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Reader Comments (79)

Posted: Dec 4th 2009 10:55AM LionheartAce said

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Ya burnt!
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:21PM Chibi Chaingun said

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They will just pirate it.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 10:58AM PlatinumSkeet said

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Australian gamers need to get together and force these guys to change their rating systems so they can stop importing.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:54AM That Burning Sensation said

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Yeah all two-hundred of them.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:46PM Obienator said

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I am curious, New Zealand uses the same region as Australia, right? So if Aussies chose to import games from NZ is it very expensive?
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 4:22PM PlatinumSkeet said

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Probably not but Australasia's government is so slow. They're missing all the money they can make off video games through sales tax. If Australian gamers are using Ebay or some other online entity to import the game. Then the governments missing out on getting money back in the end.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 9:35PM alinos said

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Australian gamers cant do shit against this and its the only reason it exsists

A) all attorney generals have to agree to change the rules( i thought we were in a democracy but oh well)

B) the 1 attorney general who is against the R18+ can only be kicked out of office if the town he is the member for votes against him

C) the town he is in is in one of the more outback parts of australia and has a small population(its not even a major city)

D) hes held that seat for 20 yrs which must mean aside from his prehistoric views on gaming he must be doing sumthing right


the irony is every defence he tries to use doesnt actually apply in australia since rapelay was nvr meant to be release outside japan and its all he ever talks about

and since MW2 got through with its MA rating hes been bitching the system doesnt work anyway (although did he ever end up appealing it was nvr covered?)
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:00AM Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar said

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Well, he is right.

I can believe that a game gets banned because it is not suitable for children and intended for adults.

I cannot understand why Australian government, by forcing them to "downrate", pretty much asks companies to make their killing simulators more "kid friendly".

Wow. Why do people always apply some kind of unlogic to everything.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:18PM squeehunter said

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It's Australia NOT America.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 4:15PM AUserName said

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No shit, really? For a moment, I thought we were talking about India and the latest version of Hello Kitty Online Cuddle Fun Fun Time DX2.

You can get on your high horse and talk shit about America, but at least we have the balls to stand up to our government instead of sucking their tits like widdle babies.

Enjoy your nanny state, asshole.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:00AM arnavdesai said

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You know all the 12 year olds in the US will get a copy.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:02AM Funkmaster General said

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It's so true. I was in Gamestop the other day, and this kid's father was buying him GTAIV and the expansions. He couldn't of been older than 11.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:05AM (Unverified) said

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Related: I was playing L4D a while back and this kid came on the headset, he sounded so young so we said 'how old are you?' and he was 6

I'm relaxed as far as letting kids play video games but 6 is way too young to be playing L4D
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:08AM Uncle Jesse said

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I remember when I worked at Toys R Us, a dad bought his son Conker for N64 even after me telling him that there is a level where you are drunk and piss everywhere...
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:14AM Sordid State of Eclairs said

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@ Then a White Kid Said

6 years old??? That is too young.. way too young. The thought that goes through my head, however, is that I can't even imagine he was that good at the game. Or.. was he? :p
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:23AM Uphillbothways said

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Yeah, I was in Walmart the other day buying AC2, and some lady was trying to find a game for her kid (who wasn't with her). I decided to be helpful because she didn't really look like she knew anything about games, and asked what type of games he liked and how old he was. "12" and "He really likes Halo 3 and wants Halo 1 & 2" were the answers.
I explained that those games weren't available for the 360 except in downloadable form. So she decided to go with GTA IV. I said I owned that game and that it deals with many mature themes and had been rated as being suitable for gamers 17 and up (while pointing out the M rating).
Then she bloody gets huffy and offended and said that her son liked GTA San Andreas just fine. Fucking.... parents these days. Damn.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:34AM Shagittarius said

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It's each parents right and obligation to decide what's right for their child. Just like Australia doesn't have a right to decide for us neither do any of you. Yet you post about how 6 is too young. No one has a right to decide for someone else whats right for their children.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:35AM Funkmaster General said

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It's a-ok in my book if a parent think that there kid is mature enough to handle the content. Some kids are mature enough to handle this stuff at 13 or 14, but then you have those parents who still think that all video games are for little kids and that's that.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:36AM iHavePants said

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Well I'm 19 now, and I started playing games when I was 4 I think. Kiddie things like Doom and such, I was never really regulated with my video game consumption. Not all children are stupid, my parents understood that I could and can discern between reality and fantasy(no I don't still live with my parents).

I'm one of the most passive people I know, I hate real life violence.


The point is, the government should get the fuck out of our homes and let the parents choose what is right for their own children and themselves.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:38AM Funkmaster General said

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I agree with you, no one else has a right, and I'm not saying that we should have stricter laws or anything like that. That's not really the problem. The problem is uninformed parents having this antiquated view of video games, and they are the real, serious problem. The parents who buy their 6 year old L4D are what people like Jack Thompson and other anti-game lobbyists feed off of. It is a serious problem, and I don't really think that it's okay to have a lasssez-faire attitude about it, because it does involve all of us.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:51AM Dismissile said

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You're never too young to start preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:53AM RodrigoCard said

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@Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways

Misinformation!
Well, Halo 1 & 2 ARE avaible in disc form for 360, the xbox ones are retrocompatible.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:58AM Shagittarius said

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"The parents who buy their 6 year old L4D are what people like Jack Thompson and other anti-game lobbyists feed off of. It is a serious problem..."

You miss the point. By saying its not right for a 6 yr old to play L4D:

1. You don't have the right to tell parents what their kids should play.
2. Not every 6 year old IS too young to play L4D.

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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:08PM Funkmaster General said

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That is not what I'm saying. I can't say that they are too young, and you cannot say that they aren't. This is a problem. It should be a parental judgment call, but most time it isn't. It's a parent thinking that games are for kids and that's all there is to it. I don't have a problem with a parent thinking that their child is mature enough for a game, I have a problem when they think of it like another one of his action figures.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:09PM Funkmaster General said

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I also would never, ever tell a parent to their face what is appropriate for their child. They should just be properly informed, that's all I want. If parents were properly informed, and actually cared a little, there would be much less problems.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:19PM Shagittarius said

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Sounds right to me Reuben.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:20PM Uncle Jesse said

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I used to watch horror movies with my dad and brother when I was 6 years old. A naked woman would be on screen and my dad would turn to me and say, "don't tell your mom" and I'm not messed up or anything now if you don't count the psychotic behaviour and bed wetting...
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:43PM Obienator said

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Yeah my parents were fine with me playing violent games and watching violent movies...but as long as there wasnt any sex and nudity...cuz ya know...*that* was wrong. :/
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 2:07PM Ghede said

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My parents were fine with me watching nudity AND violence growing up (I'm talking 80's R-rated here, not porn.) I'm only 22, so no idea how I turned out yet, ask me in 10 years, have been a pretty boring kid so far though.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 2:48PM Alex R said

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I remember once I was in GAME (UK) and I was looking at the 360 section, trying to find L4D cheap preowned. A woman asks me what kind of games an 11 year old would like either on the Wii or Xbox. I pointed out the Mario games after telling her I don't have a Wii, and then some games like Burnout, Guitar Hero and FIFA 10.
She picked up the box for Bioshock and said 'He likes games about monsters'. I told her jokingly that I didn't think that Bioshock wasn't a good choice for an 11 year old, and she said: 'I don't think you have the right to decide what I think is suitable!' and stormed out the shop. I still don't quite know what she meant by that, but on the bright side, I did manage to get L4D preowned for £20.
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Posted: Dec 5th 2009 4:54AM (Unverified) said

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Well basically the way I see it is that a parent should be informed at the store of the content in the mature game they're buying, usually it's on the back with the game rating. Y'know, sex, extreme violence, genocidal themes etc.
And then they should never let those children use voice chat, or see in game sprays.
Xbox Live and the rest of the internet can be far more scarring than any game.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:01AM Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar said

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Also, who turned on the BIG HEAD MODE in that picture?
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:11AM Sordid State of Eclairs said

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Big head mode is actually a pre-order bonus.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:03AM (Unverified) said

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Good - Don't give in to the stupid Australian rating board.

Does this no 18+ rating thing mean that a whole load of movies are not released in Australia?
Movies like SAW, Harry Brown, Law Abiding Citizen etc. are rated 18+ here in the UK - would that mean those movies just don't get released in AU?
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:05AM (Unverified) said

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I feel sorry for gamers in both Australia, Brazil & Germany.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:42AM JeezWhiz87 said

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Yeah.... both three of them.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:04PM RodrigoCard said

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At last, in Brazil, they allow 18+ games without censoring them...
They just like to ban random games and charge exorbitant taxes...

Well, we´re still on shit...
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:08PM IanC said

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No they have an 18 rating for films/videos.

Its damn hypocritical.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 6:54PM (Unverified) said

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@ JeezWhiz87

LOL - Just read what I wrote.
I added Brazil as an after thought - guess i should proof read more :S

@ IanC

18+ ratings for films but not for games?
Now that is stupid as hell.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:03AM CaptainProtonX said

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Damn straight.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:07AM UnreadyCrab said

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Damn freaking right Rebellion, don't cave in to a bunch of crusty old bureaucrats and barren crones who spit and pout at violent video games just to justify the tax dollars spent on their careers as red tapers.

If you can't trust your own countrymen to regulate what they allow their children to be exposed to (Which frankly I'd say Ozzies are better at than many), then you have bigger problems that require your attention as opposed to throwing your weight around to damage a blameless industry.

Rebellion 1 - 0 Australia Ratings Board
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:20AM TheDarkWayne said

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well, their game still isnt coming out there, so it's more like
Rebellion 0 Australia 1
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 12:04PM LaughingTarget said

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Australia isn't exactly a huge market. It would cost more to sanitize the game than they'd make back in sales. Aussie politicians need to realize they don't have the population to be able to throw around economic muscle.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:10AM Sordid State of Eclairs said

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Now all that's required is for more big companies to step up and do the same so that Australian adults aren't forced to satisfy the viewpoint of just one man. One person shouldn't make decisions for an entire country, in particular parts of the country he technically was not voted in to govern.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:12AM kenny goo said

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I wish Valve and every other company who's put out a censored game in that territory would of grown a pair and done what Rebellion is doing. If enough games that get denied classification don't get edited, I would hope that the gamers in Australia would stop voting for the people who are allowing the OFLC to continue with this ridiculous censorship.

Shit like this would never fly in America. There's too many outspoken supporters of free speech and free media. Anyone who would try and straight up ban a game from being sold would be crucified for it. Different culture and government I guess, but either way the game companies aren't helping get the issue fixed, they're just throwing a band aid over it.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 6:23PM (Unverified) said

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I'm not denying that Australia's rating board is completely over the top, but that's essentially what the MPAA does all the time by slapping NC17 ratings on movies - forces them to take cut their material to get a lower rating (parallel L4D2) or take the NC17 rating and not get a theatrical release in the majority of theatre chains (parallel AVP).

Not to mention the judicious use of "protest zones" outside of media view, and such.

What I'm trying to say is that free-speech may be alive and functional, but it's often regulated in a way that it loses its power.

I agree that it seems as though Australia takes this kind of thing laying down (although it may just be a lack of numbers or media personalities they have to make any kind of difference), but majority-America, like many countries, also lets their government get away with a lot of stuff without too of a fight, nowadays.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 6:26PM (Unverified) said

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"a lot of other stuff, without too much of a fight"

Is what I meant to type
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:14AM koehler83 said

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Good for them. They're not going to lose a single sale for not changing it. Nothing will stop Australians from importing. They do lose time and resources for editing it.

The Australian businesses and economy are the ones losing out here. Looks good on them.
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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:21AM Organic Jerk said

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I Love that quote. I may just give this game a chance because of it!
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