God of War III Devs Worried About Australia

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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God of War III Devs Worried About Australia



Kratos may have slaughtered assorted gods and demigods from Greek mythology without a scratch, but he may have met his match: Australia's notoriously strict OFLC ratings board.

Sony's bestselling God of War games have been over-the-top indulgences in the two things hated most by censors: sex and violence. More the latter than the former, anyway; though there were sex-based minigames and bared breasts aplenty, the sex paled in comparison to gleefully tearing the wings off a Harpy and disembowling a Minotaur before ramming a spike through the mouth of a Hydra.

With the upcoming God of War III, Kratos' confessed to Screen Play [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoaringRampageOfRevenge] that the team harbored worries that the game might be pushing the boundaries of Australia's MA15+ rating.

[blockquote]'There is (concern),' says Sean. 'We try to push the boundaries a little bit. (But) we've had meetings and discussions and internally we all have a good gauge on what's 'too far'.'[/blockquote]

Even so, what Sony feels is "too far" and what Australia's OFLC feels is "too far" may be entirely separate things - and if the ratings board refuses to classify the game as MA15+, Sony will either have to trim down the very blood and gore (and sex) that is the selling point for many gamers - or risk the game being effectively banned entirely.

On the bright side, GoW3 should be within the limits of everywhere that isn't Australia, says Cunningham - even if it means the developers weren't able to do everything they wanted: "You throw something past [the ESRB] and they might say 'Absolutely not! You could not do that!' and we're all like: 'Aww, c'mon, that was a great idea!' There have been a couple of those..."

(Via Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/10/god-of-war-iii-dev-concerned-about-potential-aussie-ban/])

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Radeonx

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Apr 26, 2009
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They could always replace all the blood with rainbows and during the sex scenes just show a giant dancing panda. But even then it might not pass by Australia's rating boards.
 

Eldritch Warlord

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Jun 6, 2008
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I'm worried about Australia too, they seem like the untrustworthy sort.

It's probably because they're not use to sharing a border like US or UK. You should mind your wallet when Australia's around, New Zealand too.
 

Eruanno

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Aug 14, 2008
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Aww come on, it's not a real God of War game without a few limbs getting ripped off and Kratos getting laid with some demigod girls...

I mean, it's not like the greek mythology is that "clean" anyway, maybe we should ban that from Australia too? Oh wait, no don't do that...
 

xHipaboo420x

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Apr 22, 2009
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Nice semi-off-topic link, there.

And it really does seem to suck that countries such as Australia and Germany have these uber-tight censorship bodies. I thought the BBFC was bad enough.

There's a good point in referring to the violence and gore as "the selling point for many gamers" - people will play God Of War expecting an entertaining, OTT bloodbath; so to omit certain elements and sequences is akin to taking away from the overall product, no better than giving people wordsearch books with the fun puzzles torn out.
 

Simalacrum

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Apr 17, 2008
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xmetatr0nx said:
Radeonx said:
They could always replace all the blood with rainbows and during the sex scenes just show a giant dancing panda. But even then it might not pass by Australia's rating boards.
This. Man ill say it again, what happend to you australia you used to be cool?
Australia was cool once? really?

Really, why does any self-respecting gamer live there anymore? get out of there while you can, it'll become an aristocratic isolationist country one day I tells ya!
 

RavingPenguin

Engaged to PaintyFace
Jan 20, 2009
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needausername said:
I still don't understand why Australia's gamers don't just start a revolution...
Seriously, or they could just move... but that might be more of a hassle.

On a lighter note: Your avatar is mesmerizing, I watched it for like 5 minutes.
 

Gaderael

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Apr 14, 2009
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They could make the blood and gore that's too much for the fragile members of Australia's games ratings board a free DLC. It could work. UT3 users were able to play user mods made on PC, so I'm sure Sony could figure out how to do that with their own console.
 

historybuff

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Feb 15, 2009
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Poor Australia. Y'know, I always thought of Australians as being kind of macho--and they're always portrayed as badasses. I think they can handle some blood.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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I'm still up to sign a petition or something for an R17+ rating or something in Australia.

Though did Mad World, Ninja Gaiden, No More Heroes, and various other asortment of bloody games get through to Australia? If that's so, and God of War 3 is banned, I will be pissed even though I don't live in Australia. It's good to know some people haven't forgotten about the guys down under.
 

HobbesMkii

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza
Jun 7, 2008
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Wait, in Australia, viciously killing mythological monsters isn't considered just another part of foreplay? Jeez, it really is the land of Oz.
 

IamQ

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Mar 29, 2009
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If Australia will make them censor God of War 3 I'll run right through all GoW 3 developers with a chainsaw.
 

Jumplion

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iamq said:
If Australia will make them censor God of War 3 I'll run right through all GoW 3 developers with a chainsaw.
Uh, better plan, why don't you take that chainsaw to Australia instead? No need to ruin it for the rest of us even more if it was censored now, eh?
 

Radeonx

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Apr 26, 2009
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Jumplion said:
iamq said:
If Australia will make them censor God of War 3 I'll run right through all GoW 3 developers with a chainsaw.
Uh, better plan, why don't you take that chainsaw to Australia instead? No need to ruin it for the rest of us even more if it was censored now, eh?
I have an even better plan. Do what Jumplion said, except instead of a chainsaw, use replicas of Kratos' swords. That will stick it to the man!
 

scotth266

Wait when did I get a sub
Jan 10, 2009
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Great idea everybody: let's ban a game!

Oh wait. Those who want the game will just find a way to get a copy anyway.

Nuts.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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Radeonx said:
Jumplion said:
iamq said:
If Australia will make them censor God of War 3 I'll run right through all GoW 3 developers with a chainsaw.
Uh, better plan, why don't you take that chainsaw to Australia instead? No need to ruin it for the rest of us even more if it was censored now, eh?
I have an even better plan. Do what Jumplion said, except instead of a chainsaw, use replicas of Kratos' swords. That will stick it to the man!
Oh god, if I actually got a working pair of replica Chain Blades used by Kratos, I think I would die of nerdgasam.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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scotth266 said:
Great idea everybody: let's ban a game!

Oh wait. Those who want the game will just find a way to get a copy anyway.

Nuts.
Kind of like drugs...........how depressing?
 

CrystalShadow

don't upset the insane catgirl
Apr 11, 2009
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Sigh. I used to live in Australia, and the games censorship issue is ridiculous...

Terminator 2 was rated M. M!

Do you realise that means while it was considered to be intended for over 15's, it's actually unrestricted?

You can get hardcore porn, ultraviolent films (Kill Bill comes to mind), and lots of other stuff, and yet they refuse to accept that games aimed at adults are even possible.

And this one politician there... Argues that having an 18 rating for computer games is a bad idea because someone might buy it and let their kids get hold of it...

Hello? Doesn't this EXACT same logic apply to Pornographic magazines, 18 (R) rated films, and even Alcohol and Cigarettes?

And yet none of those things are banned in the way computer games are.
It's the dumbest thing I've ever come across.
And now they're trying to go the way of China and filter the internet for this kind of content too...

Seriously. It makes me embarrassed to have been born there.