Aliens vs. Predator banned in Australia

that "ripping off heads" aspect they talked about makes me concerned about God of War 3...

It's very sad to see that no one seems to understand that this is typical viral marketing. Believe it or not, games publishers/devs/accountants/corporate lackeys/anyone else with a financial stake in it actually pay for this kind of advertising and here you have Exhibit A. You also seem to have missed the vital point that the game isn't even out yet, ergo it cannot be "banned" and to claim otherwise until the actual official release date is an outright lie; although journalists will call it harmless "spin". Mark my words. Look for a new "update" in February 2010 when the Classification Board have a "rethink" and finally give it an 18 rating after all. I expect the cause of the delay will be from an "administration error". And of course, it was just an "accident" and a coincidence the game got hyped in the news! :D

@tp_RavenX I think the problem is both the inconsistency of the ratings system AND the lack of R-18+. I'm not suggesting that games like AvP or FEAR should have M-15+ ratings (although that's the most onerous level we currently have) ... they should be R-18+. So in fact the OFLC is doing a poor job, whether or not pressured by Michael Atkinson ... as you say others can cite examples of games that have "got through". I'm well over 18 and can decide what I want to watch and play ... but a ratings system can help people/parents make informed choices. As a parent, I decide which movies and games my children have access to. I just wish the ratings were done more consistently ... but that will never happen as all ratings whether for quality, degree of censorship or artistic merit are subjective. I'm not sure why I'm "lucky" to play Rainbow Six, for example, ... if that is considered a potential R-18+ then all FPS games should be so rated ... afterall FPS games all have the same premise. To me it's a (subjective) matter of degrees ... I for one find FEAR an OK "game" but way over the top in goriness (if that's a word) and supernatural themes. No doubt this new AvP game is more violent and/or gory by the sheer nature of the fact that you, the player, instigate the violence unlike the movies where you observe what happens (that's Atkinson's main argument). In the movies the gore generally takes place off-screen ... you know what happens you just don't see it.

For frack sake Michael Atkinson they are video games, why don't you realise that? Just because it is in a game it doesn't mean that people actually go out and actually do these things to people in the real world. Seriously the people who play these more violent games are of the right age group. It is simmilar to movies, we don't watch them unless we want to or can if age is an issue. Would you at least run a survey to see how people who play vidoe games, parents that buy them for their children and the general public feel about them. Seriously we are allowed Gears 2, Prototype, L4D, Dead Space, Fallout 3 and many other titles witch feature high amouts of violence because we understand that they are not real and that would never do that to people in real life. I belive that a trail for games like this, or R18+ rated, should be released into the public to see what happens and how people feel.

Goddamit!

That description sounds awesome!!

Holy @^*& this game sounds in-freaking-credible. Sucks to be you, Australia! :D

All this will do is increase piracy. It's not like the game won't be in Australia, it's just that the developer won't make any money.

It's very disappointing that a modern, progressive society allows censorship of any kind. But the sheep in Australia did vote in this draconian government, so I guess the get the government they deserve.

No ACB, if you read these comments like I did then you can say that games don't make people violent, banner-ship does. ;)

Stop blaming the Classification Board for this. It's not their fault. They think this shouldn't be MA, and I agree. Blame Atkinson for not allowing an R rating for games.

If this keeps on going, then Aussie won't have any games at all. So if you guys in Australia want to start a rebellion and take down the board, I'll bring the dingos!:twisted:

Biggest dissapointment for me, Considering i've been looking forward to this game for like ages. But now they decide its too violent for me to play. I will never forgive The board of Australia Clasification Operations for what they've done here...

So many promising games getting banned or edited to Telly tubby level. If I owned a gun I would shoot myself (joking). But seriously it's like they enjoy pushing us to illegal import acts. They go on about how importing and piracy is a crime yet they give us more mature gamers no other choice. This has got to be the biggest disappointment this year next to L4D 2's severe toning down. I could complain all night if I wanted to but I have better things to do like Dead Space (which amazingly passed) and Fallout 3 (which still contains in game dismemberment down under).

great, so now i have to buy it off the net for half the price. oh damn you censorship, damn you.

I think the arguement that violent movies and violent games should be rated the same, is a lost arguement because they are two different mediums. While its true to say that the alien and predator movies feature decapitation and impalement, and such things are present in the game. However such violence is used sparingly in the movies. I suspect in the game the violence is used more frequently and presented in greater detail. If the game was designed differently with the extreme violence (decapitation,dismemberment) reserved for bosses, maybe this game wouldn't be banned. Just my speculation as I don't know enough about the game. Sure we would of got a tamer game, but in the end it would of still had the same atmosphere.

whenever the classification board releases the reasons why a game is banned here in australia, my mouth waters with anticipation. thank god for ebay

@Shinkada Actually I did buy Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 for the single player, I'm not a multiplayer sort of person and I did like the story, plus they screwed us on dedicated servers, I traded it back at EB, pretty much only spend $15, I don't think that's a bad deal. I don't believe TF2 was considered for a ban was it? And why would you be an idiot for buying a shooter for single player? You think developers spend 2 years developing a game so that people can play multiplayer? MW2 was exactly the same as MW1, if they thought everyone would buy it for multiplayer, I'm sure they wouldn't have wasted their time. Yes we do need a R18 rating classification, whether we have a chance of getting it, is another story. What I find stupid is that the average age for gamers is like in the 20's and yet they won't give us a R18+ rating. You say that it is strict, apparently it isn't strict enough, it's just going to get worse. We were quite lucky to get MW2, the smarmy git Michael Atkinson appealed to get it banned. << LINK REMOVED >>

@Perth2008 Yes the game is based off the movies, but it doesn't mean it is exactly the same. They've made it more violent in the game as opposed to the movies and this is actually rated R18 in Britain and is banned in Germany. The games you mentioned are very lucky to get through. And a lot of people have examples of other games that are violent getting through, that argument will eventually turn on us because this evidence is all that Michael Atkinson needs to prove that the OFLC is not doing a good enough job and we'll be losing the battle of having a R18+ classification. Be thankful that got to play Fear or Rainbow Six at all.

@tp_RavenX Solution: Add an 18+ rating. This game is likely going to have a single player about 3 hours long, just like most other FPS' that are blatantly created with multiplayer in mind. Did anyone buy Call of Duty 4 for the singleplayer? How about Modern Warfare 2? Team Fortress 2 maybe? And yes, I am aware TF2 doesn't HAVE a single player, which is my point. If an FPS even has a single player, 9 times out of 10 it's just so it can write as such on the back of the box. A silly addition to play if you're cooling off from the multi. That's all. You'd have to be an idiot to buy this game for the singleplayer. PLAY the single player? No. That's fine. But to buy it with the knowledge that you can never play the multi would be catastrophically dumb. As for the Classification Board... Yeah, it's not their fault there's no 18+ rating. It is their fault, however, that videogames receive such stricter standards than movies because of an outdated, ignorant misconception that videogames are mostly for children.

Here we go again ... as we all know this game is based on the Alien, Aliens and Predator movies. What I find puzzling is that the scenes/content that have upset the CB are in the movies ... I checked my DVD collection and all three movies are rated M-15+ ... I'm obviously missing something here as we have M-15+ ratings in place for PC games: Company of Heroes, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Rainbow Six Vegas to name a few. If FEAR, with its grizzly content, can be approved why not an updated AvP? Again self-regulation loses out ... I just hope Canberra gets on with it and introduces an R-18+ rating system!

@Jim60360 Wow man. You'd rather let your kids watch a gay Austrian wave his appendage around on screen - UNCENSORED, kissing blokes, watching blokes do girls, etc.etc. if you haven't figured it out yet, that movie has a very X rated sense of humor. And you would prefer your kids to watch that then play AVP? You're truly not all there, are you? I hope you never have kids, because I will feel sorry for their future. If you're under 18, and have no idea what you're talking about - then don't talk at all.

@Shinkada So what is your solution then? Can YOU stop assuming people buy games purely to play multiplayer. And no, Sega will not lessen the violence to get pass our ratings, they refused to do it for Germany). And people should stop blaming the OFLC, this game is violent, but they are doing their best to stretch their power to let most games through. You want someone to hate, go after Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, he says the OFLC is not doing their job and wants them to be more stricter. Games like Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Saints Row 2 and many more should have been banned but weren't, we're lucky to have the games that we have now, otherwise we'd be stuck with stupid nintendo kiddy and fitness games. Everywhere around the world these games are R18+ or Adult Only. It's why we need a R18+ Classification.

If you have the PC or the PS3 console just get a over-seas copy... It cant be that hard.

Oh wow, a game banned in Australia? Never saw that coming... Seriously, why does the CB have to suck so much balls?

GOOOOOOODD DAMN IT, I HATE THIS COUNTRIES CLASSIFICATIONS. IT IS REALLY PISSING ME OFF MORE THIS YEAR THAN ANY OTHER, IT'S GETTING BLOODY WORSE, SORRY NOT BLOODY, JUST FALL OVER WORSE. STUPID CENCORSHIP. HONESTLY HOW MANY GAMES HAVE WE LOST THIS YEAR ALONE!

When will the classification board grow some F**KING balls

Noooooo! Noooooooooooooo! Noooooooooooooooooooooooo! Need I say more?

The problem isn't that we can't get our uncensored games from other sources b/c we can and will when 'things' like this happen. The problem is that the Classification Board shouldn't have the power to decide what we perfectly sane, adults can and can't experience. We've already grown past the stage of needing others to tell us what we can and can't do and what is 'right' and 'wrong' in terms of society and of course the shades of grey which apparently the CB's outlook are sorely lacking. Where's our R18+ rating? Why are they so obstinate in their ways? We've been in the information age for a while yet they still conclude as reasonable adults we arn't allowed to choose what we can play? Just absurd. I suppose we all know it is just to save themselves from retribution from ignorant neglectful parents who will not take responsibility for raising their children properly. Crime/war or any atrocities you would like to think of have been present for as long as humans have existed. Using video games as a scape goat isn't going to change this. Now give us our R18+ rating and we can all be happy.

ANyway why dont they just release it here.Banning it will just increase its popularity over here and people will do whatever they can to obtain it. Just like fallout 3 was banned but everyone ended up getting it anyway during that time.So whats the point? The government needs to get out of the ye olde times and get a new classification system I know they wont maybe in 30000 years but I would love to go right up to them and make a complaint.

I will agree with Pete278 on the fact that Rage is not the answer here, cause this kind of display is only gonna fuel the classification board's resolve on their position. However, i will say that some of that rage that people may display is also due to the fact that a lot of people go through the proper, civil way of inquiry on these matters and the classification board couldn't give a rat's ass about what the australian consumer cares about, which leads to people feeling hatred towards them. I certainly hope the classification board implements an R18+ rating and stops all this nonsense or Rebellion makes it affordable and accessible for people to import Aliens Vs Predator.

I bet all the politicians go"this game is too violent give it to us for destruction so noone can see the horrible goreness"Then they go back to there government building and play the games themselves and laugh.

@Jim60360 It's not meant to be relevant, just that if Parents let kids watch Bruno(and they do), they should allow them to play things like this...

I gotta agree with wraithbladeuk. The film show it, & obviously for the game to NOT be a douchebag is to obviously. . . follow the movie thus gore, violence, intense, suspense, blood, etc that u'd find in AvP. Again it's just a game. . . how many Australians would go around town buying guns & shooting people/ aliens/ zombies up? (aliens & zombies don't think they could even if they wanted to) i'm sure people can differentiate between what's real and what's not (generally), which means the censor of this & that is for minorities? As for America. . . free to debate

To be fair though, this is in total keeping with all of the aliens and predator lore..... The ripped off heads with spinal column thing, the impaling.... all well established by some very gory and horrific movies... that are NOT banned in Aussie. Im a Kiwi, seems like I live on the good side of the tasman if you are a gamer :/

reading some of these comments, i can't blame the classification board.

@shadow_571 how the hell is bruno in anyway related to AvP? bruno is a comedy, avp is a horror. if i had kids id let them watch bruno but no way would i let them play avp.

I don't understand why they insist on banning games in australia when films depicting much worse acts of violence are readily available on the highstreet. They turned L4D2 from a tense survival experience to a dumbed down arcade shooter. As we know in the real world, if you want something, you can and WILL find a way to get it. The only thing losing out here will be the australian economy as millions of AUS$ pour into other countries when gamers import.

Well, at least the PS3 version is region free. Importers enjoy.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR GOVERNMENT!!! THEY NEED SHOOTING IN THE FACE" What an awesome comment.

I feel sorry for Australian gamers. Hope they put a +18 ratings classification soon.

it's time autralian gamers ditch the trash-talk and take positive action. Please post your support for an R18+ classification here: << LINK REMOVED >> pete278 is right, we don't need a vocal minority to misrepresent the rest of the mature gamers.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR GOVERNMENT!!! THEY NEED SHOOTING IN THE FACE

Wow, you'd think those Australians wouldn't like the government telling them what they can or cannot consume. Aw well, I don't like there so the people of Australia will have to make this an issue for themselves (at least the gamers there).

WHAT? The list of games where this sort of thing is possible is endless. We could do it before, we can't we now? Well now I know it has all that awesome gore I'll be sure to get it, thanks for the preview :P

Toooooo many banned games C'mon Australia!!!! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy

@witide The movies were weak and not very explicit. Probably why they were so atrociously bad.

the only way the classification board will ever be happy is if everyone is playing something like wii fit. i feel hate the classification board the same as i hate the dam javelin glitch!