Australia gets edited version of GTA 4
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Those “sensitive” types in Australia are at work again; seemingly bent on keeping the content as it was meant to be experienced out of the hands of youths. The ever popular GTA (Grand Theft Auto) series has once again been edited by Rockstar in order to “fit” the Australian market.
Rockstar will be producing a version of GTA IV for the Australian market that has a MA15+ rating and the Office of Film and Literature Classification advises the game contains, “strong violence, strong coarse language, drug and sexual references.”
Well, find me an action title that doesn’t. Almost all of them do, Gears of War, Mass Effect and just about any action title on the Xbox 360. Australia seems to be a bit more sensitive than the US or certain other markets.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, every other GTA title was edited for the Australian market. Rockstar was not willing to say exactly what content was removed from GTA IV so that it would fit in better with Australia’s classification system.
The British, German and New Zealand Government’s assigned the game a rating of R18; it is currently rated as M17+ in the United States.
Grand Theft Auto IV is slated for wide release on April 29 for the US and Australian markets; among others.
Am I the only one thinking that this is a bit hypocritical of Australia, I mean, the population is descended from criminals but I guess the powers that be don’t want history to repeat itself but I’m not sure that applies here. Come on Australia, give your youthful population a break, let them play the violent games as intended!
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April 5th, 2008
dude you’re a freekin bigot.
April 6th, 2008
and you Americans couldn’t figure out why there’s been so many school massacres in the recent years?
April 8th, 2008
The theory of video games being the cause of school massacres in the recent years is rubbish. Millions of copys of GTA, Manhunt GOW, all the action games with heavy violence have been sold and very isolated incidents happened in america. It’s terrible these atrocities had occured, but blaming video games on it is stupid. The persons resonsible for the murders were messed up, had serious mental issues. This, combined with the way society treats outcast was, in my opinion what is responsible for it.
Blaming video games is stupid, we should be blaming ourselves.
April 8th, 2008
I’m not descended from criminals!
I’m descended from vikings who put in honest hardworking days of looting and pillaging!
April 8th, 2008
Me too Bert right on!
But seriously, I can’t believe that we are the only ones that will get a censored version of GTA 4. What a cope out! I’m sick of these old anti-video game activists who seem hell bent on criticising any games that have a little fictitious violence in them. This is not the cause of the worlds problems and diluting such games is useless. It only annoys those of us who lust for a little action and makes Australia’s appear to be naive and ignorant.
April 9th, 2008
for all aussies that dont want the cut version of the game…stop bitching about it and just import the proper release…the games are region free after all
April 9th, 2008
Kevin G: yeah it has nothing to do with everyone owning guns does it. Stop blaming everything else but your shitty culture for your problems.
April 10th, 2008
Jonathan Schlaffer typical american ignorance
‘Am I the only one thinking that this is a bit hypocritical of Australia, I mean, the population is descended from criminals ‘
April 11th, 2008
Fuggler:
Kevin G wasn’t blaming Americans for the ratings in Australia. He was merely standing up for Australia. All you Americans think that your all cool, but is 11,000 people killed annually by guns cool. Thats the figure of how many people where murdered by guns alone in the U.S. in 2007. I don’t know about you, but that is totally brutal. Theres not even 100 people killed by guns in Australia annually.
Also, australia has been brought up by convicts yes, but, we get on much better than Americans it seems, Australias average IQ is higher than Americas. So, is what your saying, is convicts are smarter than normal people?!?
Also, America was discovered by a viking, that explains your gun weilding nature and need for violence.
April 12th, 2008
Listen to any American on a headset online game and compare it with an aussie with a headset online, if you shoot an american that swear at you and have a sook, an aussie says good shot mate, American a violent gun nuts!
April 13th, 2008
america iz doind gud thinks 4 ur concerns.now worry bout ur own country b4 we have 2 blow dat sht up
April 14th, 2008
You aussie suck any ways. Always complaining about how the US is doing, mind your business we don’t care about you anyways. It so sad that your women are leaving you guys for an Indonesian man, it sucks to be you i swear god must really hate Australia. If you can’t hang with GTA 4 why don’t you go ahead a hump some kangaroo and shut up. I hope bush bombs your country
April 15th, 2008
Less then 10% of us may be lucky enough to have decended from convicts. Remember that number 10%. Most of us migrated after federation and WWII. But anyway, america holds 30% of the worlds prison population. Overall americans acount for only 5% of the worlds population. If anyone should have gotten a less violent version of the game it should have been you wankers. That said, it totally sucks that the OFLC are a bunch of old prudes.
April 15th, 2008
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Dsmooth, you are a funny fkr, & I gotta say that I am in Australia, and I am fkn stoked to be in Alliance with America…
Despite what some people say about America, they are a super-power, and like Dsmooth said, they can pretty much just blow up any country they want and they will get away with it… they dont give a fk boy… the UN cant even say sh!t to them.
Anyway, I am just saying that you should all shut the fk up with this Australia vs. America sh!t, cos we are all on the same side.
Now getting back on topic:
I have been told that the only difference between the Australian version and overseas versions is that 1 cut scene has been removed from the game. There should be no differences in actual gameplay whatsoever.
April 28th, 2008
This reminds me of that Australia vs. America war I heard about….somewhere…
But enough of that bullsh!t, I am Australian but I seriously cannot put up with this Australian kiddie video game censorship any longer. What were they thinking?:
“Oh, video games are for kids, we don’t need R18 games because only kids play games after all. This way, we don’t need to invest in R18+ labels to slap onto the cover of a few games.”
Well done, idiots. I feel ashamed to live here. Just give us the fking game like it was made and stop mutilating it.
April 28th, 2008
Australia’s gotta be one of the greatest country’s in the world to live in, we’ve got it all. Before you shoot your mouth off about Aussie culture & mentality you should maybe pull your head out of your ass and see a bit of the world, have you ever been outside of US waters, shit, have you ever been outside your own state…I’v e spent a lot of time in the U.S, nice people, good look’n countryside but fukn ignorant folk and the most baffling & unfounded sence of superiority i’ve come across anywhere in the world, get over yourself bub.
April 29th, 2008
meh…you have an edited game, we got dub…you’re STILL ahead, mates…
April 30th, 2008
Cheers Kev
April 30th, 2008
Australia cops the full brunt of censorship. From having the tightest customs in the world to editing video games. Australia dose this because it is trying not to let everyone elses bullshit in. I don’t agree with the sensorship of this game but really its only being done because we don’t have an R18+ sensorship on video games. The limit is MA15+ so it has to comply with this. This is the game that will mount public pressure to the point where there will soon be R18+. The fact that a 21 year old adult has to put up with missing out on a bit of extra coke snorting and violence because we have a shitload of whinging parents scared that there will be school shootings and car jackings if this game is played by youth. Australia has the tightest gun laws in the world cause of some mental patient shot up 22 people in Tasmania. The public was so quick to jump to conclusions that it was all the guns fault that the prime minister had the choice of bowing to pubic pressure and tightening everything up. Its the same thing with this game. Americans…Australia is not like this! We just have a shitload of people that are scared of becoming America. Scared of their kids coping drive bys. We dont have shit like that here! You can walk at night safe in 90% of Australia! Try do that in America? Thats why parents are scared for their kids! So we will have our R18+ rated games one day and still have a safe country to live in. That dosn’t start wars. That is complying with poloution regulations. That dosn’t have over flowing jails. That dosn’t have major gang problems. That helps and donates to countrys that don’t have oil! Don’t get me wrong American I enjoy your country. You just have too many over opinionated people who don’t realise that there is more to the world then your piece of land.
May 5th, 2008
llew - valid points. as an american who’s spent a lot of time oversees, it’s hard to convince other americans that others DON’T want to become americans. we are a nation built and sustained on fear. the boogeyman is at every corner and if not for the expert leadership of ours, we’d certainly perish a horrible death at the hands of gaming, terrorism, the black plague or whatever the scare-du-jour is. *sarcasm*
May 7th, 2008
Please stop this debate, it’s a useless gesture as the end result is the same as the beginning.
Anyways.. me, living in the UAE.. they said they’re going to ban it, as they’ve already banned Call of Duty 4..
They are complete idiots here.. the government I mean.. They even banned certain dogs from apartments, and limiting them to one per Villa!.. And just so you people know.. since most people who do not live here (most notably Americans, but Europeans and some Australians too).. not every Muslim is a terrorist.. a terrorist is someone who inflicts terror, the Muslim terrorists are extremists, and you might like to know, that there were Christian extremists not more than 60 years ago… Oh well, what ever, Arabs are fairly nice people when you get to know them, I myself would rather not live here (it’s.. EMPTY.. it’s HOLLOW.. no GREENERY like back in Canada).. And NO I am not Muslim. If you’d like to know.. I’m Pagan. Yes the ancient religion dating back to the Romans.
Anyways.. I’ll probably wait till it’s on PC.. then go get it from Canada and bring it back.. (or just get it illegally from Sri Lanka or India LOL)