod or sledge hammer. God bless you, Fallout 2.

The first Modern Warfare had that bit in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. That was a good statement that made everybody realize just how devastating nukes are. It seems that CoD has decided that if games will be set in modern times, they will deal with modern issues and make statements about modern problems. And I applaud that.

Besides, they warn you ahead of time, and you can skip over the bits if it morally offends you, so why the big deal? If games like GTA can be made where you can plow through people on the sidewalk with your Cadillac, things like this shouldn't be an issue any more.

Personally, I look forward to this section. Not because I want to gun down an airport terminal, but because this is a great way to add depth to your games.

Inna Final Analysis.

Was so sure it was gonna end by saying that it had been banned. Cant believe that anyone could get this worked up about a game but ah well, that the Austrailian review board for ya.

If we stopped calling them video games a lot of this would be solved. They're not GAMES, they're stories, they're art, they're so much more than this. Why is it perfectly fine for us to see a movie where the main character might be a drug lord or arms dealer or even a terrorist but not play a video game that has AN ELEMENT of these controversial topics in us? It's a beautiful (read: intimidatingly powerful) aspect of this medium/"game".

It is always nice to see Australia continuing the proud march of ignorance to a greater nanny state. I wonder how many more of these incidents will occur before we just accept that they are now a punchline along the lines of Michael Jackson...

05rutterb:

Woodsey:
Well maybe the Aussie officials need to be locked away, because clearly none of them are mature enough to handle any content not designed for a 3 year old.

If it was done in a film (in fact I think it has anyway) no one would care. Nor if it was done in a book, where the description was in-depth and grotesque.

But OH NOEZ!!1! PIXELZ!!

The only people that are affected by this are dip shit officials, they're the ones who can't tell fact from fiction.

Now if you don't mind I'm off to clean my AK, I've got an airport to raid in the morning.

If only you were king of the world...

I agree, this has been done in a film I've seen, nobody gave a shit. It's only because they associate gaming with kids, when really it's the PARENTS responsibility if they get there hands on it.
Blame it on the parent if the kid goes on a murderous rampage, not the game. Which they wont anyway.

agreed-and also, gun culture.

I'm excited to shoot some innocent people!

DeathWyrmNexus:
It is always nice to see Australia continuing the proud march of ignorance to a greater nanny state. I wonder how many more of these incidents will occur before we just accept that they are now a punchline along the lines of Michael Jackson...

How many games have been banned this year?

So slaughter of innocent civilians is up for debate, but killing mindless legions of the flesh-eating undead is absolutely unspeakable?

Sounds like Aussie censor boards got some seriously fucked-up moral priorities...even more so than the rest of the world's.

Major Tom:

DeathWyrmNexus:
It is always nice to see Australia continuing the proud march of ignorance to a greater nanny state. I wonder how many more of these incidents will occur before we just accept that they are now a punchline along the lines of Michael Jackson...

How many games have been banned this year?

Not a clue but I know this is, I believe, the third Aussie story of this whine fest I have heard in about a month. I really am curious about the numbers though.

DeathWyrmNexus:
Not a clue but I know this is, I believe, the third Aussie story of this whine fest I have heard in about a month. I really am curious about the numbers though.

Out of 977 submitted as of the 3rd of November 2009, 4 were refused classification.

Linky linky

That's sorted by rating, and the rating is sorted alphabetically, so RC is at the bottom.

Edit: As of 5th November 2009, 981. Also, 3 of the 4 were modified to comply with the code and resubmitted at a later date and were given a classification. I also believe Silent Hill Homecoming is also a resubmission.

I like how the Russians are always the bad guys... not they haven't acted pretty low historically but you'd think people thought western countries weren't into indiscriminate killing every now and then (or paying someone else to do it for you).

Anarchy In Detroit:
I like how the Russians are always the bad guys... not they haven't acted pretty low historically but you'd think people thought western countries weren't into indiscriminate killing every now and then (or paying someone else to do it for you).

Hey, Russian terrorists and Muslim extremists do just fine as cannonfodder. Who else should a "The west pwns you all!" game take as enemies? The Chinese?

If this game gets banned in Aussie all the games there are going to freak out. (All but one I supose :])

Maybe the Australian Ratings Board should look up the definition for "Plot Device."