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Censor Watch

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10:18AM December 9, 2008 | David Wildgoose

We like to keep an eye on what games are being classified by our censors at the Office of Film & Literature Classification Classification Board. Sometimes you’ll see games on there that haven’t been announced; sometimes you’ll see games get banned refused classification. So every week we’re going to run down the latest batch of games to find themselves trembling under the Board’s banhammer, waiting nervously for it to fall or let them pass.Here’s what the Classification Board were scrutinising last week:

  • House of the Dead: Overkill (SEGA) – MA15+
  • Yosumin! (Square-Enix/Ubisoft) – G
  • Tom Clancy’s HAWX (Ubisoft) – PG
  • Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked (Atari/Konami) – G
  • Project Freedom (Atari/City Interactive) – PG
  • Terrorist Takedown: War in Colombia (Atari/City Interactive) – M
  • Tank Combat (Atari/City Interactive) – M
  • Jet Storm: Modern Dogfights (Atari/City Interactive) – M
  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Ubisoft/Square-Enix) – PG
  • Halo Wars (Microsoft) – PG
  • Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (AFA Interactive/D3) – MA15+
  • Wheelman (Red Ant/Midway) – M
  • Persona 4 (Ubisoft/Atlus) – M
  • World of Goo (Nintendo) – G
  • Empire: Total War (SEGA) – M
  • Job Island (Red Ant/Konami) – G
  • Bob the Builder: Festival of Fun (Red Ant/Blast) – G
  • Dance Party Club Hits (Broadsword) – G
  • Killzone 2 (Sony) – MA15+
  • Onslaught (Hudson Soft) – PG

Things to note: Halo Wars isn’t as violent as you might expect. Killzone 2 isn’t so violent as to be banned. And what the hell is Dance Party Club Hits?


Comments

  • wandrew

    December 9, 2008 at 11:34 AM

    Yay! Content on Aus Kotaku! That isn’t competitions! :p

  • dartmerc

    December 9, 2008 at 11:43 AM

    I’d hardly call this content :P
    Is anyone else having trouble searching the OFLC database? It wouldn’t return any results when I tried this morning.

  • Midda

    December 9, 2008 at 12:32 PM

    They aren’t called the OFLC anymore, just the Classification Board. I’m pretty sure Kotaku has already made their own post about the name change.

  • dartmerc

    December 9, 2008 at 3:13 PM

    Oh crap, he’s right – quick, delete the post!

  • Kevin Cheung

    December 9, 2008 at 5:23 PM

    Halo Wars is probably rated PG because the violence is viewed from such a far distance. Similarly, my Apprehended Violence Order is only “domestic grade” rather than “personal grade”, as I only view my neighbour with binoculars through my bathroom window.
    … What? These messages are anonymous, right?

  • dalethedino

    December 10, 2008 at 2:04 AM

    Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (AFA Interactive/D3) – MA15+

    I wonder if it was some gigantic dude cleaving zombies apart it would have got a lesser rating, is it only the Jubblies that make this MA15+??

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