Fallout 3 to Ship Worldwide with Cuts Made for Australian Censors

Please we shouldn't be focusing our anger at Bethesda!

We should be focusing our anger at uptight Australia that makes America look like Berlin's Love Festival!

First up, i'm Australian, so that may color what i'm saying.

But, "victory for the censors?" correct me if i'm wrong, but we are talking about Government Employees, or at least individuals who assess games, movies and literature in accordance with guidelines given to them by a governing body. In the case of Australia, USA and the UK, all are democarcies, and thus those guidelines are subject to change. The problem is that we, gamers, don't generally get up and make a big stink over ratings and censorship in ways that are conducive to how democracies work.

Face facts: there are people who have gotten into power by popular choice, and they are governing by the values they advertised, or were generally known to hold. There is a dramatically large movement of fundamental christians who don't like what they see, and that is why these people are getting into power. Its our own fault, liberals (and i don't mean the kind that votes for the Australian Liberal party [they are conservatives]) tend not to vote. In Australia we are required to vote, we have no excuse. There appears to be a large body of people who want these conservative measures. Yes we got Labor in power this term, but what we PLAY is not really the first thing on their agenda.

Personally, i want an 18+ rating in Australia, not so Fallout3 can get through unscathed, but so that games like Ninja Gaiden2 and GTA4 can be rated to be Adult Only games, which can still be bought by adults.

Games are interactive, and it does influence differently to watching a movie. I like violent games, but i don't want 8 year olds playing GTA San Andreas because their parents say "its only a game" i want the parents educated, and the games rated harshly. I can live with GTA4 having been censored, it was still fun. I was upset over Fallout3 because i felt the rule that got it editted was strange, but i can understand it.

I agree that there is an issue of freedom of speech / right to expression (which in Australia are not in the constitution) but for the US and UK there is that issue i gather. I agree the artist's vision should be respected and not forced by censorship, but arguing that it's unfair because a game with blood and gore is rated to be refused classification, or whatever is not realistic. Different countries have different values. I don't agree that having an 18+ rating would make the game more easily accessible, because the logic Michael Atkinson (or what ever his name, sorry i'm not looking it up) does not hold up: movies come out on dvd, kids will still get them. Same thing happens with games. His logic is flawed, but i can accept his values.

I would not vote for him (though in his current job he was appointed), or hope for his re-appointment, but he got there, by a system we are supporting by not working actively to change.

And artistic vision, once more, I don't believe censorship works, i want to be able to see a movie uncut, read a book unaltered, but that does not mean that a company should whinge that they won't sell as many copies of a title because it got rated such. True there is a divide between publisher and creator, but the point i'm aiming for, the artists vision should be without looking at the bottom line. If they are doing it for profit then they have to cater to the market, if it is artistic, then they should do it for their vision. Games are not art (and i don't mean the legalistic term) they are a product, thus there are compromises. There are independent movies that have only small screenings, but are true to their artistic vision and still have a following. Games don't work that way ... not yet. Give it another few years. And hopefully we will have an 18+ rating by then.

Why?  It's just a name change.  It's not like they completely removed the content from the game.  I'm ok with this decision since we know more than a few people would prolly get a little up in arms over the use of morphine as a powerup.  Better to play it safe now than to get screwed over later on like what happened with Elder Scrolls 4.