Fable Anniversary Receives R18+ Rating in Australia

Fanghawk

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Fable Anniversary Receives R18+ Rating in Australia

Fable Anniversary's Darkwood Bordello warrants the ten thousand kangaroo aneurisms needed for an Australian R18+ classification.

The core Fable games have consistently received Mature ratings from the ESRB, but they're not Mature in the same way Grand Theft Auto V was. Sure, there's some innuendo and fade-to-black sexual content, but it's not quite the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94376-Take-Two-Settles-Hot-Coffee-Lawsuit-for-20-Million>"Hot Coffee" levels of scandal that people normally watch for. That is, unless you happen to be in Australia, and the game in question is Fable Anniversary. Apparently a medieval-themed bordello scene, one cut from the original game, now warrants the ten thousand kangaroo aneurisms required <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122148-Final-Australian-State-Passes-R18-Legislation>for the controversial R18+ rating.

Fable Anniversary's R18+ rating centers around Darkwood Bordello, an in-game brothel previously exclusive to Fable: The Lost Chapters. <a href=http://www.playerattack.com/news/2013/11/15/fable-anniversary-is-r18-due-to-in-game-brothel/#ixzz2kiJHEmcV>According to a report from Player Attack, a spokesperson stated that Darkwood's "sex related to incentives and rewards" was the deciding factor for Australia's Classification Board. That's prostitution, in case you weren't certain, which male characters can pay for or dress in a female costume to participate in. In fact, the character's sex scene with an NPC named Grope was the most damning factor, "[exceeding] what can be accommodated at the MA15+ classification". The Board does acknowlege, however, that Fable's fade-to-black policy applies to Darkwood's sexual content.

It's possible that Fable Anniversary's classification will be revaluated at some point, given that <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129403-Australias-Rau-Reappraise-These-Games-Ratings>ratings for 12 other games are being questioned due to violent content. Still, it's worth noting that if Fable Anniversary had come out last year, this single scene might have prevented the game from being released altogether.

Source: <a href=http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=iTiD7RkM4xfQQZeq%2bZXWLA%253d%253d&ncdctx=jRIeRfDZyMtA%252fCpVUb3gMiQbgSArEc7bKcPKfwxrmd0dzf2RrJqrFc4vuehryV%2b7>Australian Classification Board, via <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/15/5107012/fable-anniversary-reclassified-r18-in-australia>Polygon

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Reed Spacer

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Jan 11, 2011
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Ah, good ol' Australia: the outback, poisonous bugs and uptight game-rating classifiers...
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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Fanghawk said:
Grant Theft Auto V
Now that's a game I would play! A game revolving around three Grants. Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, Grant Holt, the footballer that plays for Norwich and Hugh Grant.

...

Anyway, like you said, at least it managed to get a rating as not that long ago, it might not have.
 

CriticalMiss

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No mention of those poor, delicious crunchy chicks? Shocking! And I never would have thought that Fable would get an 18 rating, especially for the 'sex'. Then again I never played Lost Chapters so maybe it's a total fuck-fest. I might have to try out the Anniversary edition for research or something.
 

Fanghawk

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Andy Shandy said:
Fanghawk said:
Grant Theft Auto V
Now that's a game I would play! A game revolving around three Grants. Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, Grant Holt, the footballer that plays for Norwich and Hugh Grant.

...

Anyway, like you said, at least it managed to get a rating as not that long ago, it might not have.
Fixed! Thanks.
 

The Apple BOOM

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I find it ironic in the 'backward' country where sex is demonized (ie. America), it probably has the best policy when it comes to censorship and such.

I feel really bad for Yahtzee and Rubber Ross, though. (Yes, I know Ross lives in America now, but he still had to deal with this for a long time)
 

octafish

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The Apple BOOM said:
I find it ironic in the 'backward' country where sex is demonized (ie. America), it probably has the best policy when it comes to censorship and such.

I feel really bad for Yahtzee and Rubber Ross, though. (Yes, I know Ross lives in America now, but he still had to deal with this for a long time)
Yahtzee is over 18. No problem there.

I don't have a problem with this, the game has mature content, it gets a mature rating. The ratings board has firm guidelines regarding rewards tied to sex or drug use. That said Fable on PC was pretty tame, shitty, but tame.
 

RikuoAmero

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"which male characters pay for or female characters can participate in as a career path."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't play as a female in Fable 1.
 

Imre Csete

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Jul 8, 2010
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Well, that Pimp Hat from the Demon Door is a damn tempting incentive and reward for scandalous fade-to-black romps indeed.

But I'm glad to see that sacrificing innocent travellers, whom you are charged to protect, for the Evil God was not a deciding factor in this. Dodged a bullet there.
 

Fanghawk

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RikuoAmero said:
"which male characters pay for or female characters can participate in as a career path."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't play as a female in Fable 1.
You're not wrong, it's technically a male character in a female costume. But you're right, that's not correctly stated. Thanks!
 

The Apple BOOM

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octafish said:
The Apple BOOM said:
I find it ironic in the 'backward' country where sex is demonized (ie. America), it probably has the best policy when it comes to censorship and such.

I feel really bad for Yahtzee and Rubber Ross, though. (Yes, I know Ross lives in America now, but he still had to deal with this for a long time)
Yahtzee is over 18. No problem there.

I don't have a problem with this, the game has mature content, it gets a mature rating. The ratings board has firm guidelines regarding rewards tied to sex or drug use. That said Fable on PC was pretty tame, shitty, but tame.
This type of censorship doesn't just affect minors, though. Many companies take things out of their games for German and Australian releases to get blow the AO rating, and that directly affects older players.
 

Eldritch Warlord

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RikuoAmero said:
"which male characters pay for or female characters can participate in as a career path."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't play as a female in Fable 1.
Maybe they're changing that for Fable Anniversary.
 

DaGobbo

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I'm sitting here, in my computer room in Australia looking at my gaming shelf. On said gaming shelf is Fable - The Lost Chapters.
Rating: MA15+.
Purchased in Australia 6 yrs ago. If they must be wrong let them be consistently so.

I'm glad they have an R18+ for games though, as it was successfully blocked for 10+ yrs. But get this the people responsible for the block were the Australian Christian lobby and the Pornography industry. hmmmmm mixed agendas much?

Atleast the game has been released and not just blocked outright.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

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Sep 10, 2008
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DaGobbo said:
I'm sitting here, in my computer room in Australia looking at my gaming shelf. On said gaming shelf is Fable - The Lost Chapters.
Rating: MA15+.
Purchased in Australia 6 yrs ago. If they must be wrong let them be consistently so.
The trouble is that that was released before the R18 rating and that the censors shoved nearly everything in the M15 label, even some things that I as a gamer thought deserved an R18.

So in effect all Michael Atkinson really did was allow youngish teens to buy games that anywhere else they wouldn't have been able to purchase.

I expect a few more changes if other HD re-releases come out.
 

hazabaza1

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Nov 26, 2008
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Wait, if you dress up as a lady you can be a prostitute?
Huh. Neat. I thought those clothes were just for the humour factor.
 

Farther than stars

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"Ten thousand kangaroo aneurisms"; a metaphor used not once but twice in one short article. I'm used to finding biased reporting on the Escapist, from time to time - heck, that's fine, it keeps it fresh - but this is not only unnecessarily demeaning and derogatory, such repetition is also just poor style.

Reed Spacer said:
Ah, good ol' Australia: the outback, poisonous bugs and uptight game-rating classifiers...
To be fair, it's not (just) the classifying board. After all, they're just enacting the laws that decide what kinds of violence and sex can be shown to minors. And Australia being a democracy, the mandate for those laws ultimately lies with the citizens, so that if there was a huge outrage about sexual censorship, the citizens could just rise up and elect a government which would remove these censorship laws.
As it stands, it's actually old people and conservative Christians who are the ones outraged, but then about the amount of exposure young teenagers are getting to sexual content. And this is not a trend limited to Australia. There's talk in Britain of restricting access to internet porn and Iceland is deliberating about banning porn altogether.
Whatever your stance is on this (individual) issue, it's clear that this is part of a much wider social debate. So it's not fair to make the ratings board the scapegoat for things that are beyond its control.
 

seule

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Ed130 said:
DaGobbo said:
I'm sitting here, in my computer room in Australia looking at my gaming shelf. On said gaming shelf is Fable - The Lost Chapters.
Rating: MA15+.
Purchased in Australia 6 yrs ago. If they must be wrong let them be consistently so.
The trouble is that that was released before the R18 rating and that the censors shoved nearly everything in the M15 label, even some things that I as a gamer thought deserved an R18.

So in effect all Robert Atkinson really did was allow youngish teens to buy games that anywhere else they wouldn't have been able to purchase.

I expect a few more changes if other HD re-releases come out.
Dudes name was Michael Atkinson, but yes you are correct in the net effect of his "good intentions."
 

Angelous Wang

Lord of I Don't Care
Oct 18, 2011
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To be fair this game includes:
A brothel,
Hetro Sex,
Homo Sex,
Bi Sex,
Crossdressing,
Alcoholism,
Gambling,
Murder of innocents, (including that hobb cave kid),
Slumblording,
Imprisonment,
Torture,
General twisted bad behaviour (betrayal, stealing, ect)

Sure this game is a lot less serious and way more light hearted than GTA, but from the list above it's not that far off. The only thing GTA beats it out on is the swearing really.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

(Insert witty quote here)
Sep 10, 2008
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seule said:
Ed130 said:
The trouble is that that was released before the R18 rating and that the censors shoved nearly everything in the M15 label, even some things that I as a gamer thought deserved an R18.

So in effect all Robert Atkinson really did was allow youngish teens to buy games that anywhere else they wouldn't have been able to purchase.

I expect a few more changes if other HD re-releases come out.
Dudes name was Michael Atkinson, but yes you are correct in the net effect of his "good intentions."
Oops, thanks for the heads up.

The funniest part is that even with the R18 tier in place a couple of games have gotten the lower rating compared to the rest of the world.

His stupidity may be gone from office but his legacy still enables young teens to get the Deadpool game.


although apart from Deadpool fans the main demographic would be 15 year olds anyway.