ban posts

After swirling rumors regarding Fallout 3 potentially missing an Australian release due to drug-related content, a re-submission to the Classifications Board has resulted in Bethesda's post-apocalyptic RPG getting a green light to release in the land down under, but with some of its content edited.

Published by Zenimax Europe Ltd., Fallout 3 will receive an MA15+ rating due to "Strong violence, drug references and coarse language." The extent to which the game's content has been edited is not known. The reevaluation process is known to last several weeks, but it appears as though the Classifications Board made their decision in just a few days.

An edited version of the game was the subject of other recent rumors, and while not ideal, it's certainly better than not receiving Fallout 3 at all.

Vincent Scheurer, founder of business consultancy Sarassin, recently spoke on video game censorship at the Develop Conference & Expo held in Brighton. GameIndustry.biz reports that, according to Scheuer, the costs involved in Rockstar's overturning of the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) Manhunt 2 ban were so great, an independent developer wouldn't have been able to foot the bill.

"The costs of the Manhunt 2 ban to RockStar were massive - an independent developer would be out of business," said Scheurer. "It makes the business of making games that much harder."

During his talk, Scheurer revealed the specific reasons behind the BBFC's ban of Rockstar's execution-laden Manhunt 2. Specifically, the game's lack of humor, puzzles and, most importantly, its realism, were what caused the Rockstar title to disappear from stores. With those reasons good enough to prevent players from experiencing Manhunt 2, could a BioShock 2 ban be out of the question?

Not if you ask Scheurer. "The next game to be banned could be BioShock 2, and then where would we be?" Scheurer then lauded Tiga for speaking out against the ban, realizing that more than just Manhunt 2 was on the line: today Manhunt 2... tomorrow, BioShock?