We won't be having an open bar or anything fancy, but if you're in the neighborhood of Central Station in Sydney Friday night and want to stop by, I'd love to talk.

Luke Plunkett and Kotaku Australia's David Wildgoose will both be hanging out as well, drinking good beer at Luke's old watering hole.

The meet up will be at 4:30 p.m. at the Royal Exhibition Hotel's Beer Garden, which may or may not be packed to the gills with squares come Friday night. Look for the guys talking about video games if you come.

Looking forward to seeing you.

That would essentially mean an end to the "ban" on Valve's PC and Xbox 360 sequel and translate into "good news" for our Survivor friends down under.

No word yet on whether Valve's appeal was successful and/or if the company had to submit the edited version of the game for the Australian release.

We'd like to simply think that Gabe Newell just got down there a little early and put some Aussie's in a headlock. Or that Australian man's man Saxton Hale called in a favor.

Update: According to Valve, the version of Left 4 Dead 2 rated by the Australian government is "the adjusted version." Reps for the developer say "We are still awaiting the review and decision on the rest of world/standard version and remain optimistic about being able to ship this version in Nov. However, we are now able to ship a version of Left 4 Dead 2 in Australia. So the question is no longer if L4D2 ships there, but which version."

Left 4 Dead 2 [OFLC - thanks, Robert!]

Both the police and the attorney general's office in New South Wales say that the New South Wales Classification Enforcement Act prohibits publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games with penalties for individuals breaking the law ranging from $1,100 to $11,000 and up to a year in jail. For corporations, the fines roughly double.

And games like World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea are all sold without classification.

Something that the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia doesn't believe is true. They claim that games without single player components don't need to be classified.

But they're not the ones making and enforcing the laws are they?

To make things more interesting, a spokesman for the New South Wales police minister told The Sydney Morning Herald that if people see a store selling these games they should file a complaint with the police so they can take action.

The one sticking point seems to be the definition of computer game, which as of this writing doesn't include a "bulletin board." Obviously the definition is a bit outdated, making it, perhaps, tricky to settle on an interpretation.

Of course if you have both the police and prosecutors agreeing, than it's going to be an uphill battle for anyone cited.

Sounds like they need to rewrite that definition.

Calls and emails to Blizzard and Activision for comment went unanswered today.

No classification: online games legal minefield [SMH]

Zhenghao Shen, 21, was charged with intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm and refused bail in an Australian Capital Territory court earlier today.

The university student was at a friend’s home last night with four friends playing World of Warcraft when the fight started. The student told the court that the fight was spurred by an argument about the volume of the other man’s computer.

During the fight Shen allegedly stabbed the victim in the head with a chef’s knife, gashing his head, and nearly severed one of his fingers.

Yikes. Sounds like someone is wound way too tight.

Student refused bail over video game-related stabbing [ABC]

Rockstar swears that the differences down under do not compromise the quality of GTA IV in any way, but opts not the explain what is and isn't included in the Australian version. The full statement, including a plea to the OLFC to create something for the adults in the room who want to stomp on the heads of whomever they choose, virtually, is at Kotaku Australia.

Rockstar Speaks On Australia GTA IV Edits, R18+ Classification [Kotaku AU]

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!]

Viva Media and BrainGames' Pet Vet 3D: Animal Hospital Down Under would be pulled from shelves immediately, if we were running things. Not only does it paint a potentially dangerous portrayal of human-kangaroo interaction—they'd just as soon rip out your entrails as they would dance with you—it fails to touch on the danger of Australia's biggest threat, the menacing drop bear. Sure, the hair color and vet scrubs choices are impressive and the wombats look positively precious, but what kind of message is this sending to our kids? A shameful one, is the only answer!

Zero Punctuation: Super Paper Mario [The Escapist]

Australian Kotakuite Andrew sends us a shot of how he spent his Wednesday while at the beach. That's right, they built a Koopa out of sand and seaweed. I'm actually heading out to Australia for a bit of a vacation next month. I'm going to be hitting up Surfers Paradise for a week too, so I'll have to try my own hand at a gaming sand castle. Any suggestions?

Sure Luke is still the master of Australia, and always will be, but today's the first (official) day of Kotaku Australia. Think of it as regular Kotaku with a wee bit more Australian flavor to it, run by its own team of writers and the like... but Luke-free. If you happen to be lucky enough to live in Australia and still want to surf the undiluted pages of Kotaku Original then just type in us.kotaku.com otherwise you're going to be automatically redirected to the Australian site. Of course there's this big link at the top to get here as well, but what fun is that.

Our Australian readers will also be rapt to learn that Xbox 360s with HDMI output, as well as the Elite model and Halo 3 special edition units will also be making their way below the equator at some unspecified date. According to Gamespot's report on the matter, an announcement on the Elite's arrival should come within the week. Say, maybe 'round Leipzig Games Convention?

Xbox 360 now the same price as Wii in Australia [Gamespot]

What is it with Australia and Playstation-craving bandits?

Yesterday it was reported that a group of men made off with a tractor full of PS2s, now today the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that two men armed with a gun and a baseball bat broke into a home in the city and made off with a "Sony PlayStation."

I'm assuming it had to be at least a PS2 to warrant armed thugery, but you never know. Video game prices are awfully high there.

Home invaders steal PlayStation [SMH]

Sydney police say a hidden GPS helped them track down a stolen tractor-trailer loaded with 4,704 Playstation 2s within hours of its theft from a freight depot outside of the city.

The consoles, worth more than $1 million AUD, were tracked to a farm outside of Sydney by a police helicopter following the GPS signal.

Four men, who had already started unloading the haul into a nearby shed, were arrested. I wonder how they planned to offload that many consoles without raising eyebrows? The funny thing is that Sony Computer Entertainment of Australia told the Morning Herald that they weren't aware of the alleged theft.

Satellite tracking thwarts $1m haul [Sydney Morning Herald]

Popular Korean MMO Grenado Espada is opening their doors in Australia for people to download the pre-open beta client for the game.

The client will let English speakers in South East Asia, New Zealand, and Australia join in on the open test beta starting May 17. Our friends over at IAHGames in Singapore also sent around some images to us from the game. Looks like sexy pirate fun. Brian Crecente

Open Beta [IAHGames]

Sony's finally come out with some good news for the UK: First party Playstation 3 titles will sell for EUR 59.99 / GBP 39.99 at launch, or GBP 10 less than Xbox 360 games, Games Industry reports.

Launch titles will include Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Genji, Ridge Racer 7 and Formula One Championship Edition. The games will sell for AUD 99.95 and NZD 109.95, so not such good news for Luke, I think.

Fahey points out that while the suggested retail price for 360 games may be 49.99 pounds, some retailers sell them at the 39.99 price point anyway. This, of course, could also happen with PS3 titles, since we're only taking retail suggested.

Downloadable content will start at EUR 0.99.

SCEE boss David Reeves commented, "Not only will it be completely free to register on the PlayStation Network with no subscription fees and access to many free demos, but with these competitive prices for additional content we are able to offer the consumer both top quality games on Blu-ray discs and a whole range of downloadable content.

"With over 30 first and third party disc and network games available at launch, we are confident that this will be one of the most successful launches of all time."

How much this will make up for the PS3's gimpy backward compatibility is still up in the air. Which would you rather have, full backward compatibility or cheaper PS3 titles? Brian Crecente

Sony announces prices for first-party PS3 games [Games Industry]