The above woman is holding a back for The Simple Series 10th anniversary. That’s nice of her.

AFA has yet to announce a release date, but it’s fair to say we can expect Dark Sector to hit Australian shelves shortly.

Dark Sector Game (Multi Platform) [OFLC]

Sadly, it seems this information was more of a plan rather than solid confirmation, as we were led to believe. Digital Extremes, the developer of the game, got back to us recently with this:

We were aware of the Australian banning, it got quite a few headlines over [in the US]. We did make an altered version of Dark Sector for Japan which could easily be updated for Australia but D3 hasn’t requested that we do it yet.

AFA Interactive, the local distributor, gave me a call to clarify that the matter is entirely in the hands of D3 and, while it has been working hard with the publisher to bring the game out here, nothing has come of it yet.

Digital Extremes says it doesn’t want us to miss out on the game but as far as it knows “it’s not going to happen”. Australian retailers: 0, overseas stores: 1.

Take this rant today by Ross Fitzgerald over at The Australian, regarding the SCAG’s decision to consult the public on the R18+ rating.Fitzgerald first remarks on a comment made by Quentin Tarantino on the OFLC qualifying the violence in Kill Bill. According to the piece, the comment was: “How violent are the movies here, when this is ‘medium’?”. Fitzgerald then goes on to ask why the SCAG, based on this comment, did not investigate “whether levels of violence in Australian entertainment are set too high”.

All I can say is Ross, that’s an excellent point. But how is an R18+ rating for video games going to hurt this situation? If anything, it’ll mean games currently slipping into the MA15+ category will be correctly rated.

Given that this is the first time SCAG is composed entirely of ALP attorneys-general…

Sorry, I’m going to stop you right here. I know it’s a lot to ask, but less political bias and more on the issue at hand, please? Take your left-wing/right-wing/turkey breast somewhere else, because we don’t care. We really don’t.

Back to the show:

… one would have thought they would have at least paid lip service to their 2007 federal election platform, which stated that the ALP was most concerned about violence and sexual violence in classification matters and that federal Labor would in fact commission an extensive research project on the impact of the portrayal of violence on our society. So why don’t the Labor attorneys-general just honour their commitment to convene this inquiry and get the research under way?

Maybe because they have? If you read the latest notes regarding the public consultation, you’ll see that the attorneys-general are in the process of putting together a discussion paper that will contain research on the issue. This is for the benefit of not only the AGs, but the public and interest groups as well. Sounds like they have the right idea to me.

I’m no supporter of Atkinson’s deep social conservatism.

Fantastic, neither are we!

Fitzgerald goes on to stipulate that R-rated films are around 80 percent violence and 20 percent sex. I’m not going to ask where these statistics are from, but I’m happy to assume, for the sake of argument, that they’re reasonably accurate. He mentions that if it’s plain old sex you’re after, there’s X-rated porn that’ll serve your purpose.

There is no suggestion that R-rated computer games will be any different from R-rated films in this regard and so this will be a category for mindless and instructive violence for those who get off on this sort of thing.

Wow. Just… wow. Way to miss the point, Fitzy. It’s okay though, I’m happy to entertain this argument. Let’s have a look at two recent games that have been banned here, but overseas received an adults-only rating.

Most recently, there’s Dark Sector. We’re getting a modified version that has no decapitation and other forms of dismemberment removed from human characters. Otherwise, it’s the same version the rest of the world has. Graphic, maybe, but I fail to see how it’s instructional, unless humans somehow gain the ability to throw glaives from their arms and aliens invade the Earth.

Next, there’s Soldier of Fortune: Payback. The OFLC banned this title, then Activision came back with a new version the board approved that had reduced ragdoll physics and blood effects, and no dismemberment. Apart for these changes, it’s the same game the rest of the world got.

Now, the setting in SoF is a lot more realistic than that of Dark Sector and the series has always been (sadly) about the gore rather than gameplay. But it’s still about a nigh-invincible mercenary jumping into foreign countries and taking out entire armies solo.

If an adult is taking instruction or “getting off” on either of these games, I don’t think the problem is with the classification system. Just like no one is going to rent out Rambo 4 in the belief it’ll make them some sort of unkillable commando. It’s just stupid.

I will say that if there’s any game that should be R-rated, it’s SoF: Payback. I actually agree with the board’s decision here – the game is pretty absurd with its violence – but denying adults the right to purchase the game as the developer intended is a disservice to our rights. It doesn’t matter if it contains mindless violence – if I want to play a game like SoF, I should be able to. Being able to separate fantasy from reality is not the issue – of course we’re mature enough to do that. We can do it for films with an R rating and we can just as easily do it for games.

Countries with R-rated games seem to handle them just fine. No riots, no violent orgies. It might have something to do with the government being mature enough to realise it’s up to parents to monitor what their kids are subjected to, but that’s just a guess.

Fitzgerald then argues that the entire classification system needs a review, citing a number of reasons including the system’s love of Hollywood violence and strong political influences. Hey, this may indeed be the case. All we’re asking is that games be treated in the same way that films and books are. Once that’s done, feel free to look at the classification system as a whole. If things need to be toned down or more regulated, fine, we’re prepared to roll with that. But as it stands, games are regarded as a kids-only pastime when research by the IEAA quite clearly shows it’s not. How can you compare forms of entertainment when they’re not even on equal terms in the eyes of the government? Now that’s utter nonsense.

He then makes this statement:

With the conspicuous exception of Atkinson, the rest of Australia’s state and federal attorneys should hang their heads in shame for trying to foist a category of computer games on us that will contain mostly mind-numbing violence.

What Fitzgerald fails to realise is that the push for an R18+ rating for video games is not about “trying to foist a category of computer games on us that will contain mostly mind-numbing violence”. Yes, I, a 24-year old games journalist, want an R18+ rating so I can enjoy mindless violence. Please. The rating is about a great many things. It’s about giving the OFLC the ability to properly rate games, reducing release delays, reducing the amount of games we import from overseas, reducing piracy and bringing our ancient classification system in line with the rest of the world. I’ve already talked about this at length.

But there are powerful forces behind this push. In 2006, sales of computer and video game hardware and software in Australia exceeded $1billion and Australians purchase 12.5 million computer and video games each year. A survey of popular Sega and Nintendo games taken a few years ago found that 80 per cent of them primarily featured violence or aggression.

Amazing! Games contain violence! So do books and movies. All three industries have lots of money behind them. Is there anything else blindingly obvious you’d like to share with us? If anything, it shows that games are an expanding industry, one that includes children, teenagers and adults. It should be considered as a form of entertainment enjoyed by people of all ages and our classification system should reflect this.

Fitzgerald wraps up his opinion with this:

… I don’t have a problem with consensual sex on film and vastly prefer it to films showing murders, rapes and serious assaults. On this I believe I carry the support of most fellow Australians. So why can’t the attorneys find a way to introduce a regulatory scheme to make non-violent erotic films legal in all our states and territories and, at the same time, keep violence away from impressionable young minds?

I can’t really argue with Fitzgerald’s approval of sex but not violence, that’s personal preference. What I can argue with is Fitzgerald’s assumption that games are just for kids. How many times can I say this: They’re not. According to the IEAA, the average age of the Australian gamer is 28. Twenty-eight. This is hardly an impressionable young mind. It’s a mind that wants the freedom to watch, read and play what it wants, without the government getting all uppity in its space. Just as Fitzgerald, who I’m assuming is an adult, is okay with sex, gamers, as adults, are okay with violence.

Feel free to add your own opinion to the proceedings. I’m interested to hear what you have to say. If you’d like to help with the push for an R18+ rating, be sure to read my post from last week.

R-rated video games sop to powerful [The Australian, thanks Patrick]

AFA today got back to us with the following information.According to the distributor, it’s waiting for D3 to send out a new version of the game, based on the Japanese build. AFA says this build features “no decapitation and has toned down the limb severing on humans (only)”. It believes this should meet the requirements for an MA15+ rating from the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

AFA was unable to provide a timeline for an Australian release, but I imagine it won’t be long after it gets its hands on the modified build. If you’re particularly keen for the glaive-based fun of the title, it might be worth smashing the Refresh button on the OFLC’s ratings database until it springs up, minus the RC.

Digital Extreme probably had a no-brainer hit when the decided to let people lop off body parts with a deadly Frisbee, but in their pursuit for something more they may have missed the mark this time around.

Loved
The Glaive: As if lopping off enemies’ legs and arms with a flying three-bladed disc weren’t fun enough, Dark Sector lets you slow down time and guide it along it’s path with the PS3’s tilt controls. (Which works amazingly well) You can also absorb electricity, fire and ice with it, allowing you to do things like freeze over lakes you have to cross or turn waterfalls into bullet-deflecting cover.
Gruesome Finishing Moves: Call me a fan of action violence, but I love being able to weaken a creature or enemy and then walk up and sink my glaive through its arm, or cut out its intestines and lop off their head in one move.
Puzzling Boss Battles: The boss battles, and there are a lot of them, almost all require as much thinking as it does shooting and throwing. The final fight in the game is particularly brutal.
Weapon System: It’s not all about the glaive in Dark Sector. You can also upgrade your weapons through a black market, a requirement because the ones you find on the street tend to explode after a few minutes use.

Hated
Delayed Abilities: While it’s a rather lengthy game, it takes far too long to give you the abilities that make playing it actually fun. Typically that isn’t a problem, but the game has so little else to offer that, sans your evolving powers, Dark Sector feels like a generic, rather bad shooter.
Weak Glaive: Lets face it, none of use are going to buy this game to shoot people. Dark Sector is all about the amputation and designing it so that you can’t lop off a limb without several hits is just plain stupid.
Shallow Plot, Bad Dialog: Wow, just wow. The plot is an amalgam of every old sci-fi and military movie. You’ve got your scorned lover, your grumpy old Russian scientist, your patriot-loving general. Thank god they let you skip each and every cut-scene… immediately.
Trite Character Design: The look of some of the main characters go hand-in-hand with that hackneyed plot, but the one I can’t figure is lead Hayden Tenno. Since when do Emo kids go black-ops when they grow up?
Bugs: While the technical glitches aren’t as pronounced later in the game, early on they can be quite distracting and it never shakes the occasional chugging.

When I first checked out early code of Dark Sector I hated it. When I started playing it I hated it. In fact, there were times when I was playing through it that I honestly considered just stopping and moving on. But something kept me coming back for more. Most likely the glaive and the impressive ways you can use it to, at times, literally shape a level. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t really shake out its kinks until nearly half-way through and the elements of the game that are truly unique and impressive tend to get lost in a glut of generic gunplay.

Next time, more Jackal and Aftertouch and less running and gunning.

Dark Sector was developed by Digital Extremes, published by D3 Publisher of America and released on March 25 on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Retails for $US59.99. Campaign played to completion, online modes sampled on PS3.

Editor’s note: This game was refused classification in Australia. We’re waiting to hear back from the publisher, distributor and developer on whether an altered version is in the works.

I’ve emailed the PR folks to find out how exactly they’ll show up in the PS3 version of Dark Sector. If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty, hit the jump for the games achievements and entitlements, which are broken down into level completion, combat and multiplayer.

I’ll make sure to update when and if we hear back.

ACHIEVEMENTS (X360) / ENTITLEMENTS (PS3)

LEVEL COMPLETION – 300 PTS.

Name: Prologue
Description: Completed Chapter 1
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 1
Score: 10

Name: Exposure
Description: Completed Chapter 2
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 2
Score: 10

Name: Baggage Claim
Description: Completed Chapter 3
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 3
Score: 10

Name: Moths To The Flame
Description: Completed Chapter 4
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 4
Score: 10

Name: The Shipment
Description: Completed Chapter 5
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 5
Score: 10

Name: The Bait
Description: Completed Chapter 6
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 6
Score: 10

Name: Industrial Evolution
Description: Completed Chapter 7
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 7
Score: 10

Name: Unnatural History
Description: Completed Chapter 8
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 8
Score: 10

Name: Threshold Guardian
Description: Completed Chapter 9
Achievement Parameter: Complete Chapter 9
Score: 10

Name: The Dark Sector
Description: Completed the game
Achievement Parameter: Complete the game
Score: 100

Name: Dark Sector – Brutal Difficulty
Description: Completed the Game on Brutal Difficulty Achievement Parameter: Complete the Game on Brutal Difficulty
Score: 110

COMBAT – 200 PTS

Name: Headhunter
Description: Decapitated 30 enemies
Achievement Parameter: Decapitate 30 enemies
Score: 10

Name: Incinerator
Description: Incinerated 30 enemies
Achievement Parameter: Incinerate 30 enemies
Score: 10

Name: Electrician
Description: Electrocuted 30 enemies
Achievement Parameter: Electrocute 30 enemies
Score: 10

Name: Jack Frost
Description: Killed 30 frozen enemies.
Achievement Parameter: Kill 30 frozen enemies
Score: 10

Name: Finesse
Description: 30 Aftertouch kills
Achievement Parameter: Kill 30 enemies with Aftertouch
Score: 40

Name: Hardball
Description: 30 Power-throw kills
Achievement Parameter: Kill 30 enemies with Power-throw
Score: 35

Name: Sharpshooter
Description: 30 Headshots
Achievement Parameter: Get 30 headshots
Score: 10

Name: Glaive Master
Description: Completed a level by only using the Glaive Achievement Parameter:
Complete a level by only using the Glaive
Score: 10

Name: The Finisher
Description: Performed 30 finishers
Achievement Parameter: Perform 30 finishers
Score: 10

Name: Double Decap Latte
Description: Two decapitations in one shot Achievement Parameter: Get two decapitations
in one shot
Score: 15

Name: Jack the Jackal
Description: Took the Jackal for a ride
Achievement Parameter: Take the Jackal for a ride
Score: 35

Name: Skeet Shooter
Description: Shot 10 projectiles in mid-flight.
Achievement Parameter: Shoot 10 projectiles in mid-flight
Score: 10

Name: Weaponsmith
Description: Applied 5 upgrades in the market Achievement Parameter: Apply 5
upgrades in the market
Score: 10

Name: Greed
Description: Collected over 50,000 rubles Achievement Parameter: Collect over
50,000 rubles
Score: 10

Name: Researcher
Description: Collected 10 weapon upgrades Achievement Parameter: Collect 10 weapon
upgrades
Score: 10

Name: Master Researcher
Description: Collected all the weapon upgrades Achievement Parameter: Collect
all the weapon upgrades
Score: 15

Name: Rebound
Description: Killed an enemy with a reflected projectile Achievement Parameter:
Kill an enemy with a reflected projectile
Score: 15

Name: Ghost
Description: Used cloaking to get a finisher Achievement Parameter: Use cloaking
to get a finisher
Score: 35

MULTIPLAYER – 200 PTS

Name: Glory
Description: Finished best overall in a ranked match (Multiplayer) Achievement
Parameter: Finish best overall in a ranked match (Multiplayer)
Score: 30

Name: Veteran
Description: Scored 500 points (Multiplayer) Achievement Parameter Score 500
points (Multiplayer)
Score: 30

Name: Hero
Description: Scored 5000 points (Multiplayer) Achievement Parameter: Score 5000
points (Multiplayer)
Score: 40

Name: Champion
Description: Best overall in a ranked team game (Multiplayer) Achievement Parameter:
Finish best overall in a ranked team game (Multiplayer)
Score: 30

Name: Comrade
Description: Scored 500 points in ranked team games (Multiplayer) Achievement
Parameter: Score 500 points in ranked team games (Multiplayer)
Score: 30

Name: Hero of the people
Description: Scored 5000 points in ranked team games (Multiplayer) Achievement
Parameter: Score 5000 points in ranked team games (Multiplayer)
Score: 40