Dead or Alive: Dimensions‘ “PG” rating in Australia has been revoked.
When Dead or Alive: Dimensions was granted a relatively minor rating of “PG” in the land Down Under, many gamers were surprised. The game had, after all, been banned in Sweden over concerns that the free-camera mode could allow gamers to look up the skirts of the title’s buxom (and underage) girls – and Australia had some of the most notorious games censorship guidelines in the world.
Well, be amazed no longer, because that classification has been revoked. As of today, Dead or Alive: Dimensions cannot be sold in Australia, and copies of the 3DS fighter have been pulled from store shelves.
According to GameSpot, the Aussie classification board says that the original classification was based off of incomplete information supplied by THQ, which usually distributes Tecmo’s games in Australia. “Information provided to the Board last week suggested that the game contained content not drawn to the Board’s attention in the original classification application,” said a spokesperson for the group.
Presumably, the information in question is that some of the girls in the game are under the age of 18 – though Nintendo Australia, who has taken over distribution of the title from THQ, says that the game does not include information about the characters’ ages at all.
“When Nintendo Australia agreed to distribute the Dead or Alive: Dimensions game in Australia, it had already been submitted for classification by another video game company,” a Nintendo AU representative told GameSpot. Nintendo also intends to submit the game for re-classification in the hopes of getting the title another rating that would allow it to be sold in the country. May I suggest simply going into the data files and changing that “17” to “18”? It’d do you a world of good, fellas.
Though Australia’s Federal Minister of Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor supports introducing an 18+ rating to the classification board, his office issued a statement in support of Dead or Alive‘s nixing. “The material in this game is clearly not appropriate to be played by children,” read the statement. “I am pleased the Classification Board took swift action to address community concerns.”
I dunno. I think if Brendan O’Connor and the rest of the Aussie classification board are concerned about panty-shots, they should forbid Australians from ever visiting Japan. Their heads might explode the moment they got off the plane.
(GameSpot)
