Unedited Left 4 Dead 2 refused Aussie classification for second time

by Alexander Sliwinski on Oct 22nd 2009 10:31AM

On this day of reckoning, Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification has denied Valve's appeal to sell the unedited Left 4 Dead 2 down under. The three-member board determined unanimously that the game "could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification," which is the highest rating allowed for video games in the region.

The board believes that there is "insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures." The inability to clearly distinguish the humans from the "clearly fictional 'infected'" was a "major consideration" of the board.

The unedited version of Left 4 Dead 2 is classified RC (refused classification) and "cannot be sold, hired, advertised or demonstrated in Australia." Sorry, mates. An edited version of the game has been approved by the OFLC for consumption in Australia -- censoring "decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment."

[Thanks, Adam]

Source

Tags: australia, censorship, classification, left-4-dead-2, Microsoft, oflc, unedited, valve, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (78)

Reading this stuff makes me angry.

Try living it.

Living in Germany, experiencing censorship first class.

I haven't bought a game in german (or at a german retailer) for years, I refuse to buy cut games, I prefer to play them the way the developers wanted us to play it, and I do this by simply buying the UK versions of those games. . it also saves me around 10-20 Euros in 'most' cases. I hope that in the future, games will not be criminalized in germany and/or other places. I feel sorry for L4D fans in Australia. Try to import the uncut version if you can.

What's a zombie game without gore?

A tower defense with shrubbery as the towers.

you mean Plants vs Zombies

sounds like the aussie govt is a bunch of ignorant zombies if you cant tell who the humans are in this game. a blind person could tell which ones they are!!

Now now. They just want to controller and later eat your brains.
I mean, at the end of the day, is that really too much to ask?

I swear to god, I make a typo every time I try and post in the morning.

All they wanna do is eat your brains. They're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes.

So 40,000 people will whine about how this game should be released at DLC or a lower price here in the US, but nobody's starting a campaign against Australia's heavy censorship rules?
That just boggles my MIND, man.

We try, but it's like trying to yell at a baby to get out of the way of a speeding bus.

It borders on futility.

There is online petions, 10,000 sign atures if i remember but that won't do much.

So you're telling me that a petition to stop censorship can only get 10,000 signatures, but a petition to have dedicated servers in MW2 restored already has 100,000 sigs in LESS THAN A WEEK?

Fuck this world, man.

The rest of the world doesn't care what Australia does with censorship, it's up to the people that live there to sign petitions.

The board must have been high when classifying Left 4 Dead 1 because nothing big has changed to the standard infected beside dismemberment.

So wait, the problem with the original version is that the zombies look too much like people, but in the edited version they look the same, they just turned dismemberment off? Wouldn't that mean the edited version still has the same problem? Or is it okay to shoot someone that looks like a regular healthy human being as long as their limbs don't fly off?

At least they're not turning into pixie dust or black clouds.
(Eyes one at No More Heroes).

So the fictional zombies look to much like the fictional humans. How droll.

Well, when the real zombie apocalypse strikes, we all know which country is going down first. Especially since they're all gonna be shooting each other in the face because they can't tell a zombie from a normal human being.

And Bill Murray doesn't stand a chance.

Viney, I'd have to disagree about Bill Murray at least. He is an amazing actor, able to capture any role he accepts, or finds necessary. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if during the zombie apocalypse, he dressed and acted like a zombie and fooled them. He could even play golf.

I agree with devilsei. I read an interview once where Bill Murray said that during the zombie apocalypse he plans to go undercover as the zombie president and slowly lead the new zombie nation into an unrecoverable downward economic spiral so that they'll be susceptible to and become dependent upon Western aid. That's when we'll get 'em.

Yeah guys, until some confused 17 year old shoots him in the chest because he thinks he's a real zombie.

Man... I hate:

A) Taking a simple joke too far

B) Having to spell it out for people

What's with the spoilers? :)

Seriously Vin, you're the one who can't take the joke here.

What about Fallout 3? Isn't that the same in Australia? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

You can kill ANYONE/ANYTHING in FO3 (except for children...unless you have mods on the pc version). In VATS you can shoot of limbs & decapitate people w/ headshots. If that got approved then why not this?

I don't know how edited it is, but Fallout is somewhat edited for the Aussies (I believe). I remember a whole stink being made about the Chem Addiction stuff.

actually they edited the US version of Fallout3 for the aussie review board pussies.

And the EU version too. The Japanese one was censored even more because of all the nuke references...

@ greenpangolin:

Really?! God Bethesda must have tooken a big risk...

I only remember Morphine undergoing a name change into Med-X. I think it was done for all regions.

Maybe I'm missing something, but can't people just buy this from Steam?
Sure, some may prefer to buy a physical copy, but it's not like the aussies can't play this game at all... But stupid rating system is stupid!

that is seriously messed up

They didn't sufficiently differentiate between humans and zombies so now they took out dismemberment, the one thing that actually did differentiate them?

Australia is surely less manly or what?

Throw another Tofu on the barbie, you pussies.

Bit rough to call 20 million poeple pussies cause 1 douche won't approve the law for 18+ games.

well i'll help them out. anything that is running toward you or looks bloody is to be shot. anyone shooting back is NOT.

Valve should make the zombies's skin have a blueish tint.

Then release an update that accidentally changes it back to normal.

Australia I love you and all... but this is dumb

censorship much?

:pours another one for his Aussie homies:

New Zealand humbly invites all of it's Australian brothers and sisters to jump across the ditch, see the sights (skip the North Island, it's boring), then just before you go, drop a hundy on an uncensored copy of L4D2.

When did the land down under become so uptight? Did I miss a school shooting or something? This is the land of Mad Max, what has changed in 30 years. I thought society was supposed to be getting more liberal...

DAMMIT >< im MOVING OUT OF AUSTRALIA

Can I take your spot? I've been on pre-order for 6 years now.

I dunno guys, I think if you took out all the zombies and the weapons it might get accepted by australia.. Although seriously it's way to much effort, just make your game region free, advertise it online and I'm sure a lot of people will just import it..

This is terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news.

Step 1: Buy from Steam.
Step 2: In checkout, claim you live in the USA.
Step 3: Use your favorite gesture of choice at the Aussie nannies.
Step 4: Enjoy game.

Bonus: Get huge discount from cheaper games and weak US Dollar.

That wouldn't work would it?

When you use a credit card through steam you need to match your billing address with the card. You can't just make one up.

Their address verification is actually pretty exact. I know I've had transactions fail because the billing address wasn't 100% correct before.

When I check out, it has a box that says "I live in the above country." I bet this facilitates purchases for individuals living outside the nation their credit card is issued. For example, when I go to Italy in a year or so for now under the Navy for 3 years, I'll live off base on Italian soil (civilian employee). Even though living overseas, my credit card will still have a US address through a FPO. I then use the system there for Steam tax purposes and be charged in Euros. I probably wouldn't offer this info since it would be to my detriment. Aussies can use this to their advantage by claiming to be billed in Australia but live in the US.

At least, that's what I assume that check box to mean.

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