Reservoir Dogs game banned from Australia
by Ross Miller 
{ Jun 27th 2006 at 3:25PM }
Eidos' homage to Quentin Tarantino's breakthrough film, Reservoir Dogs, will not be coming to Australian retail outlets. The video game, set for release later this year (September 19th in the US) recreates scenes from the movie and claims to answer some of the film's mysteries, such as where Mr. Pink hid the diamonds.The movie is available to purchase, so why is the game based on the film banned? Australia's Office of Film & Literature Classification gave the film version a rating of R18, restricted for those under the age of 18, but video games ratings only go to MA15+, restricted for those under the age of 15. Therefore, the game would be rated R18, but since no rating exists for gaming, the OFLC refuses to classify the game. Not having classification, unless under certain rules of exemption, effectively bans a game from sale throughout the country. Atari, who would distribute the game for Eidos in Australia, will not try to resubmit an edited version of the game.
The OFLC's lack of R18 for video games has been a subject of much contention. As written in 1973 by the Attorney General of Australia (5th paragraph -- pdf file), "adults should be entitled to read, hear and view what they wish in private and public," provided others are not forced to view offensive material. We understand, to a point, censorship to protect the youth, but give grownups the right to game however they please.
[via Game Politics]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris @ Jun 27th 2006 3:39PM
is there anyway they can just ban the game all thogether as not to ruin a good film?
fwacce @ Jun 27th 2006 3:44PM
Oh yeah, God forbid that adults don't get to play a game in order to protect the kids. I think we gamers need to rise up. We need to show the world that it's very important that we are allowed to play a game, even though we have thousands of other games to play. This just isn't right. Screw the kids. I NEED MY GAME!
SelfConshus @ Jun 27th 2006 5:02PM
Who shot Nice Guy Eddie?
Monster @ Jun 27th 2006 5:14PM
Mean Dude Johnny.
Matt @ Jun 27th 2006 5:25PM
"Banned in Australia!" would make a great slogan.
Are there other games that have been banned in Oz? Maybe there should be a special "DownUnda Naughty Classics Editions" (The D.U.N.C.E Collection)?
KilgoreTrout XL @ Jun 27th 2006 5:29PM
Perhaps it is not the case for this game- I haven't heard of it until reading the news posts that have been coming out today- but all this would
most likely do, for a more popular video game, is to ramp up importing and maybe to a lesser extent, pirating.
From what I understand, a significant portion of the Australian gaming community is often willing and able to circumvent the effect of these ratings (or lack thereof) through importing titles from elsewhere. This seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. I imagine that the downside to it is that it would take a bit of a toll on video game sales Down Under.
[generic "parents should be parenting argument"]
see
http://libertus.net/censor/
for an excellent discussion on censorship in Australia.
X @ Jun 27th 2006 5:52PM
Another game that was banned in Australia was Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.
Zacky V @ Jun 27th 2006 5:57PM
did mr.white shoot mr.orange at the end of the movie?
kilodelta @ Jun 27th 2006 6:15PM
"Who shot Nice Guy Eddie?"
Mr. White shot him. he fired two rounds, the first hit Joe, then he turned his wrist and shot Nice Guy Eddie.
did so very quickly, as one would think a professional should.
SID SPACE @ Jun 27th 2006 6:20PM
Zacky V:
No. If I remember correctly, I believe Mr. Orange died from his original bullet wound (from the diamond heist).
V1L3 @ Jun 27th 2006 10:35PM
I'm a Kiwi, originally, and over in New Zealand, games are rated the same way as movies, i.e. there is an R18 classification for games. Which makes more sense to me, because games that kids should DEFINITELY not be playing (Fahrenheit, Resident Evil 4, etc) are strictly limited to 18, not this half-assed, rarely enforced "MA15" crap.
Now I'm living in Australia, this game censorship issue is one that's close to my heart. Fortunately, few games of any worth have been banned, but the possibility remains, and precedents have been set. Like most of you, I'd just import a game I wanted if it got banned here, but it's an issue of principle, and of equality in entertainment mediums. Why should books and films be treated better than games?
The perception of the OFLC is that, even with the rating system in place, kids will somehow get to play them. So they simply ban any game they don't think kids should be playing (Mark Ecko, BMX XXX, etc), which goes totally against the whole "adults should be entitled to read, hear and view what they wish in private and public" mantra. It's hypocritical.
The unfortunate reality is that this is outdated legislation that is practically impossible to change. The premiers from EVERY state in Australia have to sign a bill to allow an R18 rating for video games, and even once THAT's accomplished (good luck), the Attorney General can veto it for no particular reason.
Crusty old politicians run this country, so it's basically a case of "Well, I don't care about video games, so let's just ban them all," kind of selfish mentality.
I wonder if they'd feel the same way if we banned their outrageously high paychecks?
Rhino @ Jun 28th 2006 12:23AM
One thing I love about this country is that even at 36 years of age...I (apparently) am too immature to know that a game... is after all just a game.
Thank the heavens there is such a thing as shopping over the internet, and I plan to purchase the game o/s.
Another game that was banned was Rockstar's "Manhunt"
I'm sure in the near future, games like Crash Bandicoot, Jax, Tiger Woods Golf etc will be banned due to excessive enjoyment. After all we can't have fun now can we?
Rafi @ Jun 28th 2006 6:05AM
Hyper did an awesome article on the OFLC. They also got a survey which proved most Australia games are 20+, and most want an R18+ classification.
Nick Reasoner @ Jun 29th 2006 3:56PM
nobody shot nice guy eddie, jesus christ. it was a technical fault with the squibs. his squib went off soon and chris penn fell down. so no one shot nice guy eddie. he just exploded.
callum @ Jul 21st 2006 8:50PM
Im so sick of this new phase of banning games in australia!!!!!!!!!!!
QTfan @ Jul 25th 2006 4:40PM
Joe shot Orange ("he's a rat").
White shot Joe ("you kill that man, you die next").
Eddie shot White ("stop pointing that gun at my Dad!").
PINK SHOT EDDIE from under the ramp, as he realized they would all be dead and he could get the diamonds for himself.
Pink then gets shot by cops outside the warehouse (listen closely to bkgrnd noise as Orange confesses to White that he is a cop).
White shoots Orange for his betrayal.
Cops shoot White.
Roll credits