Possible Half Life 2 Troubles in Australia

Voodoo Extreme put up a quick piece on possible legal troubles HL2 may face in Australia. "In Australia, no games have been accepted if they fit into the R(18+) category, so this means HL2 needs to fit into at most the highest category of MA(15+), or it will be refused classification."

Re:Originating Article link

[Naikrovek]

what pisses me off is when slashdot links to itself for "news" history... that is very presumptuous in my eyes. in order to be a news site you have to have your own news, not a link to someone else's news.

this site should be called "Discussions for nerds. Stuff that matters."

i don't even bother clicking any link on slashdot.org that points to slashdot.org unless its the "Reply to this" link.

mod me down, i don't care. "He has an unpopular theory! SILENCE HIM!"

big fuss

[Ratso Baggins]

I bet this is a marketing fuss, you see the censors rated good ol' Harry Potter as M (15+) but the uproar from the people the system is designed to protect saw it dropped to PG in short order.

Re:Originating Article link

[curne]

in order to be a news site you have to have your own news, not a link to someone else's news. ... this site should be called "Discussions for nerds. Stuff that matters."

Unless you regard /. as a news "portal", which would be a fair definition IMO.

Re:Some things

[Anonymous Coward]

A industry-volunteered rating system is what the US has. In fact the movie rating system was also setup by the industry, under public, and Congressional pressure: "rate yourselves before we pass a law making you do so".

This was done to provide some guidelines to the public as to what to expect when going to a movie, or buying a game, free from slick PR campaigns or marketing bliss.

From many previsous /. discussions, this apparently does not work too well either.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I guess.

Re:Some things

[kabocox]

When I begged my mom to buy me a leisure suit larry when I was like 15 she sould read the box and say no, this is smut. I don't know why we can't live with that in today's protectionist world...

Short answer is we have complaining idiot parents. People that would have bought you the leisure suit and given it to you as a birthday present. Then after you've played it for 3-6 months, they'd complain because they walked into the room and saw one screen shoot that they didn't like. They'd ground you for a week and after it was done, you'd go back to playing the game. These people shouldn't be allowed to influence any law makers. I about to say breed, but their children know that they are crazy.

Re:What about Steam?

[Anonymous Coward]

When a game is refused classification in Australia, it's forbidden to sell the game here. I'm not sure of the exact implications though, but it may be possible that action could be taken against Valve if they tried to sell a banned game via steam on our shores.

Re:What's with shurikens, anyway?

[jonwil]

I dont know if its related but I do know that several things with the word "ninja" in it (most notably the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ninja Gaiden) had the word "ninja" removed in some places for some wierd reason.

Re:So what if it doesn't get rated?

[jonwil]

It would definatly be illegal to sell this game in australia if it was refused classification.

In fact, I think there was some trouble back when GTA III came out because they released it before it had an OFLC rating, the OFLC gave it an RC rating so they had to recall stuff from shelves and remove the offensive content.

Personally, I dont think that ANY video game should be banned unless it specifically encourages people to do illegal acts (e.g. how the whole aim of Manhunt is to kill innocent civillians for no reason)

Re:So what if it doesn't get rated?

[HeavyK]

Actually in Manhunt you kill psycotic gang members that are out to kill you. I don't think there are any innocent civilians or people you can kill at all in the game unlike the GTA series.