You think GTA IV has an interesting and meaningful story full of subtext and allegory and witty social commentary. That's cool, but I completely disagree. I think GTA IV is a half-assed gritty reboot for a series that didn't need it and frankly can't support it. GTA is now a series where you mow down a hundred pedestrians on your way to a mission (thanks to the horrible vehicle handling) where a cutscene plays to tell you how much the main character hates violence. It's ridiculous, and yet Rockstar don't appear to realise it.

Volition do realise how absurd GTA has become - and they're revelling in it. SR:TT isn't just a bunch of 'random' things smashed together for the lulz, it's all the best, most fun bits of GTA added together and amped up. It's a parody of what GTA has turned itself into and a reminder of how much fun sandbox games used to be.

Yes, Saint's Row has giant purple dildo bats. Yes, a fully upgraded gas grenade becomes a Fart in a Jar. But it has the brilliant skydiving assault on the Morningstar base. It has the genius pro-wrestling themed boss fight against Killbane. It has a minigame where you have to punch a tiger while driving it around town to conquer your fear. The final mission takes place to the tune of I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler! It's a game absolutely full of genuine fun.

I just can't say that about Grand Theft Auto. Not anymore.

 

LOL

/tenchar

 

How can people take stuff like that seriously?

It would be like banning Superman because it showed Lex Luthor performing acts of terrorism. By it's own absurdity it has transcended any kind of need for context or justification.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that, in writing such a detailed description of the anal probe, these stuffed shirts made it kind of obvious that they're intimately familiar with the concept because they already have their heads lodged irretrievably deep within their own asses?

Still, thank god the Australian people are being protected from (awesomely) sophomoric video games, and women with modest tatas. :facepalm

In related news, we're busy modifying the Statue of Liberty to add some lines about giving us 'your video games, R-rated... your of-age A-cups yearning to breathe free.'

 

But what if a child saw it? They wouldn't be able to tell reality from fantasy and they would fantasize sticking people in the ass with an anal probe, corrupting them and turning them into gay deranged psychopathic anally devastating murderers.

We must protect the children.

And you can't say "children couldn't get it without an adult buying it" because we know adults buy their children anything they ask for. The government is simply doing what is necessary to protect children from their parents that don't know well enough to protect their children from the evil that is violent video games.

Besides, it's called Saints Row! Such a misleading title could tempt a god-loving parent into purchasing it for their pious little one.

 

State of Decay refused classification due to depiction of drug use. lulz So funny to read to reactions

 

Yeah. State of Decay. Zombie game. I love zombies, duh, so I wanted to play the shit out of it. Looked forward to coming home from uni and playing it all week now that classes are over. THEN I FOUND OUT.

Fuck you, Australia. First you censor Left 4 Dead 2. You make R18+ label, finally, to avoid this stuff, but you still don't follow through. For example, The Walking Dead game from Telltale? We got the full game version six months later, and didn't get the episodes that make it up at all, until the full game was out. So, like a year late, overall. And now State of Decay is prolly coming in what, October? Or not at all? Not for violence this time, but drug use? Fallout 3/NV all over again?

Fucking hell, Australia. The sooner I'm out of you, the better.

 

The nanny-state bullshit is an acceptable price to pay for living in pretty much the only first-world country to be riding out the economic turmoil. And as long as any attempts to control the internet and stamped down, it's never more than an annoyance.

 

I've seem your bread and milk prices, they seemed pretty damn high to me.

 

So much this.

 

If Australia is doing so well why does it cost $80-120 Australian dollars for the same video games in the US? Maybe it's doing okay in some ways, but I don't believe there's a bastion in these times. Also, your internet sucks hard - throttled bandwidth and charges if you go over a limit. Just as bad an infrastructure as the US, too.

 

But we have public health care, extensive welfare nets, and not a big unemployment problem.

And our net is actually not that bad at all, compared to places like NZ.

Regardless, this argument is dumb. It's not relevant to the discussion.

Also, a big part of higher prices over here, is because we have GST, general sales tax, which is at around 15%

 

Your economy is doing fine compared to the rest of the West, but if your housing market pops then you'll be in for a world of hurt. Real estate in AU is ridiculous from everything I've seen in the last few years, and it seems like it's one good blip from falling like a house of cards.

 

Hoo boy yes. Once that bubble pops it's time to head for the emergency bunkers sharpish, because it's gonna get Mad Max up in this bitch.

 

It's not so much an alternative as it is a sliding scale. There's a difference between a game that takes itself seriously and a game that sticks a periscope between it's legs and gazes longingly up it's own rectum. A lot of recent games have had a tendency towards the anus-gazing side of the scale. GTA is one of them. Bioshock Infinite is another, though that at least can be forgiven on the grounds that it's also fantastic.

Games can be serious. Some games should be. Some games would have been better if they had taken themselves more seriously.

But we also need games like Blood Dragon, where I can knife a laser dragon to death and shoot death-rays out of my hands while listening to a soundtrack from the boarderlands between Broken Arrow and Tron.

I'm not picking a side. But I am saying that if I have to choose between playing Sopranos: The Game and chasing Juggalos down the street with a dildo bat while dressed in a chicken costume, I know which one I'll be doing.

 

You are not alone... The game also got shut down here in Germany- and we have an 18+ category.
I will never understand the minds of those regulators.