Australia to Get R18+ Rating, Reducing Need For Censorship

So was there ever a real need for these restrictions? Or was it just something to morally object over?  Didnt they ban PGR for having a track in one of their cities. For fear of people trying to reenact their in game race while slamming a 80oz of Fosters?    Road Warrior was the true story of Mel Gibson's childhood right?  

Fuck YEAH! Finally their shitting censoring won't affect us New Zealanders!

Seems like a step in the right direction. But I'll wait to see what will really happen over there. 
I got my fingers crossed for my friends in Oz.

Great, now let's fix the ESRB.

That's awesome! Maybe now Aussies don't have to illegally import Mortal Kombat.

mark eckos "geting up" was banned here as well because we had a sizeable graffiti problem etc ..

r18+ wont stop the prudes from making dumb decisions ....

NOT THAT GETTING UP WAS IN ANY WAY A GOOD GAME

finally

Awesome news for you, my Australian gamer brethren! Just don't let it go to your heads. As much as immature little dipsh*ts over here in the 'states seem to think otherwise, gore does not make a game better. So enjoy the lack of censorship and getting way more games. Just don't lose sight of, y'know, it's GAMEPLAY that matters. Your country seems like they would've known that more than anybody with a lot of the violent imagery removed and altered.

@PlasmaBeam44 said:

I never understood the Left 4 Dead 2 fiasco. Couldn't you Australians just bought it on Steam? Playing those games on PC is really the only way to play them. Regardless though, this is great news.

What I don't understand is why all Steam users don't make USA accounts. I could be completely ignorant here - maybe there is some region detection in place, but the new game price favors the US dollar so heavily it doesn't make sense not to do it. i.e. charging 30 pounds/Euros/yen for a 30 dollar game is ridiculous.

GoG.com had a pretty cool thing going for the Witcher 2 preorder - Europeans would pay 50 Euros but then GoG would credit them the difference between that and US$50. Nice of them.

its not illegal to import games that are refused classification (ie. mortal kombat), as you are buying it from another country. It is illegal to buy or sell those games in Australia.

Wow, how did this happen? Last thing I read about this was one of the AG's was planning on drawing the issue out.

Congratulations Australia! Enjoy some gaaaames!

@ShaunassNZ said:

Fuck YEAH! Finally their shitting censoring won't affect us New Zealanders!

When has it affected us?

@jasaldo_1 said:

its not illegal to import games that are refused classification (ie. mortal kombat), as you are buying it from another country. It is illegal to buy or sell those games in Australia.

It's not "illegal" to own it, however it may be seized by customs if you try to import it.

"Generally, you can import into Australia any film, computer game or publication that has been classified. However, material that has been classified RC (refused classification) cannot be imported into Australia.

...

Material that is imported is subject to assessment by Customs. Material that is considered to be objectionable or has been refused classification is a restricted import and requires permission to be imported. These types of goods may be detained or seized by Customs."

Information for importation from the Attorney-General's department website.

Here's hoping that Valve remove the modifications to Left 4 Dead 2 and restore it the way it was designed.

Also hoping that Mortal Kombat gets a release now.

I will believe this when i see an r18+ rated game on Australian shelves.

Hell, it's about time 

i really hope this goes threw

Fuck YEAH! Finally their shitting censoring won't affect us New Zealanders!

Well it's about god damn time.

Good on you, australia!

finally.  now living in australia doesnt sound like it'd be that bad.

i really hope this goes threw

As a proud Australian kangaroo, this is awesome news.

Finally be able to play Mortal Kombat DLC characters.

Finally, our rating system is now (or soon will be) on par with the rest of the world.

I feel sorry for all the dudes making a living on importing MK9 and making hundreds for dollars.

Great news!

One less problem for Australia to solve thank goodness.

Awesome news for you, my Australian gamer brethren! Just don't let it go to your heads. As much as immature little dipsh*ts over here in the 'states seem to think otherwise, gore does not make a game better. So enjoy the lack of censorship and getting way more games. Just don't lose sight of, y'know, it's GAMEPLAY that matters. Your country seems like they would've known that more than anybody with a lot of the violent imagery removed and altered.

Unfortunately there will be people who see this as the beginning of an epidemic where stores will be flooded with games depicting extreme violence and rape. Those people are known as dickheads.

Unfortunately there will be people who see this as the beginning of an epidemic where stores will be flooded with games depicting extreme violence and rape. Those people are known as dickheads.

As a proud Australian kangaroo, this is awesome news.

This has been going for years here now.  Thank goodness it's finally soon to be over.  Huzzah!

Bout time

Good news for the land down under.

@ShaunassNZ

Fuck YEAH! Finally their shitting censoring won't affect us New Zealanders!

GTA IV: never forget

Could this mean we finally get Deadly Premonition?!?

once again....a gamespot link.........sigh......

@Vortextk said:

I'm confused. When he says if a game gets it they're banned, that means more "if a game would get the 18+ rating, its banned" but since it doesn't quite exist for games right now that's what this hopes to change?

As it stands now, if a game fails to obtain an M15 rating due to violence or whatever, it should logically move to the R18+ rating. But as the video game category so far isn't allowed to have an R18+ rating it instead gets a RC (Refused Classifiction).

In Australia, it is illegal to buy or sell an RC product. You can try your luck at importing it, but customs can seize it and you could face fines or jail (more likely fines if it was just one thing, obviously for personal use). Getting the option to have games rated R18+ should hopefully cut down on the number of games that get an RC because when they get that all they can do is appeal (which does work, like that last AVP game), modify the offending content and resubmit the game (the laughable mess that is L4D2) or take the hit and don't release the game here (Mortal Kombat).

finally.  now living in australia doesnt sound like it'd be that bad.

Great news for gaming as a whole

Justice is done. ..

once again....a gamespot link.........sigh......

Congratulations Australia.

Wow...about time.  Down with censorship!

@Sinful

once again....a gamespot link.........sigh......

We really need to get passed this fucking gamespot hate- as a community- the time to move on was years ago.

@mewarmo990 said:

@PlasmaBeam44 said:

I never understood the Left 4 Dead 2 fiasco. Couldn't you Australians just bought it on Steam? Playing those games on PC is really the only way to play them. Regardless though, this is great news.

What I don't understand is why all Steam users don't make USA accounts. I could be completely ignorant here - maybe there is some region detection in place, but the new game price favors the US dollar so heavily it doesn't make sense not to do it. i.e. charging 30 pounds/Euros/yen for a 30 dollar game is ridiculous.

GoG.com had a pretty cool thing going for the Witcher 2 preorder - Europeans would pay 50 Euros but then GoG would credit them the difference between that and US$50. Nice of them.

Unfortunately there is region detection in place, and the difference in currency does suck. Besides the fact that certain games, like You Don't Know Jack, just don't come out in Italy. Someday I'll have to get a copy imported from America, which is just silly considering they've set up a perfectly digital and non-resource draining way for me to play the game, but I can't use it for unclear reasons.