Australian Government Bans New Syndicate Game

An anonymous reader writes "It looks like the Australian Government's move to introduce a new R18+ classification for adult video games hasn't yet taken force, with video game maker EA confirming today that its reboot of the classic Syndicate series has been banned in Australia due to extreme violence. Left 4 Dead, Mortal Kombat and now Syndicate — what game will be banned next in Australia is anybody's guess."

Re:Depends on how you look at it

[SharkLaser]

It's not completely victimless. It's lost opportunity to other game developers since you're playing some other game you pirated instead of getting theirs.

Re:I guess...

[mjwx]

That makes it ok to download it then, huh?

Cant say, but it will certainly take the wind out of the old and eroneous "lost sales" argument.

But anyway, here's what's going to happen

- Game X is "banned"
- /.er's who don't understand the situation scream about OMG Freedoms.
- Media shit storm in a teacup is created.
- OLFC changes its mind after one minor change.
- /.er's who haven't bothered to keep up scream about OMG Freedoms.
- original /. whingers are now cosplaying as William Wallace shouting OMG FREEEEEEDOMS.
- Game gets released on Oz.
- /.er's still whinging about Freedoms.
- Smart Australians order games from overseas regardless (thank you parallel importing).

I swear we'll still be hearing about this six months from now. I mean the article mentioned Left4Dead when it was released in Oz on November 18 2008, the same day as North America.