Good news for the time being my Australian friends.

Grand theft Auto 5 has passed classification and has been rated R 18+

Here is the official source http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=1rhDjetqedVcsbMwMH44Tw%253d%253d&ncdctx=C8xlcVkDrdBICWwWo%252fl7Q8YjN8QUEGY%252fSLquV9TQyRW3EusRaVBx5dgHCFjMngHV

It has been awarded an M by the ESRB and has yet to be rated by PEGI

Its shocking how GTA V has been rated but not saints row iv.

It can easily be changed leading up to the games release but here is some hope you guys get the unedited version.

And Saints Row IV didn't. Lame. Still, great news in regards to GTAV.

@mariachimacabre: Its strange about SR4. It got refused again cause of the high impact of drug use but look at the chart here. GTA V has high drug use aswell. something is fishy here.

And the drug use in GTA likely has a more serious tone, while the drug use in SR, like everything, is done entirely in the spirit of dumb fun.

Its weird cause they never mentioned the drug use when it got banned the first time. Only when they removed the offensive weapon they were like "Oh we forgot to say before but we are refusing the game again cause it has drugs in it DRUGS. will you please think about the children!"

Hey now man we can't have our kids thinking you can gain superpowers by doing drugs.

Now i know why Saints row 4 is banned in Australia.

It has Aerosmith in it https://twitter.com/DanRyckert/status/362680128280592384

They would never have been bold enough to ban GTA. The response would've been swift and loud.

Yeah, the issue with SR4 isn't just the presence of drugs, but drug use being rewarded in some manner.

Actually, now that I think about it, how did Max Payne 3 get released in Australia? There's tons of drug use in that game. Abuse of painkillers is practically a central mechanic.

@scrawnto: I'd argue that the gameplay that the painkillers serve is not considered abusive. And every time he's shown abusing them in cutscenes, he's using alcohol in conjunction, and the fact that they paint the substance abuse in such a bad light, and Max kicks the habit by the end of the game, that's probably what makes the difference.

I've seen this point raised before. Apparently the difference is Painkillers are legal. So in essence, the failed Drug War strikes again.

@mondyofaus: Yeah that could be one reason to it.

@jimmyfenix: The drug use in Saints Row IV was mentioned by the Classification Board in their decision but it was overshadowed by the "Alien Anal Probe" weapon when it was reported by the gaming press.

I imagine the backlash if they tried to ban GTA V in Australia would be much too much for the people who bring down the classification to handle. Besides, GTA V, as has been stated, rewards you for robbing banks, killing people, and buying stocks. So, eh, no problem there.

Before everyone starts complaining about the R18+ new rating in Australia being useless, how about reading up on it to understand how the system works? I know, I know, it's an IGN article, but I think it was pretty well written and pretty informative as well. http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/07/31/saints-row-iv-capitalising-on-classification-confusion

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2005/07/29/gta_san_andreas_banned_in_australia

O my good Duder, But they have before. And it was the game that is the main location for GTA5.

They probably toned it down specifically for the release there, saints row is doing the same i read (no anal probing)

SR4 got banned because it has a moment where drugs are affecting the gameplay (whether as a reward system, or something that happens in the game; it's unclear).

Just showing drug use doesnt matter from what I can tell

Double standards suck, I know. America does the same thing with sex. A movie like shame gets an NC17 rating because of its depiction of sex, but Django Unchained gets an R rating, even though it is extremely violent. A guy gets shot in the dick, for christs sake...

Every GTA since 2 has had classification issues in Australia, so I don't think the backlash would've been that strong.

The ACB is actually doing a great job, its just that they have a shitty set of rules to enforce. Its the classification system itself that is bust.

Yeah and they learned their lesson. San Andreas was the catalyst for the R18 debate gaining as much momentum as it did, which was further fueled by Left 4 Dead 2.

@eskimo: Pretty much. The Classification Board is bound to enforce the rules set by the National Classification Code and it's this Code that dictates what content can and can't be in media. Changing the Code would require an Act of Parliament, which is probably not going to happen anytime soon considering there's likely to be a Federal election very soon.