http://www.classification.gov.au/Ne...IVfirstcomputergameRefusedClassification.aspx

The Acting Director of the Classification Board, Mr Donald McDonald announced today that Saints Row IV was the first computer game in Australia to be Refused Classification under the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games that commenced on 1 January 2013.

The Classification Board classified the game RC (Refused Classification) in accordance with item 1(a) of the National Classification Code and in accordance with the computer games guidelines.

Mr McDonald said the Classification Board had now been applying the new computer games guidelines for almost six months and this was the first game to be refused classification.

The full media release is available on the 2013 Media Releases page.

updated: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/06/an...why-saints-row-iv-was-refused-classification/

 

Tastes like freedom to me.

 

To add, I believe the reason for the ban is implicit drug use and rape (as a reward). Since we don't know the context or even the content, it's hard to say what is meant by that, but it makes me wonder how GTAV will fair.

 

Saints Row is one of the dumbest game series I've ever seen, so frankly I don't think you're missing out on much. Though you should avoid it by choice, not because it's banned by your local moral guardians.

:|

 

I've not played any of the Saints Row games, but I was under the impression that the whole point was that they were so OTT as to be completely ridiculous? Can't imagine GTAV doing any better (not that I've played any of them since San Andreas, mind).

Also, I was convinced at first that this was a statement by Ronald McDonald. Conjured some interesting images.

 

It is, yes. By design. It takes the fact that the kind of game they're creating (and this includes GTA) is inherently ridiculous and leans into that as hard as they possibly can, leading to dildo bats, gangs of furries, and Tron levels.

 

Let's be fair here-

Saint's Row I is quite literally a GTA clone. Serious story. Serious ganster stuff with an open world to mess with.
Saint's Row II is the magnum opus. Sure, there's some ridiculous stuff in the game, but it still maintains a serious facade about gangster violence, even if it ends on a rather ridiculous note. But it's much more subdued and sublmie. The best GTA-like I've ever played next to Vice City.
Saint's Row III is nothing like I or II, it's kind of mediocre, but yes, they went for the "ridiculous" factor, putting it up to 11.
IV looks to be III with the dial on 12. It could be okay, if the gunplay is improved and the missions aren't so dull...

The point is, is this is precedent, I think, that could be bad for certain kinds of games in Aus.

 

Dumb by design is still dumb. Not my thing.

 

That's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. I just needed to point it out in case somehow people didn't already know that.

In any case, Australia needs to stop being ridiculous. Didn't you guys finally create an R18+ rating specifically to avoid this nonsense?

 

Great, I'm gonna have to pirate this motherfucker just to play the entirety of a game I've already bought. My tax dollars at work.

And yeah, there's an R rating now. But the fuckwits calling the shots just used that to stretch out the existing ratings - the current R18 is pretty much the old MA15+ and they're pulling the same old bullshit that got L4D2 and Fallout 3 censored. Which flies directly in the face of the intent of the rating scale change.

Fucking nanny state bullshit.

 

How the fuck do you Aussies put up with this? Im not trying to be a dick, Im honestly baffled. Some jackass in a cheap suit trying to tell me what I can and can't play would drive me nuts. Can you not protest or something? Im seriously asking, I don't know how the system down there works for something like this.

Also for the record I love Saints Row to bits, it's batshit insanity through and through and judging by what Ive seen of IV so far it's only getting better.

 

Saints Row: The Third is Grand Theft Auto IV with all the pretentious bullshit stripped out. It's an absolute fucking masterpiece.

The most surprising thing to me isn't that Saint's Row IV was refused classification in Australia, it's that Australia haven't refused classification for a game in almost six months.

 

It's a ban from Australian retailers stocking the game in it's current form. There'll be an Australian version with the naughty bits purged, and you can still import/be gifted/pirate the complete version with absolutely zero chance of running into any problems whatsoever in doing so.

So it's annoying, and definitely a symptom of a greater problem, but there'll still be SR4 in Australia and only children and idiots won't be able to get access to the full game with a bit of effort if they're so inclined.

 

I'm struggling to see how toning down the world and adding a more interesting/meaningful story and set of characters is "pretentious." Frankly I think that's a far better direction than LEL DILDO BATS SO RANDOM XD!1!

 

As I've already said, SR2 did it right. You should give it a play. It's got a relatively serious story with a lot of great moments. Not nearly as serious as Sleeping Dogs, for instance, but a lot more fun than it, in my experience.

Anyway, GTA takes itself too seriously. That's the issue. In the end, there's a cognitive dissonance. Like, in Sleeping Dogs, you're an undercover cop. It kind of feels weird, letting yourself go loose in that context. It's also a problem when you're tired of the same old guns. Letting you go crazy with a universe lets you throw in odd weapons that are fun to use and difficult to explain in the context of a serious story.

 

I might give the earlier ones a try, but they'd be low on my list. Sorry, but being exposed to the series through Saints Row 3 has really just killed any interest I might've had in it. I was uncomfortable enough with some of the wackier things in San Andreas.

Well I prefer it when things take themselves seriously to the alternative. As for cognitive dissonance and cutting loose, well, I play GTA "weird" according to certain people -- I do my best to keep collateral damage down unless the game really forces me otherwise. It's difficult, yeah, but I prefer that to running bystanders down and shooting them. Did the same in Red Dead Redemption, though it was easier in that game since it's not as crowded as Liberty City.

I guess as a result I didn't have very a tough time transitioning to LA Noire, where a lot of the things common in GTA are discouraged.

Anyway. Australia. You guys' rating systems make America look good for once.

 

So I was wrong. Updated original post.

 

Seriously? Anal probing was the last straw?

 

Hey, aliens are serious business. Wasn't your last prime minister abducted by them or something like that?

 

Not quite last, but yes. The Right Honourable Harold Holt, CH.