Australia's
OFLC has apparently seen fit to "unban"
Silent Hill: Homecoming and grant it an MA15+ rating. The survival-horror game was previously
refused classification by the organization for its violence.
Gamespot reports there's no word on what edits -- if any -- were made to the Aussie version.
F.E.A.R. 2 recently received a rating
on appeal to the board without requiring any edits.
Despite there being no word on when the game will release in the region, distributor Atari had
previously mentioned it would like to get the game onto Aussie retail shelves by Q1 2009.
[Via
GamePolitics]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Maverick Saturn @ Jan 7th 2009 8:46AM
Yeesh, for gaming reasons, I'm sure glad as hell I don't live in austrailia :), for weather reasons I am sure pissed as hell I don't live in Austrailia :(
Oscar @ Jan 7th 2009 9:04AM
Seconded.
While you northern hemispherians are freezing your tits off today, we had a heatwave.
Video games aren't too bad over here, the only thing that pisses me off is the lack of Rock Band 2.
Ihavepants @ Jan 7th 2009 9:03AM
You have a thing for 40* Celcius heat?
Maverick Saturn @ Jan 7th 2009 9:12AM
It's the restrictions, censorships and edits that would annoy me if I was living there, I'd have to import everything if that's even legal or possible. But you're right, I could easily sacrifice 18+ games for hot Austrailian babes, heat and having a yacht any day if it wasn't for being at uni :(
Foetoid @ Jan 7th 2009 8:47AM
Yay. Not that i wanted this game anyway, but its good to see games making there way here. This will hopefully lead to Mad World making its way here unedited.
Maulok @ Jan 7th 2009 8:56AM
I wonder what about the game was so disturbing that couldn't be classified. It wasn't all that disturbing or scary compared to 2 and 3. Although, I confess to trading it in after only reaching maybe the half way point.
baby sea tuna @ Jan 7th 2009 9:15AM
It gets pretty dark towards the end when they really start digging into the stuff about your relationship with your parents. To its credit it's the only game in recent memory that has given me nightmares.
RB @ Jan 7th 2009 9:58AM
It gave you nightmares? Seriously? Not only was it the worst Silent Hill by far, but it was about as scary as an angry kitten. I can only think of one scene that qualifies as a ramp-up towards the end, and it was 'over the top, stupidly gory,' not 'dark.'
My condolences to Australia. Yeah, the harsh restrictions suck, but you really would've been better off without this one.
Deeznuts420 @ Jan 7th 2009 10:02AM
apparently youve never faced an angry kitten
RB @ Jan 7th 2009 10:29AM
Well, my sister's cat, Vlad the Impaler, was a vicious little bastard from day one. Okay, rather than rate them as equal, let's say SHH was less scary.
Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 7th 2009 12:55PM
Worst Silent Hill game? SH:0 was the weakest. Why it seems people bash games nowadays because someone else did? Not to mention that the title of “Worst Silent Hill game” isn’t really a tragedy since the series have been always good.
It was definitively not bad I gave it 8.5.
The problem with Homecoming is that it suffers from the Fable 2 syndrome. The game feels very long until you reach the final part that is 30 minutes long; In fact If you save 45 minutes previous the end you can see all the endings.
Remember how in other SH games you had to do very specific things during the whole game to get all the alternative endings? In SH:H is just a combination of 3 events which makes other actions in the game pretty pointless.
Not bad but to be honest SH games never scared me, well maybe 3 but not that much. I think its more about the disturbing story.
RB @ Jan 7th 2009 1:52PM
I stand by the statement. Origins had problems too, but at the very least, got the look and atmosphere right. Homecoming didn't even do that. "Feels very long"? Well, to me, it felt noticeably shorter than all the others.
Yeah, the story should be as disturbing as the atmosphere. The story in Homecoming was the most cliche, predictable crap I've seen in years. Add to that the over scripted combat, incredibly tedious environments (and extra backtracking through them), much less use of the Otherworld, a pitiful selection of weapons, shockingly crappy textures and effects, boring characters and pathetic writing...
Does the system of arriving at different endings excuse all of that? (And speaking of the last section, it was the dullest part of the game...no one told Double Helix *spit* that the climax is supposed to be the culmination of the conflict and horror, not a slate gray bunker with 2 locked rooms and 3 or so pitiful enemies). And no, just being the worst in a great series wouldn't be a tragedy, except that it's bad to the same proportion that the others are good.
It's not just the worst Silent Hill, it's the worst game I've played in years.
Mike @ Jan 7th 2009 11:05AM
"Nooo this game is far too violent and graphic to even be allowed to be sold here in Australia."
"On second thought, it's all good for everyone who's 15 or older."
Whaa??
Velox @ Jan 12th 2009 2:30AM
If you are getting at what I think you are, the reason it is only MA15+ is because Australia doesn't have a R rating.
Douche Bigalow @ Jan 7th 2009 1:23PM
Is the classification L:SK for "Lame, Series Killer"? Because this was the worst Silent Hill of all time (yes, zero was bad too, but this actually was worse than zero).
Blazur @ Jan 7th 2009 1:50PM
How is this game anyways? I haven't been following it too closely but have always enjoyed the SH franchise.
RB @ Jan 7th 2009 1:55PM
As a devotee of the series, I urge you not to buy it or even rent it. Everything the series ever did right is undone completely in Homecoming. It's cliche, ugly, tedious and generally uncreative and unenjoyable.