Syndicate Banned in Australia - UPDATED

[Pat8u]

just remember these people will be dead in a few more years or retired

 

[Niccolo]

EA, screw you. Just goddamn decide if you're going to be awesome and make the gaming community cheer you or if you're going to go the bad karma route.

Still, good on you. Our government are twits.

Surely they mean "archaic"?

Oh wait, this is EA, they're not famous for their brains, and in fact are famous for their LACK of brains.

Silly me.

Nobody here in my lovely sunburnt country really understands how they catalogue their games. It's quite mysterious, really. You could even say it's secret.



Arcane - ar·cane/ärˈkān, Adjective: Understood by few; mysterious or secret.

 

[Woodsey]

"The game will not be available in Australia despite its enthusiastic response from fans. We were encouraged by the government's recent agreement to adopt an 18+ age rating for games. However, delays continue to force an arcane censorship on games - cuts that would never be imposed on books or movies,"

Surely they mean "archaic"?

Oh wait, this is EA, they're not famous for their brains, and in fact are famous for their LACK of brains.

Silly me.

Mr Xangi, meet [a
href=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arcane]Mr Dictionary[/a].

Silly you indeed.

 

[Metalrocks]

things will never change with this country. always behind and idiots for politicians. i think every company, like valve with L4D 2, should tell australia how retarded their rating system is and refuse sale for the country down under. maybe then australia finally realizes that a 18+ rating for games is beneficial.

 

[Daemonate]

Not interested in stupid shooterisation of Bullfrog classic that should never, ever have been made
.
For once? Good work, censors.

 

[infohippie]

I hate to say it, but EA's gained back a bit of my respect now. Anyone who tells my benighted government to get bent like that is okay in my book!

As an Australian, I feel confident there will be avenues to acquire this game, without resorting to piracy. All the government has done is deprive themselves of some tax dollars and deprive Australian retailers of some sales.

 

[-|-]

Not interested in stupid shooterisation of Bullfrog classic that should never, ever have been made
.
For once? Good work, censors.

I agree. I'm not interested in this game either; I wish my government would use censorship to stop other people buying and playing it.

 

[Sojoez]

Funny, when SOPA comes out no one will even know that gory games are banned because all gaming sites would be permablocked. And the EA site is already run by draconian moderators.

 

[Xangi]

"The game will not be available in Australia despite its enthusiastic response from fans. We were encouraged by the government's recent agreement to adopt an 18+ age rating for games. However, delays continue to force an arcane censorship on games - cuts that would never be imposed on books or movies,"

Surely they mean "archaic"?

Oh wait, this is EA, they're not famous for their brains, and in fact are famous for their LACK of brains.

Silly me.

Mr Xangi, meet [a
href=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arcane]Mr Dictionary[/a].

Silly you indeed.

In common speech, the word archaic, when referring to a law, means that it is antiquated or a relic of a time which is no longer needed. Arcane, in common speech, means magical.

 

[Xangi]

"The game will not be available in Australia despite its enthusiastic response from fans. We were encouraged by the government's recent agreement to adopt an 18+ age rating for games. However, delays continue to force an arcane censorship on games - cuts that would never be imposed on books or movies,"

Surely they mean "archaic"?

Oh wait, this is EA, they're not famous for their brains, and in fact are famous for their LACK of brains.

Silly me.

No, they mean arcane. Archaic wouldn't even make any sense. Games haven't been around for long enough to be archaic, let alone the Australian government's notoriety for banning them.
Either way, I don't mind whether you like EA or not, but don't go knocking them for something as simple as this.
And personally I would never call them stupid. Sure, they've done some dumb things but looking at the over-all record; getting into bed with studios and copyright holders that brought them games like the Happy Potter series, The Sims, Mass Effect (and by extension Dragon Age), Dead Space, just to name a few. I would call that pretty smart business practice.

Arcane makes significantly less sense, no matter how you define archaic. Also, if you think telling a government to shove it is smarter than appealing to them to get your product sold (in terms of business), then you clearly should never run a business. The ideal handling of this situation would be to do what smart game companies ALWAYS do when dealing with Australia, make a special censored version. Or, better than that, just give them the German version, since that one is already going to be censored.

Also, EA is not known for smart business practice in the realm of PC gaming. If you had played DS2 or ME2 on PC, you'd realize what a hassle it is to deal with Securom, which they insist on putting in their games. Sure, they do great on 360 and PS3, but soon that console generation will be forced into obsolescence by Nintendo starting a new generation, and then what? What happens when Mass Effect 6: Shepard goes to college doesn't sell? They'll be wishing they didn't alienate the whole PC market.

tl;dr
Archaic makes more sense no matter how you slice it (though if English is not your first language I can see the confusion), and EA is still dumb.

So that's going to be your argument, huh? "Archaic makes more sense, just because it does"? Yes, English is my first language (which you might guess from me being British!) and at least I told you why I think arcane makes a perfectly good adjective there.
Anyway, that aside, I would argue that pandering to the Australian government could possibly be the worst thing to do in this situation. If game studios will just blindly go along with their demands, they'll end up censoring more and more, giving gaming an increasingly bad rep in that country.
Moreover, the way that they did tell the Australian government to "shove it" was rather mild to be honest. In politics, if you want to shine through you need strong opinions and to be able to stand up to your opponents. Otherwise you just seem weak and I wouldn't want that for the gaming industry, no matter who the company is.
And lastly, my money is still on EA, who I think are capable of a lot more than you give them credit for; I suspect they're in it for the long haul. Also, I'd contradict you and say that Mass Effect is a trilogy, but if Halo is anything to go by, I fear you might be right about Mass Effect 6. =/

In common speech, the word archaic, when referring to a law, means that it is antiquated or a relic of a time which is no longer needed. Arcane, in common speech, means magical.

Game studios have no problem going along with Germany's demands, and my point was that they could just give Australia the German copy (translated obviously), but let's not even kid ourselves here, Most people will get American or European copies anyway, legally or otherwise.

Also, I didn't even BEGIN to rant about origin, but I'll shorten it to this. I didn't buy BF3 because of origin, and I won't be buying ME3 because of origin, and I was a HUGE fan of ME1 and I liked ME2. If a game has EA's DRM, I won't buy it, and I know MANY MANY MANY other people who feel exactly the same.

 

[Xangi]

"The game will not be available in Australia despite its enthusiastic response from fans. We were encouraged by the government's recent agreement to adopt an 18+ age rating for games. However, delays continue to force an arcane censorship on games - cuts that would never be imposed on books or movies,"

Surely they mean "archaic"?

Oh wait, this is EA, they're not famous for their brains, and in fact are famous for their LACK of brains.

Silly me.

Ahh, calling someone for their lack of brains when you dont even understand the word they used... So very cute.

OT: Good on EA

In common speech, the word archaic, when referring to a law, means that it is antiquated or a relic of a time which is no longer needed. Arcane, in common speech, means magical.

Talking to someone like they are a child when you don't even understand the context which they are speaking in... So very cute.

 

[Kermi]

As an Australian, refusing the game from classification has only made me more determined to play it. I'll import it from ozgameshop. It's cheaper than buying locally anyway. Therre is a slight risk it'll be found and confiscated by customs, but that's rare.

 

[Woodsey]

"The game will not be available in Australia despite its enthusiastic response from fans. We were encouraged by the government's recent agreement to adopt an 18+ age rating for games. However, delays continue to force an arcane censorship on games - cuts that would never be imposed on books or movies,"

Surely they mean "archaic"?

Oh wait, this is EA, they're not famous for their brains, and in fact are famous for their LACK of brains.

Silly me.

Mr Xangi, meet [a
href=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arcane]Mr Dictionary[/a].

Silly you indeed.

In common speech, the word archaic, when referring to a law, means that it is antiquated or a relic of a time which is no longer needed. Arcane, in common speech, means magical.

If they'd meant archaic and antiquated they'd have said it.

Arcane makes sense in the sentence it was used, there's no reason to assume they meant otherwise.

 

[Hachura]

Oh well. Ebay UK, here I come.

 

[DirgeNovak]

That update makes me respect EA a bit more.

 

[Grimh]

Ahahahahaha, SOPA backing EA doesn't like censorship.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Oh wow, time to enjoy myself with this mindless bit of fun designed by professionals!

 

[Matthew McDonald]

The problem I have is not that they banned this game, it's the inconsistency. There are already games with graphic violence available, games with dismemberment etc. Either ban them all or ban none of them.

One of the arguments against an R18+ rating is that children will get hold of violent games more easily. Ummm.... right now many games which are rated 18 in other countries get no cuts and put into the MA15+ category... Which, imo, means it's far easier to get as a child than an 18 rated game would be.

 

[Farther than stars]

In common speech, the word archaic, when referring to a law, means that it is antiquated or a relic of a time which is no longer needed. Arcane, in common speech, means magical.

Game studios have no problem going along with Germany's demands, and my point was that they could just give Australia the German copy (translated obviously), but let's not even kid ourselves here, Most people will get American or European copies anyway, legally or otherwise.

Also, I didn't even BEGIN to rant about origin, but I'll shorten it to this. I didn't buy BF3 because of origin, and I won't be buying ME3 because of origin, and I was a HUGE fan of ME1 and I liked ME2. If a game has EA's DRM, I won't buy it, and I know MANY MANY MANY other people who feel exactly the same.

I'm intrigued, do you use Steam then?
Also, I'm willing to bet there isn't a dictionary in the world which defines arcane as meaning "magical" and the links to the ones below are just a few. Yes, it's often used to describe magic, but that is literally to emphasize its "mysterious" qualities. Speaking of magic, the first dictionary below lists "arcane economic theories" as an example. Not exactly the most mystical of terms, now is it?

[link]http://www.thefreedictionary.com/arcane[/link]
[link]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arcane[/link]
[link]http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arcane[/link]
[link]http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/arcane[/link]

 

[Xangi]

In common speech, the word archaic, when referring to a law, means that it is antiquated or a relic of a time which is no longer needed. Arcane, in common speech, means magical.

Game studios have no problem going along with Germany's demands, and my point was that they could just give Australia the German copy (translated obviously), but let's not even kid ourselves here, Most people will get American or European copies anyway, legally or otherwise.

Also, I didn't even BEGIN to rant about origin, but I'll shorten it to this. I didn't buy BF3 because of origin, and I won't be buying ME3 because of origin, and I was a HUGE fan of ME1 and I liked ME2. If a game has EA's DRM, I won't buy it, and I know MANY MANY MANY other people who feel exactly the same.

I'm intrigued, do you use Steam then?
Also, I'm willing to bet there isn't a dictionary in the world which defines arcane as meaning "magical" and the links to the ones below are just a few. Yes, it's often used to describe magic, but that is literally to emphasize its "mysterious" qualities. Speaking of magic, the first dictionary below lists "arcane economic theories" as an example. Not exactly the most mystical of terms, now is it?

[link]http://www.thefreedictionary.com/arcane[/link]
[link]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arcane[/link]
[link]http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arcane[/link]
[link]http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/arcane[/link]

Note the words "common speech". In common speech, the letters "lol" indicate that a person finds something funny, but I doubt you'd find that defined as a word in any reputable dictionary.

Yes, I use Steam. Why? Because Valve is a company I feel I can trust. Also, steam doesn't ban you from all your games for reporting someone on the forums(in other words they actually care about their customers). This is just one of several key differences I could point out, but if you seriously think that origin is even remotely comparable to steam, you clearly haven't used either.

Also steam has a massive library of games that I'd otherwise be missing out on, Origin has a library size that is kind of pathetic (when you consider that many of those games can be bought without the DRM), and the exclusives aren't really that good.

Doesn't matter anyways, GOG and GamersGate are my preferred distributors, because I can buy single copies of multiplayer games and give them to friends as well so we can have some fun.