Game News Fallout 3 banned downunder?

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Fallout 3

<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/09/fallout-3-refused-classification-in-australia">Joystiq are reporting</a>:
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<blockquote>We didn't think Fallout 3 was close enough to completion for a rating, but the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification has already refused to classify the title, effectively banning it from sale in the country. The game be resubmitted, with edits, in the hopes it meets the gudelines for MA15+ rating. If Grand Theft Auto IV could do it, we have no doubt that Bethesda will find a way to edit the game for sales in the Land Down Under. So much for the Bloody Mess perk.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/07/its_official_fallout_3_refused_classification_in_australia.html">While Kotaku are saying</a>:
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<blockquote>Yes, the rumour was true. The Office of Film and Literature Classification <a href="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">has handed an RC to Bethesda's Fallout 3</a>, making it illegal to sell the game in Australia. It's not known at this stage if the ban was for drug use, as the original rumour states, or gore as I was predicting.</blockquote>
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I don't get to play Fallout 3. Hallelujah! I've been saved! For Aussie's who did want to play it, <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43266">NMA gives you the bad news</a>:
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<blockquote>This means that Fallout 3 is banned for sale, hire, public exhibition or importation into Australia, carrying a maximum fine of $275,000 and/or 10 years jail.</blockquote>
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Gosh. However will Australians who want to play Fallout 3 get a hold of it now?
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Thanks <b>Wyrmlord</b>!

 

[Shannow]

Hehehe.....HAHAHAHA....MUAHAHAHAhahaha...

I'm sure they'll tone down the violence. From what I've seen they'd have problems in Germany, too. So BoS 2 loses its sole redeeming feature, imho.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Gosh. However will Australian's who want to play Fallout 3 get a hold of it now?

Pirates deserve to die.

 

[JarlFrank]

This means that Fallout 3 is banned for sale, hire, public exhibition or importation into Australia, carrying a maximum fine of $275,000 and/or 10 years jail.

What? And I thought German game laws were strict. This is fucking ridiculous though. We have many games that may not be sold officially, but you're still allowed to import them if you're old enough...

 

[SimpleComplexity]

This is the first good news since Fallout 3 was acquired by Bethesda. :celebration:

 

[thesheeep]

Well, that's one way to increase piracy...

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

...and lower the sales.

 

[thesheeep]

In Australia?

I'm not that sure. How many people are living there, anyway?

 

[Shannow]

21 million.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

21 million.

Shit, only?

I love the Codex, everyday you find out something new.

 

[Ahzaruuk]

21 million.

Shit, only?

As of now, there are more kangaroos than people in the land of Aus.

21 million people, 60 million kangaroos.

 

[Korgan]

Australian's

 

[thesheeep]

21 million.

hahaha...
Anyway, sad news for them.

 

[Shannow]

21 million.

Shit, only?

I love the Codex, everyday you find out something new.

Or you could just visit Wikipedia once in a while. Despite its bad reputation around here it is a great source of information. It just sucks as a source for scientific papers and for political topics.

 

[J1M]

Btw, the RC rating stands for "Really Crappy".

 

[RadioGnome Invisible]

Or you could just visit Wikipedia once in a while. Despite its bad reputation around here it is a great source of information. It just sucks as a source for scientific papers and for political topics.

Last time i checked it did have some quite accurate articles on astronomy.

Anyway, IIRC it's not the first time australians got fucked... and here i was thinking these german ratings are way too strict

 

[Texas Red]

Big Brother is







>=(








Watching You

 

[Zeros]

Maybe the AOFLC is a fan of fallout.

 

[Thrasher]

hell they have mad max anyway.

 

[Jeff Graw]

Who's stupider: Australians or Bethesda developers?

 

[DemonKing]

The problem is that we don't have an 18+ rating for games like we have for movies. So basically if your game doesn't fit in the 15+ range (must be 15 years older or more to purchase) then you are either going to have to modify your code or be banned here.

The issue has been debated here but to institute an 18+ code for games all of the 6 states' attorney generals have to agree and unfortunately we have one state with a bible-basher in the role who argues that by allowing an 18+ classification it will make violent and sexually-explicit games more readily available to the kiddies (even though such a rating would make it illegal to sell it to them).

It's kind of ridiculous but that's how it stands currently.

 

[Longshanks]

Yeah, our ratings system is less strict or conservative than that in the US, apart from the missing R18+ classification for games :wink: . Very few movies are rated R18+ here, whereas in the US anything with even moderate violence or sexual themes is rated R17+ (The Matrix :shock: , Gladiator, Oz, Kill Bill 2 ... All rated 15+ here). GTA IV received an MA15+ rating, with very minor changes, voluntarily applied by R*.

An 18+ catgeory will be added eventually, it's just that, as DemonKing pointed out, there needs to be agreement across all six state governments, and that's never easy to achieve.

 

[BearBomber]

Today they have taken our games, tommorow they'll take OUT FREEEEEEEDOM!

LAST HOPE OF AUSTRALIA

 

[Spectacle]

Australia is just annoyed that Fallout is set in America rather than the outback like the Mad Max movies.

 

[Ausir]

It's been confirmed that it's the drugs.