Australia Overturns Aliens vs. Predator Ban

Australia's Classification Review Board has overturned the Office of Film and Literature Classification's decision of refusing to rate Rebellion's upcoming Aliens vs. Predator video game, which prevented the game from being sold in the country.

The reversal follows a formal appeal from Aliens vs. Predator publisher Sega, with developer Rebellion having previously promised "we will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices."

The PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game has now been rated MA 15+--the highest possible game rating under current Australia law--with the board writing:

In the Review Board's opinion the violence depicted in the game can be accommodated within the

MA 15+ category as the violent scenes are not prolonged and are interspersed with longer non

violent sequences. The violence is fantastical in nature and justified by the context of the game, set

in a futuristic science-fiction world, inhabited by aliens and predators. This context serves to lessen

its impact. The more contentious violence is randomly generated and is not dependent on player

selection of specific moves.

At the time of the initial decision, Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification cited the February-due title's "various types of violence" as an issue, explaining that "the Predator collects 'trophies' by explicitly ripping off human heads, their spinal columns dangling from severed necks...heads can be twisted completely around...eyes can be stabbed through or gouged, leaving empty, bloodied eye sockets...extensive post-mortem damage, including decapitation and dismemberment, is also possible."

Word of Sega and Rebellion's successful appeal follows an earlier unsuccessful appeal from Valve, which then released a censored version of Left 4 Dead 2 in Australia after the uncensored edition was twice denied classification.