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Australian Censors Damned for GTA Classification
The Australian Board of Classification is under heavy fire from critics due to the manner in which it has classified the GTA expansion pack The Lost and Damned.
Rockstar's recently released downloadable add-on has has been granted an MA15+ rating from the Australian Classification Board without the title undergoing any cuts, yet criticism is being thrown at the organisation because the DLC's host-title, GTAIV, was awarded an MA+15 after it underwent content cuts.
Critics say that the strong similarities between GTAIV and The Lost and Damned add-on casts light on the disparity at the Australian classification group, a body which had initially refused classification for a number of high profile games such as Silent Hill: Homecoming and Fallout 3.
Yet the Board's handling of the matter may be advocated by the fact that its GTA IV information page clearly shows that the title hasn't ever been refused classification. Rockstar had censored the content before showing it to the classification board, and the game was granted submission on its first attempt.
Essentially, the Board has accepted everything that Rockstar has submitted to it in this case without calling for a change to the content; a sign perhaps that the group is more relaxed towards violent game content than its critics suggest.
Yet the highest possible classification bracket in Australia remains at 15+, meaning that the board will continue to review content under this rule, and that publishers will continue to censor content to avoid having to pay for a second submission.
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Subscribe To Edge Magazine / Corrections / Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
lets watch rock console dlc get slam soon! they are going to touch the pc verion for reasons one people can order their games over on the net. and second alot of don't care about pc gaming. Not alot of people can aford a good high end pc too. Mom's these days care about their kids and kids playon consoles.
Makes you wonder why Yahtzee moved there.
Good comment, mate. No really, you're a scholar.
Any how, the fact that this content is making it in MA15 shows we need an R18+ rating. The only thing that makes a game an immediate RC (refuse classification) is illicit drug content, which is fair enough I guess. We need an R18+ so for the stuff that is in the gray area in between, the extreme 'high impact' violence needs to get the proper adult classification. As it does everywhere else.
It does piss me off that stuff gets RC, if we had the R18 we'd get every game in it's original form. But it's that there are plenty of games getting MA15 when they should be R18. Atkinson is actually doing damage to the very people he's trying to protect, and he doesn't even realise it.