Oz censor bans Soldier Of Fortune: Payback
Bodies blown apart too much it seems
Australian gamers looking forward to a fix of blood, guts and gore in Soldier Of Fortune: Payback will be disappointed - the country’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has banned the game.
The game, the third in the Soldier of Fortune series from publisher Activision, was due to appear in Australia for several formats, including the PS3 and the Xbox 360, later this year. But the OFLC has refused to classify the title, a decision that makes it illegal to sell the game Down Under.
What's all the fuss about?
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The OFLC – Australia’s version of Britain’s BBFC – claimed the game contains “high impact violence” that exceeds the highest MA15+ rating it can give to a game. The decision was also based on the number of different ways a player can maim or injure other characters, the organisation said.
The censors felt the game’s “substantial blood spray” and “blood splatters on the ground and wall” were too much for Aussie gamers to handle. It wasn't too happy about the ability to target specific body parts either, resulting in dismembered limbs and more geysers of gore.
Such a graphic gore fest might, to some, make Manhunt 2, which was banned by the BBFC, seem like a beach barbecue on Bondi in comparison.
The OFLC has already refused classifications to Blitz: The League this year, for its apparent reference to in-game drug use.
COMMENTS
Gore?
I must confess I loved the original SoF on the PC, we ran server for many months and it was a very funny game (that should get me a few comments in CAPITALS calling me sick) being able to remove a leg with the shotgun then get up close and personal with it and remove their head!
Perhaps if they are really bothered about saving us from seeing gore they could ban us from serving in the army then I wouldn't have to bugger off and shoot at people for real ;-)
Money is king
Rest easy, my fellow gore-lovers, the holy righteousness of the intellectually-challenged will not keep this wonderful piece of digital joy from being sold or bought.
It doesn't matter what the joyless minority thinks, what matters is that there is taxes to be made, and made they will be ! So go on having fun, fellow gamers, heed not the feeble rantings of those who live in a lesser world.
Games rule !
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take my wife out to lunch.
Missing Command
Which key allows you to lick the brains off the wall ? I can't find it.
Do the censors have a category for shite soaps ?
When is SAW IV coming out ?
Tossers.
Re: 15+ as highest?
Yes, the 2004 Larry game was refused classification too. You can do searches on the OFLC website: http://www.classification.gov.au/special.html?n=46&p=156
While MA15+ is the highest rating available to games, movies may be classified R18+ or X18+ (although it is illegal to sell or rent X18+ material in most states).
Most people I know would be happy if the R18+ classification was made available to games. Usually games and DVDs are sold at the same shops, so they should already have procedures in place to limit access to R18+ movies. It should be trivial to apply those same procedures to games.
Who cares....
OFLC can ban it for all I care. I wouldn't play it anyway... It's way too unrealistic for my liking.
The blood spray in itself doesn't worry me, but the fact that it's completely retarded and unrealistic is very distracting. The arms shot off totally by a bullet are a bit confusing too, especially when direct hits with rockets/grenades seem to just launch an intact body.
The reason we don't have a higher rating than MA15+ is because most people don't see a point. It would only be 18+ after that, which is 3 years difference.
Besides, most "mature" adult gamers aren't that interested in games that base themselves on getting a rating that high.
