In response to last week’s refusal of the Australia Classification Board to rate Left 4 Dead 2, an Electronic Arts spokesperson had some choice words for the government entity.
Speaking to GameSpot Australia, EA’s Tiffany Steckler began defending the Valve Software title by suggesting that adults should have the right to choose what games they play. She continued:
It’s funny that a place like Australia, which has come up with some pretty violent material in the past with something like Mad Max, can effectively ban video games for the same reason.
There’s still no word on whether or not Valve will institute changes to the sequel in order to get it approved down under.
Update: According to Blue's News, Valve appealed the Classification's board ruling yesterday. Also listed on Blue's are ratings for Left 4 Dead 2 from a variety of territories around the world.
Comments
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
Remember when life was simple in Aussieland? The only law was "No poofters" and if somebody pissed you off badly enough, "I guess a croc got him."
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: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
It is so annoying how videogames are still being looked down upon as being just for kids, when Australia is far more responsible for releasing adult entertainment on TV and movies.
Wolf Creek, Mad Max,
Seeing the whole Australian TV industry support Underbelly while it's own videogame equivilent Grand Theft Auto being treated as if it was child porn by those same people who supported Underbelly and also the art of Bill Henderson who took pictures of naked children....(not explicit by the way...don't believe what the newspapers told you)
Yeah...when it comes to videogames, nobody in those industries ever stands up for videogames.
If EA ever have to sue someone, they should sue Michael Atkinson. Or better yet, sue the entire Australian Government for the stupid law of every Attorney General must say yes to something to pass it.
That is the only thing that EA could ever do to make a strong impact that the Videogame Industry is not going to lie down about it.
But then again, Australia is not a free country, the freedom of speech only applies to newspapers able to write anything they want even though it might be a bunch of lies and they don't have to prove where they got their information from.
So yeah, Australia is one fucked up country.
The only good thing about Australia is that there is Centrelink support for those who have trouble trying to find jobs especilly in this time of global recession.
Other than that, Australia is not really a free country at all.
Oh, and not to mention we still treat aborigional people in a horrible way and we never really talk about the poverty they have to suffer from up in the Northern Territory.
We are also homophobic in our laws where we still don't allow gay's to marry.
Not every Australian is like that though, but it is sad to know that this still happens because of the politicians who were born in a time where discrimination was the norm.
Australia is still a good country to visit, just like Germany,
But it only falls down because of the politicians who are in power.
Don't tell me about Australia being a free country, unless if you are a gamer, otaku or a homosexual, you will know the true face of Australia when something you care about is being attacked on shows like today tonight and a current affair.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
You go EA. Its a shame that movies down there can go unedited, but video games are "teh evilz!" All because of one Jack Thompson wannabe. Uh, the ex-lawyer btw, not the Jack Thompson actor since there is an actor down there that goes by that name.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
I am so happy that you mentioned that.
I thought I was the only one who knew that.
Yes, there IS a Jack Thompson in Australia who is an Actor, it is so annoying to mention Jack's name in conversation and someone outside of the loop who is of an older generation mistakes us for mentioning the Jack Thompson the actor.
But I guess you have to be careful with people who may not understand how much videogames have been attacked in the last 10 years though.
And we can't use the words JT because everyone else would think we might be talking about Justin Timberlake who is known as JT in the music industry.
So yeah, not only it is annoying to talk about our problems to others but it is so annoying to talk about someone who is causing us major problems and other people mistaking who we are talking about with someone else.
Last year when he was disbarred, a major relief went though the world for gamers who believe that we are entitled to our freedom of speech as much as every other entertainment medium.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
Aussie politicians are hypocrites? Say it isn't so!
Only you Aussies can fix "stupid" in this case. If I had a vote, I would be right there with you getting this Atkinson looney out of his seat. But since I'm just a dumb American I can only snipe from the cheap seats.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
If L4D2 got released the way it was they would be in a LOT of trouble with the government of Australia.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
EA should release the game as is and screw the Skippys. I mean they get the government they deserve.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
This is a fight that the people of Austrailia on the whole need to partake in, not EA.
EA can raise stink and point fingers, but unless the populace makes an uproar nothing much will happen long term. I have seen where they (the people) have voiced an opposition in the past, but obviously more needs to be done.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
Steckler hit the nail on the head. Australia has put out quite a few violent movies. Not just Mad Max, but also Razorback, Wolf Creek, and Masked Avenger Vs. The Ultra-Villain in the Lair of the Invisible Bikini (aka "The Masturbating Gunman") among many others. Yet L4D2 gets refused a rating because of "unrelenting violence." Go figure.
If I were Valve, I’d just release the game as is and not worry about Australia. Sure, we’d take a financial hit, but better that than to compromise our creative integrity. To change it now would mean to radically alter the game from the ground up, and at this late stage in the game’s development, that just wouldn’t make sense. It also wouldn’t make sense either to make such drastic changes just to appease one small country.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
*facepalms*
No EA, that is not how you call someone out. Mad Max was released thirty years ago. That's too much time gone by to make it relevant anymore. What has Australia done RECENTLY that could suggest hypocricy?
I'd like to see change in Australian policy, but the people pushing for it always seem relentlessly stupid somehow. Given EA's history though, I guess one can't expect anything else.
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"They were retarded hairless pink bunnies, all of them. Except Shigeru Myamoto and... well, the good ones were just too /rare/ to be worth bothering about." - Mason Hornblower on the extinction of the human race
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Treat me nice, or you may end up in my next novel.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
I like the picture
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
I'd cheer them, but I think we all know EA is complaining out of butthurtedness at lost profits rather than out of genuine concern for aussie gamers plight.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
Yeah because other companies like Activision is way better for "taking the fun out of making video games."
If you haven't noticed, Electronic Arts is trying to put back the "art" in EA. The whole idea of EA today is "Have a vision, and put your money where your mouth is, and see it through." And that was what EA was initially about 20 years ago. If they cared about the bottom line that much today, they would have not let EARS rename System Shock 3 to Dead Space (Yes that is true), or let DICE make Mirror's Edge, let alone allow it a sequal.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
"they would have not let EARS rename System Shock 3 to Dead Space"
That's an eye opener. I never would have thought the two games were alike in any way because that would mean that Dead Space shares similar traits to Bioshock as well. That actually makes me curious enough to want to give it another try (I was turned off the first time around when my friend lent me the game because the mouse+keyboard controls on the PC version are attrocious to say the least and the insanely bright lighting made it far less scary than it was meant to be).
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
It was from a 1UP listen Up podcast back in the day when Shane Bettenhausen said that Dead Space was originally a System Shock game in development. They changed it probebly because they knew that by doing that it would have made a bad name for itself and EA (Destroyers of IP's), so they renamed it to Dead Space. If you think about it, the premise is very similar to System Shock. Stranded on a ship, aliens wanting to take over bodies, a semi-sentient alien mind controlling everyone onboard shortly before you arrived, audio logs and radio communication. Pretty similar stuff.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
"Yeah because other companies like Activision is way better for "taking the fun out of making video games.""
This! EA has developed, granted, they still have things to complaing about like SecuRom, but Activision? Way far worse.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
About time someone called them on their defacto bans, now we just need peope lto raise a stink about it and for Atkinson to defend his position.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board
But he doesn't need to defend it. All he has to do is say no and give no reason other than "For the childrenz!" and everything will stay the same. It won't change until he's booted from office or dies, whichever comes first.
Re: EA Lashes Out At Aussie Classification Board