Australia bans Fallout 3 but is okay with drug induced game Haze
By Mike Ferro
The Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) recently banned Fallout 3, a seemingly harmless post-apocalyptic game made by Bethesda Software, the creator of Oblivion. This game also
garnered our top spot for the #1 sleeper hit of 2008.
It seems ridiculous why this game would get banned when games like Gears of War, in which you can chainsaw enemies in half through their spines passed their strict MA 15+ classification. Apparently in Australia their highest rating is classified for 15-year olds and above, meaning at the minimum a game has to be suitable for a 15-year old at least.
Apparently according to GameSpot the reason behind why Australia OFLC banned Fallout 3 was because it was beyond went beyond their MA 15+ rating. You maybe wondering exactly what was the content that pushed Fallout 3 beyond the rating, while other gratuitously violent games have skipped across the OFLC?
It was due to realistic portrayal of drug use. It’s not even drug use for the sake of getting high in the game; the drugs used are like morphine which would actually improve performance or health in the game. It’s odd the OFLC didn’t have anything to say about Haze.
Everyone knows the game Haze is centered heavily around drug use and its dependence, yet this game had no issues passing the rating classification. It seems very much like the MPAA the OFLC is run by people who are as consistent as the cable guy.
Not that long ago, if you recall, Dark Sector was banned from Australia, as well as ShellShock 2. However Dark Sector’s ban was reversed due to it receiving a heavy edit, much like Manhunt 2 did.
Most likely Bethesda Software will follow by heavily editing the game and resubmitting it to the OFLC board, but you have to wonder when things like that are changed if the original creativity becomes compromised.
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Tips N4G
July 10th, 2008
Poor Aussies. I guess they’ll just import/download Fallout instead.