The censorship of Grand Theft Auto IV will likely force the Australian government to add an R18 rating by year's end, according to The Australian.
GamePolitics readers will recall that some of GTA IV's sex scenes had to be cut in order to qualify for the current highest rating, MA15+. Without the edits, the game would have been banned by Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification.
Greg Bondar, who heads the Game Developers Association of Australia told The Australian:
I think the release of GTAIV is a defining moment; it goes to show how far the games industry has come. The ratings system has not kept up.
The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia also supports adding a R18. IEA chief executive Ron Curry said:
Anecdotally, there was always a lot of hostility towards the classifications, but that is softening now as people are becoming more comfortable with games as just another form of media.
Comments
Re: In Australia, GTA IV Censorship May Force Government to
LOL gotta laugh about the australian national whore association um my opinion is bring r18 there have been some games ive wanted to play but were banned cause of some whining bitches after they approve R18 games all we have to do is wait for the X18 games and then we can go into a porn shop in desguise and say were "buying a game"
Re: In Australia, GTA IV Censorship May Force Government to
Freyar wrote:
"Despite what many people think, there are decensy [sic] levels in video games that even the most hardcore gamer is uncomfortable with."
Firstly, you're contradicting yourself there. If many people don't think it, then there AREN'T decency levels most hardcore gamer would be uncomfortable with.
As a gamer myself, I doubt very much that there are decency levels that go beyond what my comfort level would permit. These are games and no matter how excessively violent or obscene, what happens happens to pixels, not people. In my view videogames have been kept waaay too repressed for waaay too long. In terms of violence I'm perfectly comfortable with a game like GTA IV which shows multiple homicides and drug use. In terms of sex, games need to get a whole lot more graphic before I'll be happy with the portrayal of sex in videogames, because I think sex is a fun and harmless activity which needs to be portrayed with some level of maturity in games - i.e. let's see more of it and much more realistically.
In short, games like GTA aren't for kids and it's about time the industry stopped treating us all as if we were 8 year-olds.
I "bought" the leisure suit
Re: In Australia, GTA IV Censorship May Force Government
I wonder if the massive
I'm glad to see that
I'm glad to see that Australia is now seriously looking at adding the R18 rating... However, I think this is all due to those gamers who refused to purchase the censored Australian version. This decision from my perspective looks like it was made due to pressure by retailers who saw only a small chunk of those GTA sales numbers. I'd love to know how many people have GTA in Australia and of those how many purchased it from a retailer in the country versus imported it. The reason I'm making this speculation is simple. Before GTA IV was released Australian and New Zeland government representatives both condemned the game and added that R18 was a mistake. Now suddenly they've "seen the light".
...I'm guessing that light was the loss of tax revenue due to the sale of copies of GTA IV and those which the game industry employs in the country.
At any rate, start stocking up on champagne my aussie gaming bretheren! The day you've all been waiting for is approaching! Woot for R18!
I wonder if they'll let us
Ah, yes.
Censorship will never bring anything good. Hiding something away from someone will create aggression and tension, which could end in them importing it in (and breaking laws) or something even worse, which we can only speculate. The government believe that censorship will create a nice thick layer of ignorance and that people will turn the other cheek.
Allow the individual to make a judgement on it, instead of enforcing one.
I'm not sure if I ever
I'm not sure if I ever posted it but I've done a comparative analysis of the uncensored & Australian versions (err through perfecly legal means, no mention of questionably legal imports) and the differences are negligible and frankly laughable. The lapdances seem to be the same & there's no nudity in the strip club in both versions. The ONE difference that I've seen is the hookers (AGAIN).
In the uncensored version you can select a level of service and there's a degree of animation to accompany them. You get to see a fairly long ranged view of a fully clothed handjob ($20), blowjob ($50) or girl on top in-car shag ($70).
The Australian version has no ability to select the level of service and the camera angle is locked to a ground level shot behind the car. Thats all I've seen thats different.
My suspicion is that the Australian Hookers Union (I'm assuming one exists with absolutely no evidence) would have been up in arms about the idea that they might provide anything less than top quality service. They may be whores but they have professional pride damnit!
Its quite sad that in order
Its quite sad that in order for us to get the R Rating, we need all of the Attorney Generals to agree to it, and there is just one person who objects to it, therefore it cant happen. Even sadder that I'm from the same state as him.
- Tim Kowalenko
Maybe you could vote him
Maybe you could vote him out. You know with a 5.56mm "vote"? (JOKE)
The situation with state attorneys general is really annoying, especially when they need a unanimous agreement to change something so simple as a media rating rather than a simple majority vote. Why can't we just say "Stiff shit South Australia, we're having it and thats that, grow up." (it is the SA AG that's the source of the problem isn't it?)
Yeah, its the South
It happened before with all
Nueral based video games
That's a good step forward
But why has it taken this long to get a R18 rating?
"as people are becoming more comfortable with games as just another form of media. "
Our generation is slowly taking over.
This is pretty much the
This is pretty much the truth. Despite what many people think, there are decensy levels in video games that even the most hardcore gamer is uncomfortable with. Besides, if a majority of people prefer to have the material available, then it should be. (Those that disagree can start a debate about The Virginia Plan versus The New Jersey Plan elsewhere.)
---- There is a limit for both politicians against video games, and video games against politicians.
Banning the content from
---- There is a limit for both politicians against video games, and video games against politicians.