Aussie Steam users get low-violence Borderlands by accident, fix incoming
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Oct 27th 2009 at 4:00PM } 
Oops! Australia has become so synonymous with censorship that even distributors are starting to get confused. Despite the unedited version of Borderlands passing the OFLC's ratings board successfully, it turns out that a "low-violence" version was accidentally uploaded for Aussies on Steam.
2K Games Australia is apparently working on getting the correct version onto Steam before the game launches in a few days. This does not affect the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, which will be presented in what can only be described as "full violence" mode. Now, with luck, Australia will have the exact opposite problem with Left 4 Dead 2's launch.
[Via Big Download]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Apollo @ Oct 27th 2009 4:02PM
You forgot to censor the Penis.
Solace @ Oct 27th 2009 4:14PM
damn you! quit reminding us about that just when I got that out of my mind its back
BxGT @ Oct 27th 2009 4:14PM
But he just got first comment, OH YEA I WENT THERE.Can somebody cut the chain....because i am off it.
Brian @ Oct 27th 2009 4:22PM
What pe-
OH....OMG!!!
MY EYES I CANT UNSEEN
Old Professor Zertoss @ Oct 27th 2009 4:27PM
It took me a sec, but I'll be damned if that isn't a penis.
Anti-Villian @ Oct 27th 2009 6:37PM
I want to see this penis! but I can't find it ;.;
fundando @ Oct 27th 2009 9:29PM
I want my full violence mode.
CubeGuy @ Oct 28th 2009 1:16AM
What the hell are you guys talking ab-
Oh. My. GOD!
Marco le Polo @ Oct 27th 2009 4:04PM
Is it better to be safe or sorry?
captainprotonx @ Oct 27th 2009 4:06PM
The black hand looks even more like a gun now.
Censorship FAIL.
Giroro @ Oct 27th 2009 4:09PM
What? Just because a hand is black you assume it's holding a gun?
Stop being so racist.
captainprotonx @ Oct 27th 2009 4:21PM
You must be from Australian Censorship Board.
Kevin949 @ Oct 27th 2009 4:07PM
So the OFLC stated that in L4D2 you couldn't discern enough from the zombies and humans and that basically made it not pass. But in borderlands where you are CLEARLY shooting off limbs and heads of humans it is ok. I'm so confused by their logic. Or maybe Valve needs to make the zombies look perfectly human.
The Dark Wayne [Planeteer: Power of the Batusi] @ Oct 27th 2009 4:18PM
I haven't played Borderlands, but I did get the L4D2 preorder demo today. Given that Borderlands has a much more stylized err..style, i doubt it would accommodate the same exposed ribcage, heart, stomach, intestines, and spines that L4D2 does. Also, i dont know the extent of Bordelands melee capabilities, but I think I'll be safe in assuming they're at least slightly less graphic than decapitating zombies with machetes and electric guitars
Kevin949 @ Oct 27th 2009 4:45PM
Well, in borderlands I can shoot a guy in the head with a sniper rifle and watch his entire body explode in a glorious show of bits and pieces and blood. Not to mention splattering people in the car, or popping heads with a "critical strike" of my melee weapon. Shooting off limbs and such. It is fairly graphic, to say the least. A different type of graphic than L4D2 I imagine, but still graphic. Though really I think the OFLC is just power crazy over games anyway. So it goes, I guess.
FantomRedux @ Oct 27th 2009 6:41PM
I think its more to do with L4D being much more realistic. Borderlands, while it may have about 10 times the gore from what I've seen, is undoubtedly unrealistic in its style, whereas L4D2 (sounds like a Star Wars droid) is almost photorealistic. Plus, L4D2 has a much more serious tone to it. You shoot a zombie in the head in L4D2, you're lucky if its head explodes, let alone the whole damn zombie.
Maybe the realism, and I use that term loosely (zombies people! they dont exist.... yet.), is what got L4D its rating?
Kevin949 @ Oct 27th 2009 9:26PM
That's possible. I don't know the ins and outs of their rating methods. It just seems quirky to me at best.
Giroro @ Oct 27th 2009 4:07PM
"Now, with luck, Australia will have the exact opposite problem with Left 4 Dead 2's launch."
I was actually thinking that they might do something along those lines. Once the game is past the Aussie board of review, not much is stopping them from quietly re-enabling violence as part of a DLC pack(xbox) or whenever they feel like it (PC).
for that matter, they could release a violence patch as a "third party mod" and let Aussie players manually fix the game.
FantomRedux @ Oct 27th 2009 6:43PM
I don't know what the laws are in Australia, but if they're anything like the US and they do that, expect a quick yank from the shelves and a rerating, á la Oblivion. And that wasn't even from a change made by Bethesda.
aefven @ Oct 27th 2009 4:34PM
So.... I don't understand. All of this censorship for all these games & then the banning.... Are Australians some kind of crazy nation of psychopaths that can be sent over the edge into murderous rage with just one wrong image?
Kevin949 @ Oct 27th 2009 4:52PM
You do know of australia's history, correct?
AUS_JD @ Oct 27th 2009 9:52PM
Kevin is right. Once the United States stopped taking all those convicts, they had to find somewhere else. So they split them up and sent to other parts of the Empire. Australia was one of them.
Oh, we never received any where near as many British convicts as North America. Not even close.
Srune @ Oct 27th 2009 4:39PM
bloody mess
ScottG13 @ Oct 27th 2009 4:56PM
What a nation of puss. Sorry, you guys have to turn in the Man Card.
With a nation with such a cool history, they really have a sad need for censorship.
Glenn @ Oct 27th 2009 5:45PM
The vast majority of us aussies don't want such censorship. The problem is that to change the law there has to be a unanimous vote of the Attorneys General and there's ONE against the change. South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson is spoiling it for the rest of us. There was a public discussion paper on the issue and, because he didn't like what was in it, he censored it...
Kevin949 @ Oct 27th 2009 9:28PM
Majority rule>unanimous. That sucks.
AUS_JD @ Oct 27th 2009 9:59PM
Glenn said "The problem is that to change the law there has to be a unanimous vote of the Attorneys General and there's ONE against the change."
This is incorrect.
The states do not need a unanimous consensus. They have agreed to have one!
There is a huge difference. Any of the states could say stuff this were bringing in R18. However in doing so, the existing agreement to try to keep state laws uniform would go out the window, and many other resolved issues would come back to plague the state governments. They don't want to return to the previous levels of uncooperative behaviour, so the S.A. Attorney General is holding them to ransom with his refusal of R18.
He's a C#@T.
FantomRedux @ Oct 27th 2009 6:46PM
I like how everyones ragging on Australias ratings board censoring games, and not a word about Germany. BLUE FREAKING BLOOD PEOPLE! At least Australia seems to understand that while it may look blue in your veins, it isn't when you get your head blown off. Even if they do seem to have Attorney Generals who are Virtuhemophobic. Thats a fear of virtual blood by the way. Knowing being half the battle and whatnot.
Brendan H @ Oct 27th 2009 7:55PM
I just have one thing to say about Australia's OLFC:
Those lousy, misguided mother...
...and the horse they rode in on.
Snappy @ Oct 27th 2009 8:17PM
I'd prefer Sir Head-tilts-a-lot to....whatever Borderlands is supposed to be.