Left 4 Dead 2 Approved In Australia After Edits

Last month we discussed news that Valve's upcoming shooter Left 4 Dead 2 had been denied classification in Australia, which meant the game could not be legally sold there. Now, after a series of edits which removed "considerable amounts of gore from gameplay," Australia's classification board has given the game an MA15+ rating. Their new report (PDF) says, "No wound detail is shown and the implicitly dead bodies and blood splatter disappear as they touch the ground. ... The board notes that the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment." The unmodified version of the game may still be approved, pending a review that concludes on October 22nd.

Attention Australians!

[Dudibob]

Make friends with people around the world to get around this, simply get them to buy you L4D2 as a gift through Steam and because your buddy bought it in a 'unmodded' country, you'll get all the gore! BTW - this does work, a friend buys a German guy all his stuff so he has the gore and then PayPal's him back the cash

Re:Or to put that in other words

[mrsurb]

South Australia doesn't have a Governor General. She represents the monarch in the whole Commonwealth. Perhaps you mean the South Australian Governor. Governors are appointed by the Queen on the direct advice of the relevant state Premier.

Re:Or to put that in other words

[XDirtypunkX]

It's actually the Attorney General I believe Frogbert was referring to.

Re:Or to put that in other words

[mcbridematt]

The whole issue about an R18+ rating not existing for games in Australia is down to a single person - the Attorney General of South Australia - Michael Atkinson, refusing to sign off on it. All of his counterparts are in support of the R18+ rating.

His argument revolves around people under 18 being able to obtain the game somehow and the game making an 'impression' on them.

A fair argument to some extent (when I was in my teens not too long ago there were a few things online that made an 'impression' on me), but the lack of R18+ rating is making the problem worse.

Unfortunately, his state government seat is a very, very safe seat. If he won't budge until the next election (next year?), I hope some idiot corporation tries to lure him out of government.

Re:Or to put that in other words

[UnknownSoldier]

Seconded. (The only zombie movie I enjoy is Army of Darkness. Can't stand anything else.)

L4D is great because it teaches:

a) awareness - especially listening to audio cues of a boomer, smoker, hunter, or panic event. Having the guys in front not make sudden, but predictable moves so they don't get shot in the back by their friends.

b) Teamwork - learning how to clear room; where to stand as a group; communicating what you're doing and about the environment, such as regrouping when a panic event is about to go off. Playing on Expert "forces" one to learn these things.

Most PUGs have total NOOBs, but when enough of my friends aren't online I still play them because:

i) Doing a normal campaign in ~35 mins. shows other people how to play as a team. I can't count the number of times people have said "that was a great team" -- presumably because they didn't see any one playing together as a team.

ii) Play enough games you run into some great people. Always nice to have acquaintances online when you need to fill out a versus game.