Fallout 3: A Little Bit Of Australia For Everyone

[Andy Chalk]

Fallout 3: A Little Bit Of Australia For Everyone

Gamers in Australia who are upset about being stuck with an edited version of Fallout 3 [http://fallout.bethsoft.com] can rest easy - it turns out the entire world is getting the same modified version you are.

After being refused classification by Australia's Bethesda Softworks [http://www.classification.gov.au] has steadfastly refused to comment specifically about what modifications were made, but it's widely accepted that references to drugs, a staple of the Fallout games, were the cause of all the problems.

As a result, it was believed that the Australian version of the game would have those references changed or removed while the rest of the world, which for the most part lets big people play big people games, would enjoy the game as it was originally designed. According to Edge Online [http://www.edge-online.com/news/censors-force-fallout-3-changes], however, that isn't the case at all.

"We want to make sure folks understand that the Australian version of Fallout 3 is identical to both the U.K. and North American versions in every way, on every platform," Peter Hines, Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing, told the site. "An issue was raised concerning references to real world, prescribed drugs in the game, and we subsequently removed those references and replaced them with fictional names. To avoid confusion among people in different territories, we decided to make those substitutions in all versions of the game, in all territories."

"I didn't want people continuing to assume the version in Australia was some altered version when it's not," he continued. "There are no references to real world drugs in any version of Fallout 3."

So there you have it. Instead of assuming that an Australian version of the game would be created to mollify Australian censors, you can now assume that Australian censors have the pull to affect the games you play no matter where you live. Aren't you glad that's been cleared up?

via: GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/09/fallout-3-ship-worldwide-cuts-made-australian-censors]



Permalink

 

[fix-the-spade]

Oh dear, Australia is influencing world politics.
Does anyone know how to program an ICBM to hit Canberra?

 

[Danny Ocean]

Seems the news room is getting slow!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.71131#714790

 

[Melaisis]

Oh come on; its hardly a landmark in game politics; all it is is changing the names of a few drugs within the game - not affecting the overall experience in the slightest.

 

[Slycne]

Oh come on; its hardly a landmark in game politics; all it is is changing the names of a few drugs within the game - not affecting the overall experience in the slightest.

Exactly, now had the content actually been removed that would have been something to write home about. Fallout 3 is supposed to take place in 2277. So chances are drugs would be vastly different from what they are now, and even if they still did have -insert drug here- does it really matter what it's called?

Now what would be funny is if they changed the name ever so slightly so that it doesn't tick off the censors, but it's obvious what it means. To give an example... Frak!

 

[BleachedBlind]

I hope that is all they in fact changed by the time the game is released thanks to Australia.

 

[Jennacide]

The original game drugs named like Mentats aren't changed from the sounds of it. But drug references other places to current day ones we have like Vicodin are. Big whoop, Fallout 2 suffered from pop culture reference hysteria, it's probably better they had to tone some of that down. The game drugs shouldn't change at all.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

I can live with it, just something getting renamed, not a big change. But as soon as the heads stop flying off, then I get annoyed.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Oh come on; its hardly a landmark in game politics; all it is is changing the names of a few drugs within the game - not affecting the overall experience in the slightest.

"All it is" is modifying the game to fit the lowest common denominator. You don't see how this is a bad thing?

 

[Melaisis]

Oh come on; its hardly a landmark in game politics; all it is is changing the names of a few drugs within the game - not affecting the overall experience in the slightest.

"All it is" is modifying the game to fit the lowest common denominator. You don't see how this is a bad thing?

What, that we're all suffering for the fascism of the Australian government, and if this trend continues then the will of one absurdly conservative government on the other side of the world will end up having shockwaves on the global market? I never said it wasn't a bad thing but - as Slycne said - it is nothing to write home about. Sure, there is a possibility that other developers could take the same view as Bethesda's laziness and any alterations that are forced on them in one part of the world will be applied elsewhere, or that a single fascist government could dictate what the entire Western world plays but honestly; talk about panicking over a fire when there's only smoke and ashes. We've been worrying about censorship since Jack Thompson and what has changed in the industry, exactly?

Just because one studio decided to opt for the E-Z route when it came to manufacturing the game to get by censors doesn't mean that everyone will start doing it.

 

[Saskwach]

I'm with Mel on this: a studio decided to make things easier for itself and others by renaming a few drugs. No real biggie. Still not nice but there's absolutely no way we can expect from this that any studio will substantially change a game thanks to backwoods Australia.

 

[mGoLos]

Censorship needs to be stopped not encouraged.

 

[Capt_Jack_Doicy]

Oh dear, Australia is influencing world politics.
Does anyone know how to program an ICBM to hit Canberra?

you phone the pentagon and activate plan Red, but if you just want specifically australia then its plan magenta i think or some other shade of red.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Censorship needs to be stopped not encouraged.

To borrow a phrase that's all the rage with the hip young kids on the internets these days,

"this."

 

[Saskwach]

What happened in Australia: censorship. What Bethesda chose to do with its IP: not censorship. There was nothing stopping Bethesda keeping the names as they were outside The Lucky Country.

 

[rougeknife]

Odds are Bethesda made some changes for the aussie version, found they improved the game, (i.e. gave an alternative to drugs in situations where you would consider them, giving the player a moral choice) or didn?t really effect it (i.e. they just changed the names of the drugs and put up warnings all over the place saying'Drugs R bad MmmmK?') Either one would satisfy the tards at the OFLC.

They then implemented the changes into the base build.

So, no matter what the changes are, it looks like Bethesda decided to piss away all the rebellious sentiment they gained from it being banned here in the first place. Smart move, dumbarse.

Oh dear, Australia is influencing world politics.
Does anyone know how to program an ICBM to hit Canberra?

As an Australian born citizen, I feel I speak for the greater part of the population when I say:
'Can I push the button?'

 

[Fineldar]

So if all they're changing is the names of prescription drugs, that's fine, since that means they should be keeping Mentats, Psycho, Jet, and whatnot, although I would like it if the things analogue in game, say crack, was actually called crack, so I would know what it is right away. For a minor in-game item change, it's not a big deal, they're saving money and effort just doing a blanket change. They shouldn't pander to the lowest common denominator, is the lowest common dominator is stupid and makes no sense.

But seriously, real-world prescription drugs is something that's censored? What if a game character in a game has really bad Asthma or cold? Do they just tell all the people in Australia, "Fuck it, you die in the first 30 minutes."? Can generic pain killers not be in the game because they're a drug? These are regular things that regular people use. Can we not have Mardi Gras beads in some games because some people use them for weird sex stuff?