australia posts

In less than 36 hours what could be the biggest PC game of 2010 in terms of sales is due for release, and it's not Tron Evolution. You can check out the coverage of World of Warcraft Catalysm over at our sister site WoW Insider.

• Speaking of that game you can now check out the newly launched official World of Warcraft community page.
• Australia is one step closer to having an adults rating for PC and console games ... maybe.
• That previously announced Red Faction TV movie on Syfy starts filming in January and will be broadcast in May.
• Check out some hardcore Super Meat Boy level runs.
• While PC gamers await the release of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, there's a survey asking people about features for the next game.
• Natural Selection 2 has a new patch for its beta users.
• A minor patch for Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II is due for release Monday.

Australia has become something of a whipping boy (whipping country? continent?) for the game industry. Thanks to the government-run game ratings system lots of titles with adult content have been banned for sale due to Australia's lack of a adult-style ratings for games (although a number of games that were banned have released edited versions in that country).

The latest game that won't be making an appearance in Australia is All Points Bulletin (APB). However Kotaku Australia not because the government has banned the upcoming urban themed MMO FPS. It's because the game's developer Realtime Worlds has no plans to offer a local Australian server for the game which is needed for players in that country to have an acceptable online experience. There's no word as to why Realtime Worlds won't have a local server for the game.

It is now officially a record year in Australia for the number of games that have been refused classification by that country's ratings board. Aliens Vs Predator, the upcoming first person shooter from developer Rebellion and publisher Sega, has now become the sixth game to not receive a rating from the country's Classification Board, which means the game cannot be sold or displayed in Australia. It's likely that the violent content in the game was the reason for the decision.

Just a few days ago, the free-to-play FPS CrimeCraft was also refused a rating in Australia for its drug references. Three other games that were banned (Necrovision, Left 4 Dead 2 and the WiiWare game Sexy Poker) have since been given a rating by the country's classification board after edits were made to each title. One other game, the RPG title Risen, has not yet provided an edited version and as such remains banned for sale in that country.

[Via Kotaku]

Australia's video game ratings board have yet again denied to rate a PC game effectively banning the game from sale in that country. The latest title is CrimeCraft, the first person shooter MMO from developer/publisher Vogster Entertainment. After beginning its life in the US as a retail title with a monthly fee, Vogster has since switched over to a free-to-play business model for the game.

It's currently unknown why CrimeCraft was not given a rating in Australia although we are betting the title's violent content has something to do with it. As the web site Refused-Classification.com points out CrimeCraft is the fifth game title to be denied a rating in that country in 2009. Three of those games (Necrovision, Left 4 Dead 2 and the WiiWare game Sexy Poker) have since been given a rating by the country's classification board after edits were made to each title. The other game, the RPG title Risen, is still banned for sale in Australia.

Download the CrimeCraft Install Client (2 GB)

Sometimes you have to know when to hold them and also know when to fold them (we read that somewhere). In this case the folding goes over to Sega who confirmed to our sister site Joystiq that they don't plan to sell their upcoming first person shooter Aliens Vs Predator in Germany.

According to Sega, the Rebellion-developed game would have to have its expected violent content edited to be sold in the always strict country but in the end they decided not to bother, saying such changes "would harm the gameplay experience." And what about Australia, which also has a tendency to ban games with very violent themes? Sega says that so far there's no word from that country's ratings board. Aliens Vs Predator will likely get an "M" rating from the US-based ESRB when it's released sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

Modern Warfare 2 hasn't had the best publicity in the last couple of weeks. First there was the whole issue with Infinity Ward dumping dedicated servers for the upcoming first person shooter. Then there was the reveal of the highly controversial scene in the game (which we won't reveal in this post; head here to read the specifics).

The game was already rated as MA 15+ in Australia and therefore cleared to be sold in that country. However the early reveal of THAT SCENE has caused a media watchdog group in that country to ask the ratings board to reconsider that decision. According to the Sydney Morning Herald web site, Jane Roberts, the president of the Australian Council on Children and the Media, stated her displeasure at THAT SCENE, saying, "We understand that it's a game but ... we're not far off when you look at the images that you could actually put it on a Channel Nine news report and you'd think maybe that is real."

Oh, Australia. You with your shrimp on the barbie, your Great Barrier Reef and your wonky government run game ratings system. However, the latest game screw-up in your country has nothing to do with your ratings system. However it does show that even digital downloads get things wrong.

Games On Net reports that Australian users of Steam were accidentally given a "low violence" version of Gearbox Software's just released shooter Borderlands for the game's pre-load installation. However the country's ratings board gave the go-ahead for the unedited version of the game to be released. Since the game isn't due to be released internationally for a few more days there's still time to correct the issue before Borderlands unlocks for Australian games. And having started to play the final and full version of Borderlands . . . well, trust us Australia; you really do want all the added violence.

While expected it's also disappointing to hear that Australia's game ratings system has refused to lift their ban on the original version of Left 4 Dead 2. Valve's zombie co-op shooter sequel was denied a rating by the board in its original form a number of weeks ago, which makes that version of the game unavailable for sale in that country.

Valve tried to get the board to reconsider while at the same time getting them to approve a censored version of the game that will now be sold in Australia under their MA 15+ rating. However, the original version, according to the board, has violence that is "high in impact, prolonged, repeated frequently and realistic within the context of the game." The board also felt the game's visuals did not make the distinction wide enough between the human characters and the regular run-of-the-mill zombies. Therefore the original version "could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification."

You may remember a while ago that the wonky Australian game ratings system allowed MMO titles like World of Warcraft to be sold in stores in that country, even though the ratings system never assigned such games with a rating. Normally such a situation would have banned a game from being sold. Now GameSpot is reporting that has changed for World of Warcraft and its two expansion pack as they have all received an "M" rating with an extra note saying "online content variable."

The game's publisher Blizzard stated that they have been trying to get the game rated in Australia since World of Warcraft's release in 2004 and that "recent changes" in the ratings board have allowed such titles to receive a rating. However the Australian Classification Board isn't talking about those changes, saying only, "The Classification Board has been following developments in online gaming."

Gamers in Australia can breath easy. It looks like they will indeed be getting some version of Left 4 Dead 2. The original version of Valve's zombie co-op shooter sequel was denied a rating by the country's ratings board, which effectively bans the game from being sold. However, the board has shown on its web site that the game has now the MA 15+ rating, the current highest level that a game can get in that country.

It's likely that the MA15 + rating was given to the edited version that Valve submitted to the board. However they are also still appealing the original decision to deny the unedited Left 4 Dead 2 a rating. That decision is expected to be made by the board later this month.

[Via Kotaku]