Developers of Sony's upcoming God of War III are concerned that the game's graphic violence may prompt a ban on sales of the game in the Australian market, reports Digital Life.
Australian censors have historically been tough on games featuring extreme violence. That's largely due to the lack of an R18+ rating Down Under. With Australia's highest rating currently at MA15+, any game not suitable for a 15-year-old is refused classification.
GoW III art director Sean Cunningham commented on the design team's worries over the game's Australian rating:
There is (concern). We try to push the boundaries a little bit. (But) we’ve had meetings and discussions and internally we all have a good gauge on what’s 'too far'.
You throw something past [content rating boards] and they might say 'Absolutely not! You could not do that!' and we’re all like: 'Aww, c’mon, that was a great idea!' There have been a couple of those…
Also visually, everyone’s really excited. The disembowelment of the centaur, ripping Helios’s head off, the reaction from the floor has been amazing. Everybody in the studio is very happy....
God of War III is due in 2010. As the first GoW game to appear on the PlayStation 3, the visual quality of its violent scenes will certainly be more intense than those found in the franchise's PS2 games.
Via: Kotaku
Thanks to: Australian GamePolitics reader Ryan for the tip!
Comments
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
It won't get banned, it is from a major company - It isn't so much the bannings that bother me as the horrible, horrible inconsistency----
Mark Ecko's - Banned for graffiti use :::::: Jet set Radio Future - No problem :::: Saint's Row 2 - No problem.
Half life 2 - "Now injecting morphine" :::::: Fallout 3 - get rid of morphine!
Dark Sector - Decapitations and being able to inflict damage on dead bodies - Ninja Gaiden 2 ::::: No problem - Fallout 3 violence including decapitiations and after death damage :::::::: No problem as long as there is no morhpine :::: Soldier of Fortune 1 and 2 - No problem but Payback had to be cut for the same reasons.
Manhunt - released but later banned after a grannie rang up and complained - Banned for scary violence (as opposed to the cute friendly kind) :::::: Resident evil, silent hill, dead space, Siren, GTA, Saint's row 2 all no problem. (i note they have a great problem with being able to run over a hooker in GTA but no problem with taking a cop as a hostage and exectuing them at point blank range in saint's row 2, guess it's all about the career path)
Postal 2 - Banned because of gross, abhorrent content (urination, high impact violence, animal cruelty, homophobia, etc.) :::::: Fallout 3 - Violence ok because it is "cartoony" and over the top, as opposed to postal 2.
As you can see, it drives me nuts, but worse still is that if they realise their inconsistency, i am pretty sure they will fall on the side of, well let's ban em all.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
It's hilarious that the only view Americans have of Australia are archaic stereotypes. You'd really have a shock if you came to visit and discovered that we're a 1st world nation and one of the richest on Earth.
I guess the 'dumb American' stereotype is well founded. I think it would do you good to travel and form a view based on reality rather than Crocodile Dundee and Video game websites who post nothing but sensationlist headlines.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
The truth is boring. Long live sterotypes!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Australia. So many gays yet so many Christians. What a fruitcicle of a nation. Save the whales kill the kangaroos.
I know what's next; Ban violent media, start war with Japan.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
This is all purely speculation - on a large scale the vast majority of extremely violent games released in Australia aren't banned or censored. The ever so common "Australia bans everything" line is hyperbole. I support an R18+ rating because we definitely need one and one man dictating the entire censorship system is just pathetic. But people need to be realistic about it: most games are simply NOT banned or censored.
No games should be banned/censored, but I don't understand why people get pleasure out of contantly slagging off another country - is it due to insecurities about your own country? I personally don't think GoW3 will be banned because of the fact it's heavily based around fantasy violence and is highly stylized. The previous two games weren't censored at all by the Classification Board, nor have many others based around fantasy violence been censored. If you read the classification reports the CB actually states quite frequently that fantasy violence dramatically reduces the impact.
I mean, even games such as Condemned 1 & 2, Dead Rising, Gears of War 1 & 2, Prototype, Saints Row 1 & 2, GTA4 (released on PC uncut), Resident Evil 4/5, FEAR 1 & 2, Bioshock etc have all been released in AU uncut, amongst many many others.
Objectively speaking, it's very hard for ANYONE to tell what willl and won't be banned. Their decisions are so inconsistent and illogical that it really seems to come down to the flip of a coin. There's no point in publishing sensationlist headlines reading "GOD WAR III MIGHT BE BANNED IN AU".
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
I don't think anyone's making fun of Australia, but we do like to have a laugh at how your culture is regularly portrayed vs. this whole games are evil and will destroy society thing.
1) Your country was founded as a penal colony.
2) You have your own version of America's Wild West.
3) Every animal down there is pretty much designed to bring about a horrifying, painful death.
4) Aussie Rules Football, aka Rugby, but without all the namby-pamby rules.
5) You brought us Mad Max and the Road Warrior, plus a whole lot of other films that glorify Aussies' toughness and brutality.
Yet for all this you can't have an 18+ rating because that would be "dangerous". And as an American I can totally sympathize with the whole "We're tough badasses who glamorize killers, so long as it's not in a game" mentality. Only, somehow, you're supposed to be more bloodthirsty, yet even less tolerant of violence. It makes as much sense as the Wookie Defense.
Saying that Jack Thompson is impotent is an insult to impotent men everywhere. They've got a whole assortment of drugs that can cure their condition; Jack, however...
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
As long as they're not censoring the other versions I'm fine.
Sucks for the australians though.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
One word for you.
Morphine.
Still think a dev might not change it for everyone?
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
God of War III will be the first in the series to be on the PS3, and probably the last unless they do spin-offs ala Halo.
When Jack Thompson runs his mouth, does anyone really care what he has to say anymore?
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
The developers said it will be the last of the trilogy but they don't get to decide whether it's the final god of war game or not.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
I don't see how that can call it a trilogy, as it is already at 3. The PSP one is a prequel to the first.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Just like GTA 4 wasn't the 4th GTA game and Resident Evil 5 wasn't the 5th Resident Evil game. It's the "Because We Say So" school of sequel numbering.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
God of War? Lol, just wait for Dante´s Inferno. That will make them go on full censorship-enforcement rating nazi mode...
http://kotaku.com/5311428/dantes-inferno-lust-level-could-have-been-packed-with-sex
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Ok, here's what they do.
When the game loads, have text informign the palyer that the Australian government believs they are too immature to handle any sort of violence.
When ,when the gamei s loaded up, have Kratos prancing around givign peopel flowers.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Extremely thorny flowers that rip their flesh off?
"That's not ironic. That's justice."
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
They should do that, have Kratos give people flowers for 5 minutes then load the censored version.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
I'm jaded towards the violence. Ripping Helio's head off? Yeah, that's new and mature. Why not let the player take a shit down his neck while we're pretending to be, you know, mature.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
ripping someone's head of is well within the range of violence found in ancient greek mythology, yours is not.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Apparantley even obvious sarcasm is too complicated for some people to pick up on.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
That was real mature of you.
I tease because... Yeah.
"That's not ironic. That's justice."
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
As long as they don't compromise the other builds, it should be ok, right? They can give the Aussies GoW Kidz edition, and everyone else can have the real one.
What happened to Australia anyway? They're a former prison colony and they have all kinds of dangerous wildlife. When exactly did this pussification start?
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Believe in something! Even if it's wrong, believe in it! -Glenn Beck
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
It's a preventative measure to keep Australia from reverting back to their criminal roots.
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Unless there an R18+ Its gonna get banned down under.
http://www.magicinkgaming.com/
Re: Developers Fear Australian Ban Over God of War III ...
Well, of course it's going to get the banhammer. Unless Michael Atkinson resigns between now and release.
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.