Gamespot has uncovered what’s been edited out of Left 4 Dead 2 for Australia to earn it an MA15+ classification.
Valve told us yesterday that they had submitted an edited version of Left 4 Dead 2 after the game was previously refused classification due to its high impact violence. Gabe Newell declined to say what had been edited out.
That edited version was awarded an MA15+ rating late yesterday. This morning the Classification Board told Gamespot what had been cut:
The report states that the Australian-specific version of Left 4 Dead 2 “no longer contains depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, wound detail, or piles of bodies lying about the environment”.
Valve are also appealing the original classification decision and still hope to release Left 4 Dead 2 in Australia in its original, unedited state. “Our goal is not to ship this second [edited]version,” he said.
Newell told us yesterday that the appeal ruling is expected to be made on October 22.
Left 4 Dead 2 classified down under [Gamespot]
All aboard the import train! Woop woop!
GEE I WONDER IF STEAM WILL REGION LOCK IT!
SO CANT IMPORT IT SORRY GUYS!
It's fine, man. Go make yourself a US account. Then gift yourself the US L4D2. And viola.
And you've testet this? or are you just talking out your ass?
A simple google search shows that you can use a proxy to browse the US steam store but not purchase..
Attempting to import a copy and using the licence key will give you a reigon locked error and suggest you get a refund..
I think you'll find your Steam location is based on your IP address.. so its unlikely that gifting will work either..
If you really like to jackoff to gore then just import the 360 version.. if not then this will have to do on the PC..
Theres still a pretty solid chance the appeal will be succcessfull and all of this will be irevellant..
Wouldn't the 360 version be region locked too?
You can create a US steam account and buy/play games on it from Australia, it's not particularly difficult.
All you need is a VPN and a virtual credit card account.
Be prepared to lose the account (games and all) if they bust you though.
Totally boarding that train. Now I just gotta find out if i'm getting off at NZ or UK.
You cannot import Steam games. So enjoy a very, very short train ride.
On a different note: I'm very, very disturbed at how the OFLC is able to operate under the weight of such inconsistency and hypocrisy. How can L4D2 only be approved for sale by cutting the very same content that is already present in L4D?
Gifting does appear to work for L4D2. I know of a few friends who have a gifted prepurchase copy of L4D2. L4D2 is not banned in Australia, thats media hype. It failed classification and therefore cannot be sold in Australia, so as the media say "effectively banning". There is nothing illegal about owning a copy, its illegal to purchase a copy within Australia. If the purchase is made outside OZ, and the copy is gifted, no transacation within Australia has been made.
I suggested here :
http://www.australiangamer.com/forum/index.php?/topic/6691-boycotting-left-4-dead-2/
that in order to make a political point everyone should boycott Australian copies and then make the government aware of the economic impact that this causes (through listing the number of people boycotting and calculating the lost profits and taxes). It seems however no none on this forums really wanted to import, which seems to be the opposite case here.
That's....so.....lame
Is there any truth to this? Can I be gifted from a friend in the US?
If this was on PS3 it would be a non-issue.
Watch as PC sales rise and the PC version is going to be heavily imported.
this is disgusting. even left 4 dead has these things. To be honest, Micheal Atkinson inspires more violent emotions in me than violent video games. If the classifications review panel does not pass the uncensored version i weep for Australia.
So... how is this different to Killing Floor, which contains decapitation, dismemberment and wound detail?
Because Killing Floor was never submitted to the classification board. It was only sold online, and not sold at retail in Australia.
So shouldn't the PC version available via steam be available in all its glory if it's not being sold via retail?
So it's cleaner than, say, Fallout 3. wtf.
The OFLC didn't refuse something like fallout's dismemberment because its characters were NOT realistic nor were they lifelike at all. More like robots actually.
It all starts with how it's presented. While you do see dismemberment the lack of realism in the characters means, in their eyes at least, less of an impact on the audience.
But let's say, Modern Warfare 2 for example, if that game showed any wounding or dismemberment to it's characters then you can bet your ass you won't see it sold in AUS. Same go for Uncharted 2. Luckily, they don't have those as selling features.
see, now that would be funny. imagine MW2 getting RC'd LOL
play-asia would be licking their lips and their eyes would be lit up with $$ signs. kinda like when gta4 was censored. sure it was of scenes that really didnt matter. but, i for one imported because i didnt want a bastardized version. i had to wait for about a week after release but thats what eb's are for :) 7 day return FTW!
now, im not a pc gamer at all. but, wont this game just get pirated now? i mean c'mon its gonna get released on the scene as a full game with zero censorship and free and probably weeks before release too. maybe thats why Gabe is here? valve realise the game will lose thousands of sales here?
i am surprised they didnt try to rc mario bros back in the 90's. that game tought us to stuff a duck into a turtle shell, stomp on it then boot it into other animals.
i dissagree on the point that fallout 3 is not realistic.
just because technolagy has moved on a bit now and things are more real, should not disclude the realnes of a game at its time of release when it was considerd more real and lifelike based on avalable tech.
allso fallout lets u freeze time and wach decapatation, bodies exploding, eyeballs flying off in all directions and othere extreamly gory demises of all of the worlds enhabatants.
human, mutant, ghoule (human who has become like a zombie but is still a human), children (my out of the box copy let me kill them) ect.
this was a story based game where u where drawn into relationships with the people and mutants u where killing, which i see as a bit stronger than lfd2 where u only are rewarded if u kill infected (human who has become like a zombie but is still a human).
whats the fucking point if the cut half the game
no decapitations? i cant fap to this!
You sir are winrar - here have 10 internets.
Plus a bonus 5 from me.
I'll pitch in 3
"no longer contains depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, wound detail, or piles of bodies lying about the environment."
wouldn't this now be a 'G' rating then?
Get fucked.... Thats so shit.
This.
Can anyone verify if we buy it off steam maybe we get the cool version D:?
We wont, not unless the appeal goes through. Steam's content for australians is stored on australian servers. Games that have been edited specially for australia that are available through steam show the australian rating as opposed to the american one, and are the australian versions.
I wait for October 22nd then. C'mon review board, you can do it...
Valve should not back down, would they cover up the staue of David or the Venus painting?
Everybody needs to write and complain to.
enquiries@classification.gov.au
This is simply outragous, they are so inconsistent and often shoehorn Adult games into MA15+.
Inconsistencies aside, the Board has no influence over the guidelines that they have to follow. It's the Standing Council of Attourneys General (SCAG) that needs to be lobbied.
But those inconsistencies are in and of themselves a serious issue. This is not consistent with the precedent set by Left 4 Dead.
*facepalm*
So basically it's tamer than L4D 1?
I can't help but wonder if someone from the OFLC/Classification board is a silent supporter of the "boycot L4D2" campaign?
Wonder if we can downlolad the Steam version and just change the files around...
WOuld the ONline aspect of the game be abit odd though? that would remove the ability to play against over seas players as the maps would be diffrent...
I didn't even think about that.
You know the kid that nobody liked at school, because his mum made him go to bed before 7 even into highschool.
Yeah, Australian gamers will be that kid, except on average 26 years old.
I wonder if such a massive change (which it is) is going to affect the ability for full versions and edited versions to play together.
If it does, then theres no point buying it. Youll have shit all chance of find games. Youll only be able to play with Australians and not many of them will be buying the gimped version.
Id really love to get L4D2, but its not looking too good.
It shouldn't affect who you can play with as they are not gameplay altering changes, rather changes to what you would visually see on your own screen.
I'm pretty sure Left 4 Dead 1 had piles of bodies,dismemberment and wound detail and got an MA15 rating.
So what theyre essentially saying is its fine in the first game, but not fine in the next?
My god the people on that board are stupid
SHIFT CHANGE!!!!
It's entirely possible that in the last 12 months, that some of the members reached their maximum time and new members installed.
Apparently the vote was very close so perhaps those new members are the ones that voted it down. This is why the OFLC has to act like a court (which it doesn't right now) and take into account legal precendent
You can argue that L4D1 set a precedent that L4D2 maintains. It's not a next generation improved graphics kind of thing, its just the same game again :|
So basically they've cut it to something worthy of an M rating and it still gets MA?
A mandatory classification system should *never* feel this arbitrary.
I heard there still is dismemberment just now instead of blood and gore there is cute puppies and kittens.
FUCK YOU Australian Classification Board.
the only way to vent is by joining in with the rest of you. *MOAN*
Seriously, that is so fucking crap. As an Australian game developer I feel like this >< big right now. Thanks for gimping an awesome game, and making us look like troglodytes.
Wow,
Way to be consistent in your classification OFLC.
I Honestly dont care if the gore is censored....i know that sounds stupid but i honestly wasnt going to get it for the gore.....and just be glad that we're getting L4D2 in some form id rather censored than banned
Ridiculous.
I saw freaking depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, wound detail and piles of bodies on tv last night, but I'm not allowed to see it in a game, with far less realism.
Oh God the appeal day is my birthday. I know what I will be wishing for
Oh no! You're not supposed to tell anyone your wish!
Seriously, though, I hope the classification board allows the unedited version. While, like others, I would accept the edited version gladly over no game at all, the unedited version would be desirable.
For a country that prides itself on being a leader in many world issues, Australia has fucked up on the whole video game classification deal. Anyone up for a trip to South Australia to roast us some Attorney General?