In the midst of the R18+ rating debate, we thought that we should review some of the titles that have been banned or ‘refused classification’, but later released under a variety of circumstances. Have the children been protected from illicit content? Should the titles have come through in an environment where there is an adult classification? Or does the ban display ignorance about the appropriateness of different games? Did the Classification Board get it right? Or are there too many inconsistencies in the system?
In the second of three articles, here is an extensive list of the games that have been Refused Classification in Australia, but later released following a review or modification. You decide whether these games were worthy of being banned, whether children had been protected from such material and whether the fuss would have been avoided with an R18+ classification.
If you haven’t done so yet, you might want to consider signing the petition backed by PALGN, Everybodyplays and GAME, supporting the introduction of an R18+ classification. If you don’t agree with some of the classification issues, you have more incentive to do so.
Head to the new Everyoneplays website here.
Find your nearest GAME store by clicking here.
Games Refused Classification initially but released later in Australia
Title: Alien Vs. Predator
Year: 2009
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Status: Originally refused classification, passed following appeal
Rating: MA15+
Overview: The famous film franchises, Alien and Predator, were amalgamated together in the early 90s through the magic of comic books. The eternal battle between these two fictitious races, with humans stuck in the middle, was set for a reboost in early 2010 following two cult hits at the turn of the century. However, upon the initial submission for classification, the following ruling was reached, “In the opinion of the Board, the violence in the game causes a high playing impact due to its first-person, dose-up perspective, conceptual nature and the level of explicit detail involved in the depictions. The game is therefore unsuitable for a minor to see or play and should be refused classification.”
Developers Rebellion responded that they were “disappointed” by the ban and that they weren’t going to release 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". Publisher Sega resubmitted the game for review, where the review board found that while the violence is “strong in impact”, it was also found that “violent scenes are not prolonged and are interspersed with longer, non-violent gameplay sequences during which the player must complete missions assigned to the character” and “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. The violence is typical of the science fiction/horror genre”. As such, Alien Vs Predator passed with an MA15+ classification.
A case of misunderstanding the medium?
Title: 50 Cent: Bulletproof
Year: 2005
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox
Status: Originally refused classification, passed following modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: The iconic rapper had a 3rd Person shooter video game made in his name, and fans are likely to understand the reference in the title as well. It was refused classification in 2005 because the board considered the game to be too violent in the presence of strong themes, drug use, nudity, sexual references and coarse language. In particular, the ‘counter kills’ and their frequency in the Arcade mode were cited as offending factors. The game latter passed with an MA15+ classification, after the Arcade mode and a few of the minor violent details were removed. Critically, the game was not well received but sold well, presumably to fans of ‘Fiddy’.
Unfortunately, there is no classification rule against bad taste.
Title: BMX XXX
Year: 2002
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox
Status: Refused Classification because of nudity, passed upon modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: This game was a spin off from the Dave Mirra BMX franchise, which was acclaimed as a good BMX simulation title. Incidentally, when BMX XXX was announced, Dave Mirra refused to be associated with it. BMX XXX was refused classification in Australia due to the option to have nude female riders and the ability to unlock full motion videos containing nudity. The board also commented that the game would be refused by retailers due to the content. Later, publisher Acclaim submitted a revised version of the game which did not have any nudity. The Board classified this modified version MA15+ with sexual references, medium level coarse language and adult themes.
Even as a gamer, sometimes you wonder "why?".
Title: Dark Sector
Year: 2008
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Status: Refused Classification due to excessive violence, passed upon modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: Dark Sector was a 3rd person action shooter that was originally meant to be set in space, but later changed for more of a Cold War feel, with a biological warfare twist. Dark Sector is a strange case, where the excessive violence in the game, characterised by jittery animations, was actually a result of a fault or bug in the game, rather than something that was intentional. However, the finishing moves earned the ire of the Board as well. Later, a toned down version based on the Japanese version, lacking any decapitations and severed limbs was released with an MA15+ rating.
Quality control?
Title: Dream Web
Year: 1994
Platforms: PC
Status: Refused Classification due to an explicit scene, passed when the scene was removed
Rating: M
Overview: An action shooter from an isometric perspective, Dream Web was initially refused classification since it contained a scene involving sexualised violence. When the scene was removed from the game, it passed classification with an M rating.
Would this have passed today?
Title: Fallout 3
Year: 2008
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Status: Refused Classification due to drug use, passed upon modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: Fallout 3 was a post-apocalyptic RPG set in Washington D.C. and the long awaited follow-up to a much revered series. However, it was deemed that the real-life drugs used in the game were based too much on reward and incentive, and hence justified a refused classification. Despite the detailed slow motion violence sequences and mature themes, players were dismayed with the ruling, as it was emphasised that the in-game drugs would have severe negative effects on the player if they were used too often. For a while, Australian players were made to wait and see if the game would make it to our shores, which it eventually did. However, the only real change to the game was that the drugs were all given fictitious names and this change was applied worldwide.
An iconic image that epitomises the inconsistency in the Australian classification system.
Title: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Year: 2008
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Status: Refused Classification due to excessive violence, passed upon modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is the sequel to a first person shooter that mixed tactical shooting gameplay with Japanese-style horror and became a sign of the changing times. It was initially refused classification due to the realistic nature of the humans and mutants in the game, and the violence associated with shooting them. Following an appeal from publisher Warner Bros. and extensive demonstrations, the Board dropped the rating back to MA15+, as the level of violence was found to comply with that rating and that it was justified in context, while three particularly violent scenes were found to be “highly stylised and obscured”.
As games get more sophisticated, are more going to get banned?
Title: Grand Theft Auto III
Year: 2001
Platforms: PlayStation 2
Status: Originally released assuming MA15+ rating, only to be later refused classification. Then re-released once modified.
Rating: MA15+
Overview: The Grand Theft Auto series is probably the only series to have just about every game released come under scrutiny. The publishers of Grand Theft Auto III jumped the gun by releasing the game with an assumed MA15+ rating. While the majority of the content was found to fit into the rating, it was discovered that players could hire Prostitutes and that players could then beat up and kill the prostitutes, leaving a sum of money. It was assumed that this was the money paid for the sex. It was deemed that this option was beyond the maturity level of the MA15+ rating and the following refused classification resulted in a costly recall of the game. A few months later, a revised edition that was reportedly missing seven seconds of content from the original version was re-released with an MA15+ rating. The next game in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City had similar content removed before it was released with an MA15+ rating.
And so the controversy begun...
Title: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Year: 2004
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
Status: Originally released assuming MA15+ rating, only to be later refused classification. Then re-released once modified.
Rating: MA15+
Overview: Players were quite satisfied that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released in Australia unedited. However, almost a year after the initial release, a modification called ‘Hot Coffee’ that could only be accessed using cheat devices was found within the game. It contained an under-developed mini-game where the main character would go back home with his date and participate in a sexual activities. Despite being rather difficult to access and crudely presented, this latent modification drew headlines from all over the world. As such, the game was recalled off shelves, and only released later once the offending material was removed.
If you ever managed to access it, just how bad was the Hot Coffee mod?
Title: Left 4 Dead 2
Year: 2009
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Status: Refused classification due to excessive violence, to be later released in a heavily modified form.
Rating: MA15+
Overview: Left 4 Dead was a popular multiplayer first person shooter that had friends co-operatively fighting off endless hordes of ‘zombies’. While it was released unmodified, the Board report later found that the minority wanted the classification to be refused due to excessive high impact violence. The sequel, Left 4 Dead 2 wasn’t so lucky. It was refused classification due to factors such as the interactivity of high impact violence, particularly with melee weapons and amounts of dead bodies remaining after they’ve been killed. Seemingly insulted by this ruling, developer Valve and publisher EA Games proceeded to resubmit this version, and a heavily modified one. Only the heavily modified version was passed with an MA15+ rating. However, it seemed that the developers had taken the Board comments too literally and were ‘taking the mickey’ out of the decision. Players were so insulted by the very heavily edited version that they imported the title en mass. While the game sold millions overseas, Shane Stockwell, merchandising director for retailer EB Games, said “the numbers of games we sold you could probably count on one hand” and “that game was an unmitigated disaster for us”.
If this continues, just how badly will retail be affected?
Title: NecroVisioN
Year: 2009
Platforms: PC
Status: Refused Classification due to high impact violence, passed upon modification
Rating: M
Overview: Based in an alternate World War I, a young American solider finds himself fighting the supernatural forces of demons, zombies and vampires in NecroVisioN. However, the large volume of blood spray, potential for dismemberment and decapitation, post mortem damage and level of detail were deemed too much for an MA15+ rating, so the game was refused classification. A modified version, where the zombies and demons turned to dust when damaged and where the dismemberments and decapitations were no longer present, was eventually passed with a rather docile M rating.
Because meeting killer zombies is so realistic.
Title: The Punisher
Year: 2004
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Status: Refused Classification due to high impact violence, passed upon modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: Based on the comic book and the feature film released that year, The Punisher received a rating of AO from the USA’s ESRB, so it was highly unlikely to be passed in Australia. Sure enough, the stylised and brutal torture and interrogation sequences in the game were too much for the Classification Board, which refused classification of the game. However, once these sequences were changed to black and white, and two of them were removed from the game, The Punisher was subsequently passed with an MA15+ rating. One of the removed sequences has the Punisher forcing a man’s head into an acid bath, while the other had a man being interrogated with a blow torch to the face being applied several times.
Comic book violence.
Title: Sexy Poker
Year: 2009
Platforms: Nintendo Wii
Status: Refused Classification due to depictions of incentive driven nudity, passed upon modification
Rating: M
Overview: Sexy Poker was a one-way version of strip poker, where the player would take on several anime-inspired cutesy girls who would be provocatively dressed as nurses and policeman, and would goad you with provocative phrases. They would undress for the player as they won, eventually showing their breasts. Clearly, this violated the Board classification, as it used “detailed” nudity as an incentive to reward players. The Board specifically said that this could not be accommodated in the MA15+ classification. A modified version was later passed with an M rating.
What's the fun when you can't lose in this game?
Title: Shellshock Nam ‘67
Year: 2004
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Status: Refused Classification due to depictions of drug use and sexual references, later released unmodified
Rating: MA15+
Overview: A third person combat game based on the Vietnam war, Shellshock Nam ‘67 has a controversial history, as players were not openly aware that the game was initially banned, then later released with an MA15+ rating. The publisher at the time claimed that the game had been delayed. While the game was initially refused classification due to the depictions of the drugs Temazepam and Dexedrine and sexual allusions, the game passed classification when it was shown that these aspects of the game were justified by the context.
Another case of misunderstanding?
Title: Silent Hill: Homecoming
Year: 2008
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Status: Refused Classification due to high impact violence, passed upon modification
Rating: MA15+
Overview: Despite the past five games from the mercurial horror series, Silent Hill, being released with MA15+ ratings, the most recent game in the series, Silent Hill: Homecoming, was initially refused classification. According to the Board report, the player is involved in a number of high impact scenes, including one where an electric drill is forcibly pushed through the protagonist’s right eye and another were a creature attacks the protagonist, bisecting him in two. This is exacerbated by frequent decapitations of both human and non-human creatures, as well as copious amounts of blood spray and frequent attacks, fighting, torture and death. The game was later passed modified, where most of the modifications were made to the offending cut-scenes and to the camera angles in order to lessen the impact of the unclassifiable content, but the original story remained intact.
Is it ever likely that you'll bisect someone in two?
Title: The Getaway
Year: 2002
Platforms: PlayStation 2
Status: Refused Classification due a scene depicting torture, and was later passed with the scene removed
Rating: MA15+
Overview: The Getaway was a game looking to hang onto the coattails of the success of Grand Theft Auto. However, this game seemed to set something of a precedent for torture in video games. While the game contained “High level animated violence, high level coarse language, sexual references, drug references”, it was a 20 second scene depicting someone being tortured through electric shock that caught the ire of the Board. However, the game was passed with an MA15+ rating once the offending scene was removed, with the rest of the gameplay intact.
If the content is too mature, you won't get away with it...
Are there any other games that you can remember that have been passed after amendment? Do you think that it would have made the classification process much simpler had there been an R18+ rating in place? And would consumers have a better idea of what the product is about had there been an R18+ rating? Let us know in the forums.
PALGN would like to acknowledge that the majority of the information that has been found for this article was found at Refused Classification, which in turn gets a lot of information from the Classification Board. Not at any stage, does PALGN claim this information as it’s own, but it’s merely a summary of what is available.
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