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Games Entertainment

Grand Theft Auto Still Banned Down Under 421

Posted by CmdrTaco from the flushed-cds-spin-the-other-way dept.
SicariusMan sent us a CNN story that talks about australia upholding the ban on GTA3. It's been mentioned here before, but its interesting that its gonna stick. GTA3 really is perhaps the best PS2 game out in recent memory. I'm having a PS2 resurgance of late, beating Klonoa2, MGS2, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and getting hooked on Jak and Daxter and Frequency. And GTA3 is easily among the best of PS2 games. Sorry .au! At least they probably won't ban FFX!
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Grand Theft Auto Still Banned Down Under More

Grand Theft Auto Still Banned Down Under

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  • What? (Score:5, Funny)

    by OblongPlatypus ( 233746 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:38AM (#2704309)
    Am I to understand that stealing cars is illegal in Australia? How... weird.
    • As a non-gamer (well, the last game I played seriously was UltimaII on my Apple IIe -- I was in High School) I too stared at the title for a moment while my brain entered a race condition...

      Too bad you'll be modded down, though...

    • Re:What? (Score:2)

      by JPS ( 58437 )
      Err, you probably mean risking your very life saving severely wounded people in the street by driving your ambulance among the gun shots?
      (And you didn't really steal the ambulance... it just happened to be there ;) )

  • Gov'mint knows best (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Sobrique ( 543255 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:41AM (#2704326) Homepage
    This is what we like to see.
    Governments protecting us from playing things that are naughty.
    Thought police strike again. Anyone think that .au has seen the draconian legislation that the US and the EU have started trying to bring about and want to join in the party?

    Well, as long as you can still buy pr0n, I guess that's ok :)

    • Interesting Cycle... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Uttles ( 324447 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [selttu]> on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:47AM (#2704371) Homepage Journal
      I mean isn't Australia just a big island full of convicts? Funny how now they seem to be so strict. I wonder if someone gets arrested for having that game, are they going to ship them to the UK?

  • Wrong side of the road. (Score:5, Funny)

    by billnad ( 206934 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:42AM (#2704334) Homepage
    I believe that I can clear this up. Any single video game can integrate itself into a countrys culture. Perhaps the Aussie authoritys are worried that this will cause people to drive on the "wrong" side of the road

  • Odd thing to complain about. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kanon ( 152815 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:42AM (#2704339)
    I remember from the earlier article that Australia was concerned about being able to hire prostitutes. Do your thing and then beat them up for the money.

    It's probably a good thing they didn't realise you can wander around, beat someone up for their money, kill the paramedic when he arrives, steal the ambulance and then mow down prostitutes by the dozen. All in the privacy of your own home!

    • Re:Odd thing to complain about. (Score:5, Funny)

      by mekkab ( 133181 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:11PM (#2704513) Homepage Journal
      So I sez to my wife "Wife, this game is great! You pick up prostitutes, have them 'do there thing', and then beat 'em up to get your money back!"

      So she sez "okay, show me!"

      So I do... and to say the least she was rather unimpressed. Millions of polygons, more ram, more space on the dvd-roms, and a creaky car is the best they could come up with?

      Wife was not offended. THIS GAME SUCKS!
      • So she sez "okay, show me!"

        Was I the only one expecting the storyline to continue as such:
        So I went downtown, picked up some prostitutes, had them 'do their thing', and then beat 'em up and got my money back.

        Wife was not offended.
    • I don't think you can kill the paramedics, you can knock them down but not out. I've run over them 5 times and they just keep getting up after a few seconds. I guess I need to try shooting them. You can get health back by stealing the ambulence too, if you're not at full from the prostitutes, who can raise you up to 125% (pun intended).
    • My fav thing to do is to pick up a hooker, get a hummer up to 125%, let the hooker out and then kill her and get my money back.

      It's a win-win situation. Of course, now I try to do the same thing when I pick up hookers in real life.. Quite sad, really.

  • Are Aussies expected to return the game? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dimensio ( 311070 ) <darkstar@LISPiglou.com minus language> on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:43AM (#2704342)
    Consider this from the CNN article (And I've seen it before):

    The OFLC was firm on the point that the game would not allowed in Australia, saying "if you have already purchased a game you will need to contact your retailer about return procedures."

    Are people who purchased the game before the ban now expected to return it? Exactly how many Aussies are going to return what is essentially a collector's item in their country?

  • I'd be more sympathetic... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Byteme ( 6617 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:43AM (#2704343) Homepage
    ...if Australia didn't export beer that has already been through the kidney!

    • Re:I'd be more sympathetic... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Howie ( 4244 ) <howie@thi[ ].com ['ngy' in gap]> on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:38PM (#2704687) Homepage Journal
      Assuming you live where your whois records say, you aren't qualified to comment on other nation's beer output, I'm afraid ;-)
    • ..if Australia didn't export beer that has already been through the kidney!

      Heh heh heh. Silly international person. We export that stuff because only people overseas are foolish enough to drink it. We keep our best beer for ourselves. [coopers.com.au]

      Anyway, (to stay vaguely on topic) maybe this game actually got banned because you couldn't buy a decent beer in it...
      • We keep our best beer for ourselves.

        I get my Coopers in the UK from Oddbins [oddbins.co.uk], and it's sometimes cheaper than the stubby price I used to pay in Australia !!

        Oh, and you can get VB too (if you're desperate) but the cans are re-printed "Victoria Beer" as they can't call it "Bitter" in the UK (it's a lager). Fosters in the UK is nothing like Aussie Fosters (well, almost nothing like - it's still piss, but different piss), but is brewed in London by Courage.

        I'm off for a hoegaarden [interbrew.com] which I can get on tap and tastes surprisingly like Coopers - now if only it was 35 degrees outside rather than 3 degrees...

        T

  • It's not really that bad (Score:3, Informative)

    by rnb ( 471088 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:46AM (#2704359)
    After having played GTA3 for many hours straight, I'm surprised to hear of this (I missed the original article.) Sure, there's some swearing and violence, but it's not really any worse than a lot of other games that are already readily available. Does Australia have a long list of games that are banned, or is this one being set up to make an example, so to speak?
    • Sure, there's some swearing and violence, but it's not really any worse than a lot of other games that are already readily available

      Violence-wise and sex-wise, there's nothing really new. I think the main thing about the game is the completely open-ended world the game provides... there's literally no limit to the mayhem. If you want to do nothing but slaughter whores all day, the game will let you do that. It's completely amoral and will basically let you play whatever kind of character you like.

      After playing this game for a few weeks, I can tell you that it's a) one of the best games Iv'e ever played and b) it definitely taes depravity to a new level. :)

      • Re:It's not really that bad (Score:4, Funny)

        by ZaMoose ( 24734 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @02:03PM (#2705161)
        Re: open-endedness. Why not ban the Sims too? I mean, I can wall people in in my bathroom and chuckle gleefully over their cries for help as they slowly starve to death.

        Or pause the game when a Sim is swimming, remove the ladder from the pool and then watch as they tire and drown.

        Seems to me that this sort of mayhem is much more within the reach of the average consumer (vs. obtaining rocket-propelled grenades and high-powered sniper rifles).

  • Support your Aussie gamer! (Score:3, Informative)

    by LordNimon ( 85072 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:48AM (#2704373)
    If anyone has any friends in Australia, I recommend that you ask them if they want a copy of GTA3. If so, you should offer to buy it and mail it to them. With the surge of Christmas packages, I doubt Customs would search every package, especially if it were sent in an innocent-looking envelope.
    • If anyone has any friends in Australia, I recommend that you ask them if they want a copy of GTA3. If so, you should offer to buy it and mail it to them. With the surge of Christmas packages, I doubt Customs would search every package, especially if it were sent in an innocent-looking envelope.

      You should buy them a new PS2 too while you're at it. Region coding for PS2 games means that they won't be able to play your US GTA3 on their Australian PS2.

    • Aside from region encoding issues, Australia uses PAL TVs, not NTSC. So even if they could decode the disc, they couldn't watch it.

      psxndc

    • Better idea... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Dimensio ( 311070 ) <darkstar@LISPiglou.com minus language> on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:44PM (#2704731)
      Offer to buy the UK version for them and mail that. The game has not been banned in the UK, the UK version is PAL and thus compatable with most Aussie TVs and the regional encoding system (for PS2 games) is set so that the UK and Australia are the same region, so people in Australia can play the UK version without problem.

      Of course, if you live in the UK then its less hassle. Or New Zealand -- I understand that many Aussies are importing from NZ.

  • The best and Worst Game this year! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Quizme2000 ( 323961 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:48AM (#2704376) Homepage Journal
    Ture the gamplay and replay value are pretty damn good, even a descent storyline. But, copkilling games and those with other criminal content will always attract publicity and bans. Remember "Postal". It was the same thing, at the time it had great graphics and a high replay value (especially the marching band level). Anyway, don't think for a second that this will be a negitive for the game publisher, its just an added plus to help sell the game in the US and UK. Hey, I played through GTA, Max Payne, and Spycraft. I can't say that I'm a better person for playing them. I would never want my child to come in contact with that shit just for someone else's entertainment.

  • Wow (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by crumbz ( 41803 )
    Talk about a great game. I still haven't heard all of the talk show segments in the game. It is great to go on a rampage and then part the car overlooking the bay and listen to the Chatterbox FM. All we can hope for is for GTA4 to have broadband multiplay and the game would be perfect.

    As for the Aussies, they are down the path of giving up personal liberties for the "greater good". Since they banned guns thei crime rate has steadily risen. Good job!

    • LOL (Score:3, Insightful)

      by afxgrin ( 208686 )
      Since they banned guns thei crime rate has steadily risen. Good job!

      Sorry, I can't help but laugh at that statement.

      I'm also VERY interested in seeing those statistics ... I'm sure crimes related to guns have dropped dramatically. And eventhough there are less murders/deaths in a crime, the crime rate can still go up due to increases in theft, fraud, and smaller forms of crime. It all depends on how you measure crime.

      But to me that comment screams of a bullshit stat., at least you did not write a number as well...

    • personal liberties (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Transient0 ( 175617 )
      >As for the Aussies, they are down the path of
      >giving up personal liberties for the "greater
      >good". Since they banned guns theircrime rate
      >has steadily risen. Good job!

      I understand that censorship is bad and that deciding what constitutes reasonable entertainment is not the governments job. But i entirely disagree with your use of term "personal liberties" especially when referring to guns and when putting down Australia.

      The idea of civil liberties is basically that all those actions which do not cause direct harm to others should be permitted and the government does not have the right to intrude into the personal life of it's citizens. In this field the U.S. is perhaps the worse offender among democratic nations. I would draw your attention particularily to the Anti-Terrorist Bill which has been pushed through in the past few months which basically signs away the rights and liberties of every American in the name of national security.

      The right to own a video game is an issue of civil liberties. It involves deciding what you want to do in the privacy of your own home to entertain yourself.

      The right to own a handgun is not an issue of civil liberties. A handgun, unlike a videogame, is a machine made to kill human beings, it serves no other purpose. This is not a machine that anyone should be permitted to carry around with them, and you can shout about personal freedom all you want. The "right to bear arms" is a freak of American Legislation born from the fact that America is a nation founded upon a violent revolution. It is NOT a basic human right.

      And as for your figures about Australia's crime rate: The crime rate has only increased because of the number of people who have been arrested for illegally owning handguns. The number of handgun related murders has steadily decreased since the ban was instated.

      • Re:personal liberties (Score:2, Insightful)

        by x0 ( 32926 )
        The right to own a handgun is not an issue of civil liberties.
        Of course it is. The US Constitition makes it so. If you want to change that, petition a representative for an amendment.

        A handgun, unlike a videogame, is a machine made to kill human beings, it serves no other purpose.
        So hunting, plinking, and more formalized competition are mis-use of a firearm? Please, just because you have an aversion to guns, spouting polemics doesn't make your viewpoint more valid.

        This is not a machine that anyone should be permitted to carry around with them, and you can shout about personal freedom all you want.
        s/personal freedom/personal defense. I have no desire to become a potential victim because of anyones perceived 'higher morals'. Being unable to run from criminals shouldn't limit my ability to go where I want, when I want. Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness means that I am morally entitled to defend myself. If that means carrying a weapon, then I choose to do so. If you want to cower in your home 24/7 or avoid areas of your home town or city, then I pity you.

        The "right to bear arms" is a freak of American Legislation born from the fact that America is a nation founded upon a violent revolution. It is NOT a basic human right.
        That you choose to ignore that the US would not exist without that violent revolution speaks volumes. What was the alternative, asking nicely? You also choose to ignore that the English government, at that time, was opressive as well as generally bleeding the American colonies dry of both money and resources.
        You should perhaps attempt to leave the nice, warm, and fuzzy cocoon you have built for yourself and look at how other peoples live from their viewpoint.

        I suppose I should maybe have a bit of the topic in here somewhere. :)
        While I am unsure if denying the populace access to a (violent) computer game is really a civil liberties violation, it is an indicator that the government has 'Nanny State' written all over it. My personal opinion is that no government needs to step into my life and decide for me what I am capable of dealing with WRT mainstream commercial entertainmnet. I choose not to play computer games, especially games like GTAx, but I also strongly believe that it should be a personal choice, not a mandate from politicians.

        • Of course it is. The US Constitition makes it so. If you want to change that, petition a representative for an amendment.

          Okay, for a start, you seem to suffer the delusion that the US Constitution has authority in Australia. I realize that a lot of Americans seem to think they have the God-given right to enforce their own values on the rest of the world (at least, that's the pretext used when using military force to protect essentially economic interests), but this is going just a tad too far.

          Secondly, your implied assertion that the US Constitution Is Always Right is just plain absurd. The US Constitution is a document drafted by human beings over two centures ago. It suffers the same drawbacks as any other document drafted by human beings: it may contain mistakes and go out of date. That's why there exists (as you point out) a mechanism to change it. Please don't make blind appeals to authority, it impresses no-one.

    • Speaking of banning guns, here's a quote from the Chatterbox radio station in GTA3

      Caller: ... and countries that don't have guns are unamerican.
      Lazlo(the host): I think you touch upon a good point there sir. Countries that don't have guns not American.

      Chatterbox Rocks, I pray in GTA4 they have even more Lazlo Oh, according to one of his callers, there was a Austrialian-American war, where the Aussies wired kangeroo's with explosives. :-)

      -Henry

    • Banned Guns? No! (Score:2, Informative)

      by DonalGraeme ( 171589 )
      Since they banned guns


      Uhhh, hate to spoil your rant, but guns haven't been banned in Australia. Just certain semiautomatic types. Please explain ([1]) to me how being able to have a semiautomatic weapon as opposed to a regular gun is going to make any difference in the crime rate?


      [1] A little private joke that only Australians are going to get

  • Memories (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Mac Nazgul ( 196332 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:51AM (#2704392)
    of Carmageddon spring to mind...

    Why does it seem automobile related destruction of life and limb garners so much censorship?
    We kill 50,000+ people a year on the streets as it is!

    For those who have seen the classic Sean Connery James Bond film "Goldfinger" there is a quote I always found amusing...

    JB: Incidently, Delta-9 nerve gas is fatal- you'll kill 45,000 people.
    GF: Ha! American motorists kill that many every 2 years!"

    Now we hit that mark in under a year...
    • Nope.. official traffic related deaths are at around 35-38 thousand / year.. definetly less than 45. But yes, your point is still valid. I checked this up recently somewhere us-gov pages but can't recall the exact location..

  • They *mean* well, but... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by b.foster ( 543648 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:52AM (#2704401)
    I'd just like to start out by saying that banning a freakin video game is not going to solve the world's problems, and is completely absurd.

    However, I do see where their government is going with this. It has been a disturbing trend for several decades in this country that criminals feed on the public's attention, and when the public gives much attention to criminals, it encourages people with self esteem issues to become criminals.

    That, then, is the problem with GTA: it encourages car theft. Not in the sense that a GTA player is likely to go out and steal a car, but rather that it allows a culture to slip steadily closer to a hellish society in which crime is tolerated in order to entertain the public. This is not unlike the Colosseum in ancient Rome, in which murders took place between god-fearing christians for the sake of the public's amusement. Compare this to the instant notoriety of serial killers like John Wayne Gacy, who make a killing selling paintings from prison, and you can see why the government wants to stop glorifying crime now.

    Something must be done about this morbid situation. But it doesn't involve banning games. Perhaps it is a media problem; if the government owned a few media outlets, it would be able to put writers and producers with old fashioned values back on the TV, replacing the ratings whores we have today. That is a bit closer to socialism than we should be, but it might be better for society in the long run.

    Bill

    • People are animals and will continue to act as such. Logic will never prevail over emotions because they are our instict as animals. People will continue to prey on others self esteem and exploit their fears. Unless we do enter an age of aquaris where intellect prevails, I've accepted it isn't happening in my lifetime. I hope man doesn't kill himself off before it ever happens.

      There is nothing morbid about this. It's life and it's my entertainment. Watching all the idiots of the world bounce off each other is more fun than reading slashdot. If you want to be happy adjust your own mental attitude and forget about changing things on this planet. Man will just have to evolve for himself over time and try not to make his home uninhabitable.
    • It's not a government thing, its a society thing.
      If there is a demand for 'blood, carnage and violence' then people will make games/films about it. Even if it become illegal, all you succeed in doing is creating a black market.
      Then again, maybe we should look at what makes us enjoy such things. Could it be that the human race find such things 'exciting' because at heart, many of us are still cave men? (Or women)
      Legislation is not the way forward. Legislation should be to enforce the will of the public - if they want violence, then legislating against it will simply cause them to ignore the legislation (consider the prohibition).
      I have noticed a decline in smoking recently though. Not because of laws, but because social tolerance of it has decreased. Maybe that's the way it should go.
      Perhaps we _should_ bring back the colosseum... Least then it'd be 'honest' violence.

      • Inner human (Score:2, Insightful)

        by mavericknet ( 515698 )
        That's true, but consider this, people generally look to games and movies as an expression of fantasy or an outlet. Most humans have core interests to do illegal things. I'd prefer that people vent these interests into video games then letting them bottle up until they "snap". I've played many violent and gruesome video games and I thoroughly enjoyed the Die Hard movies, and things of the like. But I'm just a normal working guy, I don't blow things up, don't steal cars, and I pay my taxes. So I think the problem is that the people that go out of line either have chemical imbalances (natural or recreationally induced) or are in need of support from responsible people at stages in their development. Your thoughts?
      • I have noticed a decline in smoking recently though. Not because of laws, but because social tolerance of it has decreased. Maybe that's the way it should go.
        This is why I like Apple's iPod commercial. At the bottom of the TV it says in really small letters, "Don't steal music."
        If my friends found out I downloaded an mp3 illegaly last night, and my stature decreased with them as a result, that would be the last MP3 I EVER download. Social acceptance is the biggest influence on culture anywhere. Bigger than laws, by a long shot. Now, you have to realize that for criminals, a lot of them are social deviants. They do things not for society's attention, but...
        Well, I honestly don't know why they do these things. Murder, Grand Theft, and what not. But I really don't think it's for social acceptance. And if the law says they shouldn't, that's not too great a deterrent either. No more so, anyway. So why do they do these things? What's their reward? Because if we know what their reward is, we might be able to take it away. Maybe it's just money, which means that we can only take it away if we can catch them, which doesn't change anything.
        Sorry for rambling.
    • This only causes a problem if you can't tell the difference between reality and a game. I love killing CTs in Counter-Strike, but I know it's only a game, it's not real and if I were to go and head-shot an SAS officer, he wouldn't respawn in a few minutes.

      Computer games are great because they let you do things you wouldn't do in real life. If you have trouble differentiating, go seek help now.
    • Not in the sense that a GTA player is likely to go out and steal a car, but rather that it allows a culture to slip steadily closer to a hellish society in which crime is tolerated in order to entertain the public. This is not unlike the Colosseum in ancient Rome, in which murders took place between god-fearing christians for the sake of the public's amusement.

      [...]

      Perhaps it is a media problem; if the government owned a few media outlets, it would be able to put writers and producers with old fashioned values back on the TV, replacing the ratings whores we have today.
      Ever heard of adequacy.org [adequacy.org]? Judging from your posting you could be a valuable contributer there. Just a thought.
    • >writers and producers with old fashioned values back on the TV, replacing the ratings whores we have today

      Yeah, we've got to get back to things like Gunsmoke, where Marshall Dillon can kill one or two bad guys every week and hang out in the bar at the local whore house.

      Igor

  • Steering Wheel wrong side... (Score:5, Funny)

    by toupsie ( 88295 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:54AM (#2704409) Homepage
    All they need to do is move the steering wheel from the left side of the car to the right side of the car and mirror all the scenes so players are driving on the correct side of the road in Australia. This is completely understandable. The last thing the nation of Australia needs is a bunch of teens taught to drive on the wrong side of the road.

    On a serious note, I lived in Australia (Newtown, NSW) in 1992 for about 7 months. When watching TV, I started to notice you really didn't see violence but man 'o man did you see breasts! While I was there, the movie "Ten" w/ Bo Derek was shown on their equivilent of NBC. In America, they cut out all the nudity scenes. In Australia, they actually had more than the original movie had! Special Director's Cut for Australia. What a great country! Great beer, beautiful women and those cool, lickable toads.

  • Duke3D was banned [geocities.com] in Australia until 3DRealms patched it so the Adult lock couldn't be deactivated; it took a few hours at least before it was cracked, if memory serves.

    We'll ban anything you like over here, it seems...

  • Secret code for GTA3 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hougaard ( 163563 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @11:59AM (#2704437) Homepage Journal
    Ofcause they need to ban a game where you can do the following:

    Urinate:
    Walk up to a wall and press Up, Down, Up, Down, L2, R1, R2(2), Up, Down, Up, Down, Up.
    Your character will urinate on the wall. The cops will chase since it counts as vandalizing.

    Funny!

  • From a known fellon: (Score:5, Funny)

    by cavemanf16 ( 303184 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:00PM (#2704445) Homepage Journal
    Hello slashdot!

    I found that GTA and GTA2, while not as graphically pleasing as GTA3 looks to be, were a wonderful addition to my skill set. Not only do I now know how to go on a "Kiiiiillll FRENZY!", but I also know how to hotwire most major makes of car, from the unimposing Ford Fiesta, to the ever-popular Tank!

    These sorts of skills are very important to an aspiring criminal mastermind, such as me. And why work so hard for a Cisco or MSCE certification? They cost so much more! For only $49.95 (before tax), you too can learn the same skill sets I now have.

    I'm just wondering if GTA3, with all it's new-fangled '3D' graphics is really worth the investment in my future. I mean, I already know how to highjack cars and kill random people. Do I really need to know how to interact with the mob? Please help me decide slashdot!

  • UK "Bans" Clockwork Orange, USA "Bans" , others (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:03PM (#2704466)
    USA and UK ban stuff too, not just australia. Its just that its gov pressure on publishers that does it rather than pre-emptive laws.

    The Playstation had an awesome game I played a lot using a MOD chip called Thrill Kill.

    Unfortunately for the developers and fans, before that game was released Electronic Arts acquired the rights to the game by purchasing Virgin Interactive's titles, and due to the publisher's "moral obligations," the game never saw the light of day. At least, legitimately. Ebay sales of Illegal CDRs were heavy for a while. and it traded swiftly , especially after EA placed full size ads for it in trade mags, and stickers.

    And dont forget that the Movie Clockwork Orange was not played in Britain for almost 20 years in a theater! Kubrick was threatened with jail time if he allowed it by threatening to assosiate teen crime with him as the inciting party.

    The USA almost banned "Custers Last Stand" for the Atari 2600, which featured a cowboy raping a Squaw tied to a stake.

    Germany successfully banned Castle Wolfenstein 3D by ID when Compuserve tried to have it online. It got deleted off CIS.

    Australia is screwed in other ways regarding porn though.

    At least in the US I can say "Jesus is a Lie" in a video game, or depict cops having their heads blown off to score extra points.
    • Custer's Last Stand deserves to be banned. That game was AWFUL. I mean, I know atari games were all pretty repetitive with silly graphics and even sillier plotlines, but this thing made no sense.

      You played a naked Custer, and there was a naked woman on the other side of the screen. Also, there were things which I can only assume were arrows falling diagonally towards you. If they hit you, you had to go back to your side of the screen.

      Eventually you would dance your way across to the lady, and have sex with her (it wasn't clear to me that it was rape, I always thought she approving the whole transaction... I mean seriously, why was she naked to begin with?).

      Anyway, that was it. The longer you could have sex with the woman before getting show with the arrow, the higher your score.

      As I recall.

      Man, that was a stupid game. I hope nobody actually paid for that.

  • Why this doesn't immediately bother me... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wrinkledshirt ( 228541 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:05PM (#2704482) Homepage
    Okay, what you have is a society whose government has decided that it doesn't want video games that make carjacking and other violent mayhem seem like a fun idea.

    From a moral standpoint, that's actually kind of healthy.

    Where it starts to get iffy is when this sort of ban is actually symptomatic of a bigger problem, in which the government is trying to make their entire population goosestep and a commercial ban on violent games is only one such restriction imposed, in parallel with other restrictions like clampdowns on information or restricted free political speech.

    For instance, if the US were to ban counterstrike servers that didn't automatically put bots on the terrorist team, I'd be pretty freaked out. And you can bet this is something that will come further down the line if Ashcroft et al. don't get their powers checked.

    But I've never heard of Australia being a society with a reputation of doing this sort of thing to its population. Now, I'm not saying that this isn't happening there per se, I may just be ignorant of it, and an Aussie contribution on this issue would definitely be valuable.

    But what I'm thinking is that we shouldn't necessarily be taking this in the same vein as if a North American government were imposing such a restriction. You might disagree, but I think that the censorship is only a problem when it comes close to stifling dissent against the powers that be, as opposed to just trying to promote a little bit of morality and decency. Yes, I know that the line is easily blurred, but is it blurred here?

    Just my two cents.
    • Why it should bother you. Seeing as how you are showing intelligence it is my guess playing this game would not cause you to murder and steal cars. You seem to be able to identify the difference between a video game and reality.

      So it is only healthy in that it protects us from the uneducated or deranged products of society. What bothers me is that society wants to ban things rather than promote things such as education and family. I say give people personal freedoms to take their aggresions out killing fake people in a video game. Then promote education, family, and morals such as not killing people or stealing cars.

  • New Autralian version to come in Jan 2002 (Score:4, Funny)

    by substruo ( 543628 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @12:15PM (#2704542)

    The article says that the maker of the game is trying to make a new version of the game for distribution in Australia in Jan 2002.

    How are they gonna pull that off??? Remove the guns, prostituts, organized crime, etc.... what are you left with??? Crazy Taxi????

  • If the ban is justified, then an abnormally high percentage of people who bought the game and don't return it will steal real cars, right?

  • I'll be moderated straight to hell for this. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    First, I must confess to playing, as well as enjoying, such violent games as GTA3.

    But, I must commend, yes commend, the Australian government for this latest action. I can definitely see their point in not wanting to promote such violence or desensitize anyone of the horific nature of such violence. The government will take a lot of heat for this and I admire their strength to face this heat.

    Let's face it. Society and certainly the entertainment industry has increasingly glorified this type of violence. I don't believe that people, except for a very sick few, commit such violence because of movies of video games but, I do think that they are desensitized by the constant onslaught of such violent entertainment.

    The Australian government is, contrary to the usual posts here, not significantly restricting freedom of speech or movement. They are simply restricting a single excessively violent video game that portrays socially abhorent behavior.

    The social and moral values of the free world have degraded dramatically over the years and I don't think that it is a good thing. Would your parents or grandparents have discuused killing someone as we freely and easily do on a daily basis? When last did you say, "I'm gonna kill you!"? Think about what that statement means and then tell me that you have not been desensitized? So, why then do we take amusement from beating up or killing old people?

    The people of Australia and the freeworld, for that matter, can definitely make and play higly enjoyable video games without such antisocial violence.

    Your Grandmother just got killed in a car jacking. How funny and entertaining is that?
    • The OFLC was firm on the point that the game would not allowed in Australia, saying "if you have already purchased a game you will need to contact your retailer about return procedures."

    Holy fuck. That's a lovely precedent.

    And hey, we were watching that Australian cut of "Last Tango in Paris", and actually, we not think that we didn't cut enough depravity. Hand it over, you sickos.

    And that "Clockwork Orange" book, holy shit, have you seen it? I can't believe we let that through. Burn it, burn it now.

    Anyone got the National Geographic that shows the Yanomamo using drugs in a religious ceremony? Turn them in. We're thinking of the children.

    Anyone got more details on this retroactive censorship crap?

  • If you want to commit vehicular mayhem Down Unda, you'll just 'ave to wait until after the Pocksaclypse.

    ~Philly
  • "This game has been modified from its original version. It has been edited for content and formatted to fit your legal system."
  • On a related note, GTA3 was finally released in Afghanistan, after Rockstar Games agreed to make a few minor modifications. The only vehicle you can choose is a beat up Toyota pickup truck with fourteen armed men in the back...

  • Each country has its own "bans" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by renoX ( 11677 ) on Friday December 14, 2001 @05:04PM (#2705639)
    In France, you can't buy nazy items, cannot say things pro-racism..
    I'm french so I'm problably LESS aware of the things forbidden in France which are legal elsewhere..

    Is oral and anal sex still "banned" in some states of the USA?
    I've always found funny than the "land of freedom" would ban those things..

    Australia is banning a videogame ??
    What is "big news" here??
  • I live in Sydney, Australia. I've seen GTA3 at the shops, its advertised in the brochures.

    Has anyone told the storeds that GTA3 is banned, has the signal traveled from the head to the feet?

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