Kotaku
Good news, Australian gaming citizens. You're getting a very special edition of Grand Theft Auto IV, one bereft of content that the Office of Film and Literature Classification considers beyond what would be acceptable as an MA15+rated game. What's changed? Rockstar isn't saying, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. It's still packed with "strong violence, strong coarse language, drug and sexual references", but it's clear something has been cut.
Hopefully, our brothers and sisters south of the equator will be able to import from regions far and wide to enjoy all of the original naughtiness. For a quick history lesson on the content edited history of Grand Theft Auto in Australia, hit up the source.
GTA IV edited for Australia [Sydney Morning Herald's Screen Play - thanks, Matt!]
Comments
That sucks. I guess people might want to import the PS3 version.
maybe the almost-sex scenes?
This is one of the reason why if I lived in Australia I'd be importing everything videogame related from North America.
I better be able to kill prostitutes & take my money back otherwise I'm canceling my pre-order.
it is region free after all!
Seems like the world is out to screw Australia when it comes to video games.
@Morberis: I usually do but there is no way i could bring my self to wait.
Every previous GTA game has had the prostitution removed, it's bound to be the same this time around, especially since Rockstar have taken it (unnecessarily) further this time
So we pay $120 for an incomplete game?
Nice pic. Took me a while to notice though.
@ocalot:
It's Australia's classification system that is screwing Australia, not the rest of the world.
@frostcircus:
Since Australia's white colonists were initially criminals and prostitutes, does that mean that the prostitution was too touchy a subject for inclusion in a game for some people?
"My great-great-grandmother was the finest whore in Bristol before being arrested and sent here! Your game insults my family history!"
I'm pretty sure my copy of GTA3 is the Aussie version (I'm in NZ), and I never noticed. It's far from a deal-breaker.
I think it's safe to say that the news media cares far more about the in-game prostitution than anybody actually playing the game.
The reason games are so delayed in Australia in the first place is that unlike the ESRB's method, their ratings are based on going through the games at a cellular level so as to determine if perhaps any mitochondria are trying to "replicate". When a fascist government puts every game through that you're always going to get a gimped version of game that arrives too late, and has some artificial cost increase meant to even out the expense of all that important testing.
@Mommar:
Yeah, its Australia screwing Australians. Sucks to be us. I've been importing most of my games, its heaps cheaper.
@Bobby McPresscott: Cell reproduction?! You, sir, disgust me!
Honestly, I'm not too fussed. Y'know what I hate more? THOSE FUCKING LARGE BANNERS THEY PUT OVER MY SWEET GAME AND MOVIE COVERS, WTF!?
[kotaku.com]
friendcodes.
It's usually the hookers. And maybe the drugs. Fuck our government.
@ocalot: Our stores help. Every shop massively overcharges for games, and everything else in this country and nobody bats an eye.
The others were released & later banned I still have all my banned versions.
There is talk of us getting an R18+ rating, I mean it's just stupid even New Zealand has one.
I think it is awesomely ironic that one of the most racist nations I have ever been to on Earth, has problems with releasing GTA to the public as is. In a nation where Australian rednecks abound and the cops do squat, yet the public can't play an uncensored GTA game.
Here's to Australia. Just as screwed up as the rest of us!
@Zero_: Haha, here in NZ we get your Aussie classification label printed on the art, and then an even bigger NZ classification sticker over the top of that one (which is impossible and probably illegal to remove).
The stickerage that I'm the most sore about is when I bought the special edition of a Steely Dan CD. Because there was a bonus DVD, it was required to have a classification sticker. The CD sleeve is tiny, the sticker is huge, so almost an entire quarter of the artwork was covered up. And, when I tried to remove the sticker, annihilated.
@Daiden: Agreed! mitochondria? POPPYCOCK!
You people should look up censorship in Australia. It's really quite ridiculous. Thankfully I live in America, where it's so much better.
Hooray for play-asia and 7 day money back returns at EB Australia.
I'm so happy I got the CE after it sold out here in Oz now - Importing from Amazon FTW!
More and more reasons why buying games from your local store isn't worth it anymore..
Do they remove content from books, music and movies also?
Someday I will make a "nipple dick blood and offensive content removal machine" and get rich.
Maybe I will make a scenario with a tree , butterflies and the sound of birds singins and use that as a replacement for ANYTHING. That oughta do to the job.
:)
Knowing Australia's censors, they probably cut out all the cars and references to racing.
Import it is then.
bah i doudt it will make the game any worse.
I think my spleen just burst in anger.
Please tell me there's still prostitutes!
No?
OK, well pleas tell me there's still mountains of curse words and gun fire?
No?
Well please tell me I can still drive a car around the city?
Yes? Great!
Wait, speeding tickets? What the hell is this?
Damn Australia, you got reamed!
WHAT THE HELL!
So we pay double the price as the rest of the world and get content cut out >_>
I SMELL A RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRR
Are there any Aussie's reading this? How the fuck do you put up with this kinda of censorship?!
Couldn't they just bleep some stuff and blur some stuff and call it a day?
Play-Asia here i come, uncut and $50 cheaper. Fuck this shit!
@Grey_Fox: Import!
@Custom Reality: All countries have a racist element
Godamn being a gamer in Australia sure is frustrating.
Just a refresher, we have no R18+ classification which means anything deemed too sensitive for 15 year olds is outright banned.
Plus we are YET TO RECEIVE ROCK BAND, in any way, shape or form.
Xbox 360 being region coded is extremely frustrating as its my platform of choice, and play-asia.
TL,DR: This sux >_<
Oh yeah, we pay between USD $90-110 PER GAME.
That's a shame. Our Aussie friends will have to splurge for an incomplete product. No hookers for you!
And Kotaku, the picture that goes with this story is brilliant. Good work.
@Grey_Fox:
We can't actually see this article due to censorship.
You guys should adopt the ESRB and put the government where it belongs - cut the fuck out of they ratings system.
I'm looking forward to the Zero Punctuation on this one.
Thank God the PS3 is region-free.
Good reason to import I goes..
I'm really hoping the Xbox360 version is region free too. I'm in NZ, and I am sure we will follow our 'big brothers' and have a nice cut back version.
@frostcircus: Every previous GTA game has had the prostitution removed, it's bound to be the same this time around, especially since Rockstar have taken it (unnecessarily) further this time
Not initially. I still have a pre-nerf version of GTA III on PS2. They only nerfed it later. Pity one of my nephews scratched that disc. They paid for a replacement, but not being able to beat up the prostitutes to get my cash back just ruined it somehow.
Anyway, I'll be importing. Region free PS3 games FTW.
@Custom Reality: I think it is awesomely ironic that one of the most racist nations I have ever been to on Earth, has problems with releasing GTA to the public as is.
Living in one of the worlds most multi-cultural cities (Melbourne), I was about to argue with you. But some people here can be the most intolerant ass-holes I've come across anywhere in the world. I've even been called uncomplimentary names for a Koori even though I'm a 6th generation "white" Australian.
I did have a great tan at the time tho. o.O
@Rockwallaby: All countries have a racist element
Agreed. I'm yet to go to one that doesn't.
@Grey_Fox: Are there any Aussie's reading this? How the fuck do you put up with this kinda of censorship?!
We don't have a bill of rights, so there's not much we can do about it without going into politics myself. I've done some nasty shit in my life, but not that.
@Spiffmeister: Oh yeah, we pay between USD $90-110 PER GAME.
You should shop somewhere else. I've been playing between AUD$90-110 per game. $AUD60-70 when I buy from yes-asia or play-asia though.
@Bobby McPresscott:
GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are people so misinformed about this???
Not one single game has been delayed because of the OFLC playing through the game to rate it.
NOT.ONE.SINGLE.GAME!!!
The reason games are delayed is because Australia is a PAL region, and we have to wait until the Europeans get the game released. They have to wait because there are at least 4 different languages to be tested for translation and profanity.
We are a small nation, and game sales are minor compared to other regions of the world, so the delays to games have NO impact on the financial bottom line of the big companies.
It has NOTHING to do with the OFLC process. If you bother to look at the OFLC website, you'll notice they rate games MONTHS before release.
In fact, just yesterday Kotaku had a story about Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 being rated by the OFLC - and this game hasn't even been officially announced yet!
So please, PLEASE, PLEASE stop spreading this disinformation!
@Morberis: Which is what I'll do, thank goodness for Region-Free games on the PS3
I'd be irate, except that, well...
Mr. Croshaw?
Mr. Croshaw, the white courtesy phone is for you.
Ah, I see that someone in your current abode has done something outrageously stupid regarding a video game.
It'll be the premium vitriol then? Right away, sir.
It's not like you're stuck with the censored version if you own a 360. You can easily import from any PAL region.