Tag Archives: OFLC

Pathetic. According to this XboxOz360Gamer story, the Australian OFLC has refused to classify Silent Hill: Homecoming, effectively barring the game from sale in the country.

Apparently Australian people can’t cope with adult videogame content, which is why Australia has no 18 rating for games. Getting 18-rated games from other PAL countries must be really tough for Australians with the immense knowledge of “parcels”.

Sort it out, Australian law people. The rest of the world’s looking on in complete bewilderment.

Speaking to VG247, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has confirmed that no PC version of Too Human is currently in the works, despite talk to the contrary.

“It’s a rumour, it’s not true,” he said. “We have no plans for a PC version right now.”

A PC version was speculated on after the Australian OFLC listed Too Human as a PC game.

That’s that, then. Too Human releases in the US today, with the European version hitting at the end of the month.

According to this Kotaku story, Fallout 3 was refused classification in Australia because the drug-taking in the game was too life-like.

“Corresponding with the list of various ‘chems’ are small visual representation of the drugs, these include syringes, tablets, pill bottles, a crack-type pipe and blister packs,” said the Australian Office of Film & Literature Classification. “In the Board’s view these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method bring the ‘science-fiction’ drugs in line with ‘real-world’ drugs.”

Yeah, that’s great. Pretend it isn’t there. Lunacy.

Bethesda’s Fallout 3 has been refused classification by the Australian OFLC.

Dated July 4, the RC rating comes just four days before Bethesda announced that the game would feature slavery, drugs and addiction.

The Australian classification rules are as follows:

There are six classification categories for films (G, PG, M, MA 15+, R 18+, X 18+) and four classification categories for computer games (G, PG, M and MA 15+). The R 18+ and X 18+ categories do not apply to computer games in Australia. Films and computer games can also be classified RC (refused classification). RC films and computer games cannot be legally sold or distributed in Australia.

We’re asking Bethseda for a comment right now.

By Mike Bowden

According to this Gamespot report, the only differences anyone’s found between the Australian and European version’s of GTA IV so far is in the way certain aspects of prostitution are dealt with in the game. From the site:

Having just received a region one version of the game, we tested out a few scenarios and only found one difference so far: how the game deals with prostitution. In Australian versions of GTAIV, Niko can indeed pick up prostitutes, but once he takes said sex worker to a secluded area, the game camera shifts to a tight shot of the rear of the vehicle the pair are in and cannot be moved.

In the region one version, once Niko finds a secluded spot, an extra option pops up, asking whether Niko wants the $20 or the $50 service. Once the appropriate “service” is chosen, the act begins, but instead of a static camera, players can freely rotate the game camera around the vehicle.

Neither Rockstar or the OFLC have released details of cuts made to the Australian version as yet.

According to this New Zealand Herald report, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has been warning retailers this week to stay off supplying GTA IV to parents “demanding” the game for their children.

“If it’s perfectly obvious the parent is buying the game for the child, don’t sell it to the parent,” said New Zealand’s chief censor Bill Hastings. “If a game is R18 it’s R18 for a reason and it’s illegal to make it available to anyone under that age.”

He added: “When the violence does happen in Grand Theft Auto, it is of a quality that makes it R18 – the degree of it, the intensity of it, the realism of it,” says Hastings. “When you shoot a body it reacts in a very human way. It’s not just stickmen falling over. It looks real.”

Parents that buy a game rated as 18 for a minor can face up to three months in jail or a $10,000 fine.