This comes after the game’s original distributor Red Ant went bust in January this year. Since then, copies of Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG have been hard to come by on retail shelves around the country.

It now appears as if Atari has picked up the slack, signing a deal with Bethesda to bring Fallout 3 back to Australia from next month. When contacted Atari wouldn’t comment on whether this was a one-off deal for Fallout 3 or if they would also be handling all future Bethesda releases.

It’s not often one gets invited to a rival media outlet’s party. But that’s what happened on Thursday night when I found myself at the IGN AU Select Awards, rubbing shoulders with these three idiots gentlemen.

I can safely vouch that a drunken good time was had by all. It’s always fun to share an evening with the entire industry, where those console war grudges are left behind and everyone is there to drink celebrate video games.

Fallout 3 was the night’s big winner, taking home four awards, including the big one. It was great to see Tim from Red Ant there to accept the gongs after some very trying times for the distributor of late.

And cheers to my friends at IGN for the invite! (I think you can just about spot me in one of the many photos over in IGN’s gallery.)

Aussie IGN Select Award Winners Announced! [IGN]

After word hit of Red Ant’s financial woes, Capcom were quick to reassure us there’d be no issues with the release of their upcoming games. That assurance is now official: Capcom has signed on with THQ to distribute their games in Australia and New Zealand.

Sad news, zombie fans. According to retail sources across the Tasman, it seems Capcom will not be bringing this awesome Resident Evil 5 Collector’s Edition to Australia or New Zealand. Nor will we be getting any kind of lesser limited edition by way of compensation.

Capcom fans can breathe easy again. With local distributor Red Ant going into administration this week, the future looked uncertain. But Capcom’s European office has been quick to reassure us that the upcoming release of Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5 and other titles will not be affected. No delays or anything. Now, that’s good news.

Here’s the email we received from Capcom this morning:

Certain recent news reports have speculated that owing to the financial status of Red Ant, Capcom’s distributor in Australia, that the release dates of Capcom’s forthcoming titles in this territory may be delayed. Capcom would like to state it does not expect any such delays and to reconfirm the following release dates: Street Fighter IV (PS3&360) – February 20th, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Nintendo Wii) – February 27th, Resident Evil 5 (PS3 & 360) – March 13th. Future titles such as MotoGP (Nintendo Will) and Neopets Puzzle Adventure (DS, Wii & PC) are all scheduled to release in line with other PAL territories.

Kind Regards
Capcom’s European PR Team

Looks like the rumour we heard earlier today is now sadly confirmed. According to a listing on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission website, Red Ant Enterprises is now officially in the hands of receivers. ASIC lists Red Ant’s status as “UNDER EXTERNAL ADMINISTRATION and/or CONTROLLER APPOINTED”, which doesn’t sound too good at all. Quite what all this means for Capcom, Konami, Bethesda and Midway, whose titles are distributed through Red Ant, we really don’t know at this stage. We are still chasing Red Ant for comment.

[Thanks Matt K and attila]

We’ve received word from several sources this morning that Australian games and DVD distributor Red Ant has gone bust and fallen into receivership. If this rumour is true, it may throw the future of local releases from Capcom, Bethesda, Konami and Midway into doubt, as Red Ant currently has distribution agreements with all four publishers. Given Capcom’s upcoming release slate – Street Fighter IV, Bionic Commando, Resident Evil 5 are all due before the end of March – that’s an especially worrying prospect. We’ve contacted Red Ant for comment and will update as soon as we hear anything further.

Check here for an update.

The drugs depicted are fictional; drugs are depicted as stylised icons on a menu with the drug use itself not depicted. Whilst navigating a post-apocalyptic futuristic landscape, players can invoke the use of a variety of “chems” listed by fictious names which include “Buff”, “Rad-X”, “Psycho” and “Ultrajet”. Within the context of the game’s narrative, the player may choose to make use of these “chems” to alter the physiological characteristics of their character in the game.

You might have noticed there’s no mention of morphine, which leaves its existence up in the air.

The effects of taking drugs may also have changed, according to this snippet: “The Board .. found that relationship [sic] between drug use and the incentives and rewards is not such that it promotes or encourages the use of proscribed drugs”. Like I said, it’s a little vague. Seeing as Bethesda and Red Ant are staying silent on the issue, we’ll have to wait for the game to come out before any apples-to-apples comparisons can be made.

Anyway, I’ve included the section regarding drug use from the report after the jump, if you’d like to read it in full. There’s also an interesting perspective from the minority view, which felt the game still deserved an RC.

The drug references within the revised version are justified by context and lend a strong playing impact to the game.

The drugs depicted are fictional; drugs are depicted as stylised icons on a menu with the drug use itself not depicted. Whilst navigating a post-apocalyptic futuristic landscape, players can invoke the use of a variety of “chems” listed by fictious names which include “Buff”, “Rad-X”, “Psycho” and “Ultrajet”. Within the context of the game’s narrative, the player may choose to make use of these “chems” to alter the physiological characteristics of their character in the game.

The Board noted that the “Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games 2005″ states that “as a general rule … material that contains drug use … related to incentives or rewards is Refused Classification” and found that relationship [sic] between drug use and the incentives and rewards is not such that it promotes or encourages the use of proscribed drugs. Therefore the game does not warrant to be Refused Classification and can be accommodated at MA15+ with a consumer advisory of “strong drug references”.

Minority view:

In the minority view of the Board the drug use in the game is in excess of the general rule applied under the Guidelines. The drugs are unambiguious in their visual representations, which include pills and hypodermic needles, and are related to incentives and rewards in that the incentive to take the drug is that progess through the game is achieved more easily and the reward is an increase in the character’s abilities. The game therefore warrants and ‘RC’ classification.

As expected, the main changes were to the portrayal of drug use in the game. According to the OFLC, the incentives and rewards for their use have been “removed”. I don’t want to cause alarm, but this doesn’t sound like a simple cosmetic change (such as a rename of morphine). I mean, the “reward” for using morphine is the ability to ignore the detrimental effects of pain on the player. I can’t see why you’d use morphine if this was taken away.

Anyway, I’m just speculating now. I should have the board report later this afternoon, so be sure to watch this space for more details.

[Pic]

According to Bethesda’s PR dude Pete Hines, the developer does not “publically discuss” the classification of any of its games, which is understandable, if unfortunate. As for Red Ant, it’s like there’s no one home. Anything Fallout 3-related is flat out ignored. Not the most professional approach, but hey, what can you do?