Valve won’t quit on Left 4 Dead 2 in Australia, despite the title having been rejected by the Australian Classification Board. According to Valve head honcho Gabe Newell, the studio has submitted a new, cleaner version of the zombie-skull buster in an attempt to get a MA15+ rating which would allow the title to see a release.
“We think Left 4 Dead 2 is a lot of fun,” Newell said at a Sydney event yesterday afternoon. “It’s a game for adults. But we’re aware that different countries have different restrictions, and we want to make the choices that make the game the most fun for that country.”
If this different version of game makes it through the process like the original Left 4 Dead did, the studio plans to release an update that will, perhaps, restore the title to its bloody (and original) glory.
Valve has also appealed the decision to keep the original Left 4 Dead 2 out of Australian consumers’ hands. The Classification Board won’t report back to the studio about the appeal until October 22nd, weeks before the game's scheduled worldwide release. Considering the timing, the edited version of the game appears to be a solid back up plan. That is, if the Board approves it for consumption.
[via Kotaku Australia]
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
41 comments | showing # 1 to 41
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
6:03 AM on 10.07.2009
| 
Bend over and lube up, aussies.
> <
...from living in Australia for a while.
Can someone, preferably an Aussie but whoever, explain to me why Australia censors shitz? Color me uneducated but where did all this stem from? Not up to date on my Australian history.
Australia does not have an "Adult"/18 rating for video games, meaning the content in them has to be suitable for a 15 rating at most.
It's a bit of a political ass fuck. On this issue, it only requires a single vote in the negative from any state Governor General. And being that South Australia's GG - Atkinson - has chosen to play the morally righteous angle, he's the single negative vote.
It's weird, because Australia does not by any means have a heavily divided left/right political conflict. Mostly, citizens don't care either way. You vote who you vote, and whatever.
As I said, this is just Atkinson's personal little superiority complex, and he's gonna play it out until he's gone, which probably won't be any time soon.
On the flip side though, very little has been banned here. Even less that anyone would want to play. It's weird, but our MA15 rating is far more liberal than, as an example, the US's comparative rating. And yet we don't allow R18+, despite multiple opinion polls and surveys showing that 92 - 95% of Australians are in full support of an R18+ rating for games.
It all comes down to one snooty power-tripping ass hole in Australia's backwater, riding around on his silver stallion and parenting all of us 'vulnerable adults' that require his morally superior guidance.
That's pure speculation though, so please, no offence intended.
Michael Atkinson attempts to justify his opinion by saying that there is a difference between watching violent acts and playing violent acts. But in the end young kids are still playing GTA4 and Saints Row 2, so a higher classification would make it easier (and a legal requirement) to keep it out of their hands over here.
R ratings would make parents think a little harder before letting their kids play it.
Also I wish Valve had offered no compromise (I'm Australian) then the retailers might have complained more. More voices mean more pressure on Atkinson.
My point is they have approved Rage Virus-acting zombies before and have not said a damn thing about the continuing DLC for it (I know they have no say in DLC matters but they would bitch anyway)
Why is it the countries with better censorship laws about TV are fucking pansys when it comes to rating games?
Show boobs and sex scenes after 8pm? Fine by us, the human body is some thing to be appriciated
Blow a guys head off in a movie? Fine its just a movie it's not real!
Kill zombies? Hold on I got Jack Thompson on line 2...
Downloadable content is subject to ratings. The Australian version of GTA4 had reduced blood and the hooker were toned down, but then Rockstar put them back in with a patch.
I hope this doesn't catch on, or it'll be the end of my banned game collection.
Still it kind of baffles me how they can have a 15 restriction and yet somehow have porn, or is it like japanese porn, but the entire screen is pixilated ?
Yeah, just give up on your own game's release in an area a few weeks after flying out to Australia to visit a dedicated fan that raised over 3 grand to get you guys to look at his mod campaign. Give up on a few thousand sales from the region and then spit on their faces saying their government sucks. Indirectly ask them to pirate a multiplayer game that they couldn't even play online BECAUSE they pirated it.
Great idea.
He's an idiot and he's solely responsible for why games get banned. Its just one man with an agenda who doesn't care about rights and just like Jack Tompson truly believes violent games are a HUGE part of what is wrong with young people just like tv and music was once believed to be the cause.
Bottom line; old guy thinks he's right and we're wrong, but because he has the power and we don't he wins. Until the collective gaming community of Australia takes drastic action he's just going to keep on abusing us.
http://www.buyreplicawatch.com/