Censorship

[Rustworks]

G'day. Is anyone else worried about the level that Bioshock may be censored for Euro/Asian/Aussie release? The Australian Gov is still dragging their heels over an R18+ rating for software titles. Such games as Manhunt, Postal 2 and Leisure Suite Larry are only available peer to peer, or through e-bay. Those games that made it through often had chunks missing. It's like probing the spot where a tooth used to be, knowing that there should be something useful there.

Silent Hill was altered for the Aussie release, replacing evil little girl monsters with amorphous blobby things. Fair enough, not a massive hit to the storyline. Anyone remember back to duke nukem? Australia missed out on quite a few npc 's until a patch was released some time later. With the patch installed a whole new level was added to the storyline - women in peril, amusing theatrics and a full stage in the strip club (I originally wondered what the fuss was about).

Will 2K be seriously hacking Bioshock for the tender audience in Oz? If so, would they be making and effort to heal the wound with alternate monsters/clues/storylines?:confused:

[bulldogsfan]

i've read somewhere that bioshock won't face too many problems becasue of the setting of the game..

Deathrow, a game on the original xbox had drug use, excessive swearing and over the top violence but was only handed an MA15+ rating because of its sci fi setting.. let's hope bioshock won't face problem's

[Bartekk]

Censorship sucks.

[Shake Appeal]

Censorship boards tend to be fairly tolerant of abstract, otherwordly settings; it's brutal real-world violence that really enrages them. That said, child-killing is one of the absolute no-nos, so if the option to murder the little sisters is there they might take issue with it. As far as I recall Fable ran into trouble with this, and the European releases of the Fallout games had the children removed. Obviously Irrational can't take that route without compromising fundamental game mechanics, but it worries me nonetheless.

[jackinthebox]

everybody who will want to play the game in original language/gore factor living in Germany/Australia (dunno what countries censor too) will have to import the game... i'm 100% sure there are going to be problems in Germany!

[Shake Appeal]

Yeah, if the European version is censored it will be the first time I import a game purely to get around censorship (was previously tempted by Ninja Gaiden, but decided I didn't need decapitations that badly). I believe the majority of 360 titles are actually region-free without it being explicitly specified anyway.

[Maniac]

Censorship is just another tool of evil people...

-Maniac

[B1g Boom]

meh cant change that realy

frankly I dont believe in censorship

[Adabiviak]

I don't like censorship because it changes the vision that a development house has for its game. They'll make changes that would have made an impressive game to make sure it sells. I would like to see the rating system improved (and parents be more responsible for what their kids play). I believe Prey went through this conundrum with the little kids that got mangled - much kudos to that crowd for sticking to their guns!

[Avatar]

I once pondered applying for a position on the OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification), the Australian Government body responsible for rating or censoring all media prodcts.
They could really use some more liberal-minded citizens on the board. A couple of voices on the committe who are fundamentally opposed to censorship would serve as a good balance to those who are in favour of heavy content regulation.

To be fair, the OFLC have their moments of decent sanity, for example they did pass the adventure game Fahrenheit with an MA rating. For those unfamiliar with the game, Fahrenheit starts with the main character committing a murder (although being paranormally controlled by somebody else) during the introduction sequence, then when the player is given control they're tasked with covering it up and escaping from the police.
Fahrenheit was actually partially censored in the US of all places on its initial release, a decision which I think was influenced by the amusing "Hot Coffee" so-called scandal. It wasn't the murder that was censored of course, it was a couple of fairly lame sex scenes. Part of the baffling logic which says that sex scenes deserve more restrictive ratings than extreme violence does.
Fairly good game, incidentally.
And of course, in Soviet FEAR, little girl kills you.

Personally, I think games like Manhunt and especially Postal 2 are in terrible taste, but if people actually want to buy them then they should be permitted to do so.

As it stands, BioShock is available as pre-orders at Australian gaming stores, which indicates at least that it's probably been given advertising approval by the OFLC. It's a start.
Hopefully the full game will get the pass from the OFLC, without being touched by the censors. If it is, I'll have to import it, and hope that customs doesn't seize it. I bet customs would be likely to do that, too.

I don't like censorship because it changes the vision that a development house has for its game. They'll make changes that would have made an impressive game to make sure it sells. I would like to see the rating system improved (and parents be more responsible for what their kids play).
Agreed.

[^ilovebioshock!]

the cencership people keep all the dirty versions of games for themselves(if you know what i mean);) :D

[37inf.div.]

I dont like censorship it's ok on comedy shows but not on something serius like bioshock or a spielburg movie. Us yanks will be fine as long as hillary clinton is elected president.

[Goddy Of War]

G'day. Is anyone else worried about the level that Bioshock may be censored for Euro/Asian/Aussie release? The Australian Gov is still dragging their heels over an R18+ rating for software titles. Such games as Manhunt, Postal 2 and Leisure Suite Larry are only available peer to peer, or through e-bay. Those games that made it through often had chunks missing. It's like probing the spot where a tooth used to be, knowing that there should be something useful there.

Silent Hill was altered for the Aussie release, replacing evil little girl monsters with amorphous blobby things. Fair enough, not a massive hit to the storyline. Anyone remember back to duke nukem? Australia missed out on quite a few npc 's until a patch was released some time later. With the patch installed a whole new level was added to the storyline - women in peril, amusing theatrics and a full stage in the strip club (I originally wondered what the fuss was about).

Will 2K be seriously hacking Bioshock for the tender audience in Oz? If so, would they be making and effort to heal the wound with alternate monsters/clues/storylines?:confused:

Bioshock already has an MA15+ rating. We're safe my fellow Rapture enlightened Aussie ;)

[Poison17]

Bioshock already has an MA15+ rating. We're safe my fellow Rapture enlightened Aussie ;)That quote was from Febuary 3 months before Bioshock got its official Rating, the person that posted before you bumped this thread for some reason.

[BioShockWins]

Bioshock already has an MA15+ rating. We're safe my fellow Rapture enlightened Aussie ;)

bleh!!! If I lived there I could just buy the game for myself! :(

[LordLeckie]

im glad its getting through, censors are such tight arses and i cant wait to see their generation finally die and be replaced.

[PsychotropicPineapples]

Well it's only gonna be an R16 here in NZ. :D We do have an R18 rating(the GTA series, Resident Evil 4, The Punisher, etc.) but it's not too bad as games like Manhunt and Postal 2 were banned altogether here. :rolleyes: