Australia bans Left 4 Dead 2, EA slams Mad Max

[Zeus]

Australia has been Left 4 Dead 2, and EA aren't too happy at the banning. In an attempted defence of the ban, EA's Tiffany Steckler has questioned why a place like Australia is so strict on violent material bans when it has previously come up with movies such as Mad Max.

<blockquote>EA's Tiffany Steckler has delved into her bag of cultural references to express her disbelief at the banning order. "It’s funny that a place like Australia, which has come up with some pretty violent material in the past with something like Mad Max, can effectively ban video games for the same reason" was her way of casting insight into the matter.</blockquote>

News Source: <A href="http://news.spong.com/article/19283/EAs-Mad-Max-Defence-of-Left-4-Dead-2-Banning" target="_blank">Spong</a>

[tech3475]

I am sure EA will find a way around it by using imports.

[gerbel]

Interesting that this post is actually my FIRST i'm pretty sure.
I don't remember making any other posts.

The simple answer to the question of WHY is this game banned in Australia whereas movies that are far more violent are made is actually a very simple answer.

Being an Authorised Video Game Content Assessor for the Office Of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), I can answer the question.

The aforementioned movies that are far more violent are classified <R>
meaning they are restricted to 18+ years and over.

Due to extremely stupid government policy, and the State Attorney Generals of Australia being old "fuddy-duddy's" who think that all computer games are made for children, when the mandatory classification system was introduced for computer games in Australia back in the mid-90s (in an effort to combat pornographic material appearing in coin-op arcade centers.... hmmm i even know who was mostly responsible for that too...lol), but anyway, when this legislation was introduced 14 years ago, the highest rating that was created for video games was (MA15+).

This basically means that if a game contains content that would make it classified as an <R 18+> game, it is Refused Classification, (and consequently cannot be sold or distributed in Australia).

The big problem is that there SHOULD be a <R18+> classification for video games in Australia, but the only way that WILL happen is if all State Attorney Generals of all 7 states and territories of the commonwealth all agree to it.

So... if you can guess how often THATS happened :mad:

Even the OFLC themselves have been asking for this classification to be amended, but the government just wont do it.
So simply put, if you are Australian, and you want <R> rated games, please write to your local member (of government that is), and tell them this is important to you, and you are a voter, and want an answer.

And on polling day, VOTE, and maybe we'll get enough intelligent people into office that will actually be able to do something about it.

Till then... we are all stuck with illegal imports. Or illegal downloads.

I actually came up with an interesting method on which this could be gotten around, however it required an online download, and avoiding the legal problems there.

:cool:

-Adam
Videogame Assessor