As we all know by now, Valve has had to editLeft 4 Dead 2 because Australia's rating system is demented and won't allow any game deemed unfit for fifteen-year-olds. Unfortunately, this means that the zombie splattering game will have plenty of zombies, but no splattering. Want to see how bad the edits are? Watch this video.
The footage was uploaded to YouTube and is based on the Australian version of the L4D2 demo. As you can see, the blood has been more or less completely removed, save for a few stains on the shirts of the infected. Bodies no longer stay on the ground, no limbs will ever leave a zombie's body, and none of the infected catch fire. Ultimately, it looks clean, empty ... and kind of dull.
While I'm not implying that gore is what makes Left 4 Dead fun, there's no denying that the lack of blood n' guts makes the game look so much more bland and unamusing. Shooting a zombie feels hollow when it's not rewarded with a gush of claret or an exploding head.
So yeah, well done, Australia. You've ruined another videogame.
[Update: Attention Australians! Here's a way to bypass the censorship completely. Enjoy!]
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this is so stupid. if anything about it is inappropriate for 15 year olds its the shooting things. even 5 year olds have seen blood before. so i fail to see how removing blood from a game makes it more appropriate
Yeah it sucks, but its not unplayable. Also I never realized how boring L4D really is when you aren't playing it. Think about it, there is rarely music playing, and despite the fact that the person is still killing alot of zombies, you could fall asleep to it!
Nothing is more satisfying for me than looking over the piles of bodies I create after alerting the horde. A zombie game without blood and guts just isn't the same.
Well, that was rather depressing to watch. I'm not the kind of gamer that needs gore to make a game good, but L4D2 just seems kind of...barren without any actual results from blasting a zombie in the head with a shotgun.
I feel sorry for the Aussie game market, and I hope their voting public makes their feelings (one way or another) clear in their selection of public officials.
In terms of how this looks, it reminds me of my time with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, albeit to a much greater degree. NGS2 still has a lot of the feel of the game its based on. This however...less so.
Without blood and dismemberment would probably be ok, and maybe if the bodies faded away after 30 seconded like older games did to save memory. But this looked really bad the way the bodies barely hit the floor before they vanished.
Although it could be it's we're watching a video knowing what to look for rather than playing it.
As an Australian I can speak on this with SOME "degree of authority" I suppose.
Basically, I refunded the game because of the ridiculous censorship they placed in game.
The gore is not the only thing removed, the uncommon infected aren't in the game either because they 'represent an authority figure'(The SWAT team uncommon) and we aren't allowed to shoot them. This means any server an Australian joins has uncommon infected disabled meaning we'd probably get kicked from some not-so-generous American players.
I am however waiting to see how the dust settles once the game is released. I know our retarded OFLC doesn't reclassify games that have already been classified (MW2 got rated even with the terrorist scene, I'd probably consider that worse than L4D2. Point is, in light of the terrorist level some people are calling for reclassification but the OFLC has said they don't reclassify games. (know the double standards they have they'll probably break this rule anyway))
SORRY I DIGRESS. Point is, I don't believe game patches or DLC are rated by the OFLC so Valve can probably just release a patch once the game is launched to add delicious delicious violence, whether they will or not, I do not know.
I will also state that this censorship seems WAY over the top. L4D1 wasn't censored here and in its current form is more violent than L4D2...it almost seems as Valve has gone over the top with censorship (to the point of it being a joke) to simply ensure that the game got classified in time for launch.
This comment is probably poorly written and full of factual errors but I'm in a hurry so I apologise in advanced.
I think they should put little orange tips on the ends of all the guns to. You know, just to be sure nobody is offended and to insure the Australian / German youth aren't corrupted by those horrible guns!
*sigh* Don't worry aussie / german bros I'm sure you guys will have a workaround for these shenanigans when it releases.
Fark, it was super hard pretending to be immersed while playing this demo without gore. You'd have an epic battle with a horde and some special infected, only for the dust to settle and have one or two blood splatters on the wall...sigh. I miss you, blood.
I don't think they can just release a patch or DLC to bring back the gore and the uncommon infected...it would circumvent everything they are trying to achieve by blocking it in the first place. Now, I do not agree with what they are doing, but if it was that easy to against them...well...it wouldn't be such a big deal at all would it?
Companies would release games blood and gore free and just patch it in the day after release to get around any sort of rating system...
the worst part of this video was the magnum pistol. The lack of gore I can deal with since the gore in L4D wasn't really much more intense than this, but damn that magnum looks bad. ugly viewmodel, fills up half the screen, and the textures flicker around schizophrenically. Now THAT'S something they need to censor.
Oh and for any Australians out there that want a no violence version there is a simple fix.
My email to steam:
Hi,
I was just wondering, if an Australian is gifted a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 by an American, will they own an American copy of the game, or still be forced to play the cut down Australian version? Along the same vein, what if an Australian were to purchase a New Zealand copy, would they then be able to play the full version?
Thanks.
And their response:
Hello Daniel,
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
In both cases, you will receive an uncut version of the game. The game will not have low violence restrictions on it. Please note that the demo may still be in low violence mode due to the way it is distributed. This shouldn't affect the full release of the game.
Problem...solved?
Well getting a gorey L4D2 is solved, not our Nazi rating system.
Here's Skribbles original post for modding the aussie version for gore levels.
I posted a link on Giantbomb and a guy called: Yukoei made this video from Skribbles info: http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Skribble/left4dead2-australian-gore-fix--153748.phtml#story
While I expect a ton of hate for saying this, I really, REALLY don't get why this is such an "awesome" FPS multiplayer. The graphics look ridiculously last gen, the backgrounds are cheap and flat, the zombies move even faster than a human can short of Cedric Benson, and it seems more luck than skill when they're in your face that you fight them off. For being locked in place when firing (a ridiculous feature), I'd rather play Resident Evil 5 for the sheer urgency it offers over this.
@Solid Squirrel
Thing is, with L4D2 on PC at least, there are many console commands and the moddability to allow you to make the game just how you want.
Hell, I KNOW there's a command to slow zombies down, I've used it on my expert solo/nobots runs.
Alright, so if your gonna edit the hell out of it, I demand the zombies to at least bleed rainbows. And if we must edit their dismemberment, bunnies and unicorns can fly off them instead....*sigh* Need another beer now.
It's really interesting on a pure analystic level though. Whit all the fluff removed, this shows that the FPS genre gameplay hasn't really evolved since 1993. It's Doom but with more polygons.
That's the censored version of L4D2 ? Hah ! I was actually expecting to see candy as their blood and rainbows flying towards them instead of bullets. Oh well.
there's still blood, its just been kept to a minimum. seems perfectly playable to me, but its a shame that aussies wont get the "proper" game, and that valve had to waste their precious PORTAL2 time changing around their game.
Got the demo. Adding the gore is as simple as changing ONE number in 2 easy to locate files :) Im enjoying it all nice and gory like :D With how incredibly easy it was, I would be amazes if valve didn't intentionally make it that easy lol Also no risk of getting banned. And our major server hosters in OZ have loads of uncrnsored servers up. Fix was up in only hours
The entire Video Game Community is being held to ransom because of a Single, Solitary Attorney-General from South Australia.
Michael Atkinson.
So anytime you want to bash our lack of a rating system, specifically mention his name so hopefully we can get the bastard voted out, or at least show how flawed our system is that a single man can have this much power....
@Jon B That's where PC definitely gets the leg up on games like this, so that you can at least have time to aim to blow the leg off the enemies. Modding's great--I remember some killer ones for Myth back in the day for Bungie--Army men! Little green army men! I mean, how cool was that?!
Regardless, if this is what the console version looks like, color me thoroughly unimpressed.
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Contest:
8:30 PM on 11.02.2009
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FYI, the clever Aussies already have a patch for gore.
I hate unjust censorship.
It must be a sad day for the sexiest man alive.
still sucks though
I thought Australia was cool
Are they the things that make the respective properties great? No.
Are they still really fucking important to said properties? YOU BET YOUR ASS, MOTHERFUCKER
In terms of how this looks, it reminds me of my time with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, albeit to a much greater degree. NGS2 still has a lot of the feel of the game its based on. This however...less so.
Although it could be it's we're watching a video knowing what to look for rather than playing it.
Basically, I refunded the game because of the ridiculous censorship they placed in game.
The gore is not the only thing removed, the uncommon infected aren't in the game either because they 'represent an authority figure'(The SWAT team uncommon) and we aren't allowed to shoot them. This means any server an Australian joins has uncommon infected disabled meaning we'd probably get kicked from some not-so-generous American players.
I am however waiting to see how the dust settles once the game is released. I know our retarded OFLC doesn't reclassify games that have already been classified (MW2 got rated even with the terrorist scene, I'd probably consider that worse than L4D2. Point is, in light of the terrorist level some people are calling for reclassification but the OFLC has said they don't reclassify games. (know the double standards they have they'll probably break this rule anyway))
SORRY I DIGRESS. Point is, I don't believe game patches or DLC are rated by the OFLC so Valve can probably just release a patch once the game is launched to add delicious delicious violence, whether they will or not, I do not know.
I will also state that this censorship seems WAY over the top. L4D1 wasn't censored here and in its current form is more violent than L4D2...it almost seems as Valve has gone over the top with censorship (to the point of it being a joke) to simply ensure that the game got classified in time for launch.
This comment is probably poorly written and full of factual errors but I'm in a hurry so I apologise in advanced.
*sigh* Don't worry aussie / german bros I'm sure you guys will have a workaround for these shenanigans when it releases.
Companies would release games blood and gore free and just patch it in the day after release to get around any sort of rating system...
My email to steam:
Hi,
I was just wondering, if an Australian is gifted a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 by an American, will they own an American copy of the game, or still be forced to play the cut down Australian version? Along the same vein, what if an Australian were to purchase a New Zealand copy, would they then be able to play the full version?
Thanks.
And their response:
Hello Daniel,
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
In both cases, you will receive an uncut version of the game. The game will not have low violence restrictions on it. Please note that the demo may still be in low violence mode due to the way it is distributed. This shouldn't affect the full release of the game.
Problem...solved?
Well getting a gorey L4D2 is solved, not our Nazi rating system.
I posted a link on Giantbomb and a guy called: Yukoei made this video from Skribbles info: http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Skribble/left4dead2-australian-gore-fix--153748.phtml#story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JbwnZ254H0
Thing is, with L4D2 on PC at least, there are many console commands and the moddability to allow you to make the game just how you want.
Hell, I KNOW there's a command to slow zombies down, I've used it on my expert solo/nobots runs.
The entire Video Game Community is being held to ransom because of a Single, Solitary Attorney-General from South Australia.
Michael Atkinson.
So anytime you want to bash our lack of a rating system, specifically mention his name so hopefully we can get the bastard voted out, or at least show how flawed our system is that a single man can have this much power....
Regardless, if this is what the console version looks like, color me thoroughly unimpressed.
Which actually would've increased the value of the Australian version!
Dammit Valve! Oppurtunity missed!