Fallout 3 Banned in Australia by Ratings Board

"Prostitution, drug use, and violence" -- in other words, it is being banned because it too closely resembles the founding of Australia.

Basically its just 1 ultra conservative christian fundamentalist lawyer veto'ing any change on introducing any games rating highter than ma15+ .. imagine all the usa states voting on something..and 1 state says no...whole thing fails..where it should be majority/democracy rules.

What the hell is going on in Australia? I keep on hearing things about censorship and the Christian right running rampant across the country. I used to think it was such an ideal place, too : (

There are R18+ categories for books, movies, etc.
In magazines there is R1 and R2 where R1 is like playboy and R2 is basically XXX.

The problem here is three fold:

1. The federal law says new classifications can only be introduced if the officials in charge of ratings from each of the 6 states UNANIMOUSLY agree. It's a stupid concentration of power and has nothing to listening to the people.

2. The decision can only be made at one of the scheduled meetings of these state officials in charge of the ratings board and they only occur every 6 or 12 months.

3. There is one holdout, a jerk from the state of South Australia who is really conservative. He's holding out despite the fact that polls this year showed something like 80% of people wanted an R 18+ rating category for games.

There was a concerted push buy the local equivalent of the ESA and Aussie gamers and the debate received significant media attention that was sympathetic to gamers. It was widely publicized that Australia is the only western democratic nation who DOESN'T have an adults only rating for games.

Nevertheless, when the vote came he blocked it. He didn't claim that it is due to religious conviction. This jerk is holding out because he is a typical moron that thinks interactive games are too dangerous for kids (ok, fuck it, we'll allow that ASSUMPTION for arguments sake) but ALSO thinks kids can magically access them despite parents best efforts to hide them, even though the parents can hide their X rated DVDs effectively. :|

So basically he doesn't trust parents and cries "think of the children". Never mind the fact that said children actually DO have magical powers that grant them access to their old man's pr0n stash. . }:-)

there is an update saying its probably the Addictive Chem use that made it R18+.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/07/olfc_report_why_fallout_3_was_banned_in_australia.html

So hopefully we'll get some new icons and everything will be fine.

fuck it, I will import and sell it illegally in australia.

Yeah, more like AustFAILia.

I hope it's released on steam.

What?! "Australian law stipulates that any games rated above MA 15+ cannot be sold or demonstrated" - does that mean adults cannot buy games that were made for adults? WTF

Take this as a blessing Aussie's - now you are forced to import a less expensive version and pay less than 120 AUDs for the game.

OUCH

Somewhat lame they don't let their people decide for themselves.

Is Aussie culture that conservative socially?

Well, I'm liking Fallout 3 more already. Nothing like the endorsement from ultra conservative countries and review boards to spark interest in a game.

So how does Australia block services like Steam and newsgroups? In this modern age I really don't see review boards like this being more than a figurehead to keep the technologically impaired happy.

Crikey!!! I wanted to see a mutant Shelia with some big monstah tits mate!!!

And Yet Brothels are legal! Muwahahahaha.

Heh, knowing the Fallout universe, I can think of a few things that could earn Fallout 3 an RC rating:

Violence and Gore
Drug Use
Prostitution

Australia will be my benchmark for if I'm going to buy a game from now on. If they ban it, it's probably too awesome. This is encouraging for me too, it lets me know that Fallout 3 is on the right track. I'd hate to get a weak, watered down, pansy version of Fallout; the slums, prostitution, violence etc are what gave Fallout 1 and 2 their fantastic atmosphere.

I think you Australians are now officially worse than Germany. Congratulations.

Every time I think videogame publishing is fucked in Brazil, I remember Australia and Germany and I realize we're not alone in this.

Government ignorance knows no geographical, cultural or economical boundaries.

That's a bloody outrage, it is! I want to take this all the way to the Prime Minister.

[goes down to a lake] Hey! Mr. Prime Minister!

Andy!

Great, I'm glad to see they adopted the values of western society like free speech... oh wait a minute! This is insane!

Damn, it's too bad the only way to get a hold of Fallout 3 is to buy it legally in an Australia store or this law wouldn't be effective at all!

I didn't realize no one over 15 lived in Australia. It must be like Lord of the Flies over there!

Australia is pissed the game isn't set in the home of the Apocalypse.

I don't understand--so this Australian board has already seen significant portions of the game? How?

look at the bright side... it means Bethesda aint going light on the mature theme of the game

sincerely, some Australian jerk

First bird eating spiders, now THIS? I feel sorry for you fellow shack aussies :(

australia sounds kind of shitty