Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost & Damned

February 18, 2009

According to Edge Online, the Australian Board of Classification is "under heavy fire from critics" over the MA15+ rating granted to GTA IV expansion The Lost and Damned.

EO describes the situation Down Under:

Critics say that the strong similarities between GTAIV and The Lost and Damned add-on casts light on the disparity at the Australian classification group,‭ ‬a body which had initially refused classification for a number of high profile games such as Silent Hill:‭ ‬Homecoming and Fallout‭ ‬3.

Yet the Board's handling of the matter may be advocated by the fact that its GTA IV‭ ‬information page clearly shows that the title hasn't ever been refused classification.‭ ‬Rockstar had censored the content before showing it to the classification board,‭ ‬and the game was granted submission on its first attempt.‭

Comments

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV ...

Submitted by Jarrod from Aus... on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 06:20.

Keep it down GP, the Classification board is so outta whack that it has clearly missed this, if we can keep it quiet they wont got ahead and review it, we dont want it to do be censored or RC'ed.

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost

Submitted by gamadaya on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 13:14.

They are so fucking hypocritical that it's mind boggling. GTA IV only got classification because they know it'll sell a shit ton of copies, and they couldn't refuse the money it would bring in.

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Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost

Submitted by Ashkihyena on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 12:23.

Surprise surprise, Australia is bitching about a game that should have an 18+ rating but doesn't thanks to one douchebag, but I guess its like an earlier poster said, if it wasn't the rating, they'd be bitching about the digital wang.

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV ...

Submitted by SimonBob on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 10:08.

Yknow, ordinarily I'd suggest that I wouldn't use the phrase "under fire" to refer to Australia right at the moment.  But it could be a heated subject, and I don't have a burning desire to start a flamewar.

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Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost

Submitted by HarmlessBunny on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 10:04.

Give them an MA18 already. Out of all commonwealth countries, Austrailia doesn't have one. It isn't that they are backward...their politicians are.

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Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost

Submitted by Geoff on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 08:55.

If they had a classification for 17 or 18+ titles, this wouldn't be an issue at all.  Period.

They'd probably still raise a hissy-fit over the digital penis though.

 

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I read about this on Kotaku

Submitted by mdo7 on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 08:40.

 

Yesterday, I read it on Kotaku about how this game is getting MA+15 and is unedited (the DLC).  The GTA 4 may be edited on console, but not the DLC which I thought was wow "weird and f**ked up".  You can read it here.  Great, now they're making a big deal about it now.


Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost

Submitted by DarkSaber on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 08:35.

I read the article, but it seems really ambiguous. Are they being criticised for being too harsh, too soft or just inconsistent?

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Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV ...

Submitted by Nocturne on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 08:45.

All of the above

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV ...

Submitted by Zerodash on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 07:57.

...I take it Austrailia may be as afraid of nudity as America?

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV ...

Submitted by Navi on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 11:20.

Actualy, in some ways there worse.  They havent put up the "Great Firewall of America"...yet

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV Lost

Submitted by CyberSkull on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 07:49.

I don't understand why they are complaining against an… already edited version, in line with what is in the game already?

Re: Report: Australian Rating Board Under Fire Over GTA IV ...

Submitted by Nocturne on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 08:43.

The Lost and Damned isn't edited, but the regular GTAIV is, hence the complaints as the stuff in Lost and the Damned is exactly what forced edits in GTAIV for Australia originally (pooling blood and camer angles when using hookers for example).

Also the PC version of GTAIV is rated 15+ and isn't edited so it's very inconsistant.

 
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