Mishy updated his profile status

Oh man, that sucks! I could tell you about censorshipment in Germany: Most shooters are trimmed down. L4D1, too. The sequel will be cut, too.

Wow... just... wow...

That is wrong.

Are there hordes of Zombies with placards outside the govenment buildings, shambling around in a circle protesting against the game? Because your leaders should know that a few well placed head-shots can cure that.

That's a lil odd. O.o

You know what to do. You scour the internet for sites that sell videogames and ship to Australia. Like Videogamesplus.ca. Those guys have a handy region-free section, where you can see all the games at a glance that will work on your australian Xbox. I use them myself from time to time.

http://www.videogamesplus.ca/default.php?currency=AUD&cPath=446_470&sort=2a&&page=1&osCsid=12905c3ad10b1ca987ac74b3c1e292db

That page should take you straight to the region-free section of the 360, and hopefully, will also be toggled to show prices in australian dollars. Just wait until L4D2 is actually released, you might find that it is region-free like the original. Good luck.

Wikipedia says: "Violence is the expression of physical or verbal force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Variant uses of the term refer to the destruction of non-living objects (see property damage).". (Feel free to look up other sources' definitions.)

Man Australia just sucked the blood from the gamers who live there. There are movies in Australia that are bloody, but they don't want video games that are too bloody?

No fair, Australia is falling behind.

I feel sorry for you dude.

Bah have you heard of the australians government plan to censor the internet. By the time they have finished with that train wreak of a plan the only site anyone will be able to access will be a porn website i bet.

Apparently the Australian government is under the impression that their adult population is filled almost exclusively by tards. "Don't hurt your head trying to think about how to raise your children, we'll do it for you. Have a cookie for not shitting your pants so far today!". It's condescending at best and downright terrifying at worst. I'm not up on the current state of civil rights down under, so I have no idea the level of protection the freedom speech is given. Any AU members out there willing to educate a fellow gamer on this issue? Without calling Michael Atkinson a dumbass?

Theirs alot of freedom of speech down under we don't have anything like the brill of rights (although a lot of people think we do morons...) but you don't get chucked in jail for saying anything bad about the prime minister (actually we can him the milky bar kid.

Still, handing over the rating of electronic entertainment over to the government? It gives them control over what you can and can't see. That should be up to the individual.

As an aside, is there a section of Australian law (in your constitution, perhaps) that addresses the freedom of speech, press and so forth?

Technically we are still a colony of england (i think) so i don't know how it works and the whole no +18 rating is only around cause theirs a politician with nothing better to do?

It almost sounds like the Australian government is trying to control the youth population of of its country. Australian teens show try to construct a protest, or a petition to get your rights on electronics.

Its like there trying to control the future of Australia

Education is way better then banning something. This title comes with a mature rating so 17+ or whatever 'mature' is considered in your country, educate people on what this means and who should play and who should not play this title.

Communication goes way further to get people to make the right choices vs telling them "no you can't do that because it's bad for you!"

@CindyL And telling people something is forbidden is just asking them to do it regardless. Adam & Eve wouldn't have taken a second glance at the Tree of Knowledge if God hadn't pointed it out in the first place.

Censorship is wrong in any form. I am going to go see "Zombie-land" in about 1 hour, wanna place the bets when the game for this one comes out? I say when it reaches the $150,000,000 mark.....8^)..

“It certainly does restrict choice to a small degree, but that is the price for keeping this material from children and vulnerable adults. In my view, the small sacrifice is worth it,” said Atkinson.

Michael Atkinson is like a terrifying version of our own Jack Thompson, he actually has power over laws. While Jack just gets a soapbox since he was disbarred, and possibly Utah.

Mishy maybe it's cause I'm from the states that I don't get it, but who would these "vulnerable adults" be? Oh and protect the children, because the US is a hive of scum and villainy the likes of which the world has never seen. All these video gamer rape and murder gangs patrolling the streets, the battle cries of "Nub!" and "Pwned!" keeping the innocents cowering in their bathtubs in the night. If only we'd never played these murder and sex simulators on our Sexboxes...

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

Well it was banned for graphical violence. But i thought in L4D you killed zombies so meh
@ShadowKing23 Nicely put, yes the government seems to like controlling things
@DeathorGlory9 Its funny because that internet censor, blocks all the good sites not the bad and any kid with basic computer exprience can get around it, Proxies ftw! haha

@mykalgaidin As true (or truer) today as it was then.

I heard about this a while ago, something about how it needed to be censored because of excessive violence towards humans infected with a rabies like disease :P

It's dumb really. Gaming in Australia seems awkward.

I think the biggest reason that's been cited is the use of melee weapons. The proximity of the violence being depicted by the player pummeling "Infected Humans" as the ZOMBIES have also been called, is the biggest problem. That is apparently considered more traumatizing that riddling them with bullets when they're just as close chewing on your face. Censorship is a very slippery slope, I hope our Australian gamer brethren can get some more socially intelligent representation.

heh the only reason to ever get into polictics

Mishy - Your Australian Gaming Advocate since 2009, supporting your rights to play excessivly violent games towards zombies lol

Mishy for.. Prime minister down there? I'm not sure. Hey start the Gamers Party, see how far that ride brings ya. Also when it comes to killing zombies the more violent it gets, the more appropriate and informative it is. Valve is just selling the best PSA's ever!

i don't think it actually matters to many people down here left 4 dead wasn't a big release here

Well in greece we dont care about anything....only banned game is Postal...

So it's illegal to go Postal in Greece? >.>

In Germany the zombie comedy hack'n'slash game Dead Rising is banned, Call of Duty games are censored, COD5 for example has no zombie mode and no swastika and reduced violence, Wolfenstein: very reduced violence, no swastika, nazies are now called 'wolfes'. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 gameplay is so drastically changed that you cannot play via xboxlive with people outside Germany if you own the german version. Fallout 3: reduced violence. Gears of War 1+2 have been never released in Germany because of the violence. And the list goes on and on! Most of the games I play are imports from UK!

suck to be you at least you have about 10 countries near you you can import from.

That's right. You can even import from other german-speaking countries Szwitzerland. Austria.

What happens when the border guards catch you coming across from the Netherlands with a copy of Castle Wolfenstein in your pocket?

I import per mail. So nothing happens.

Yeah with banned games its illegal to sell them. LOOPHOLES FTW!

I think the banning games basically means you can't sell them. You're usually allowed to own a copy though. Unless you live in some fascist Zombie loving country where you can't breathe without prior governmental consent.

In any case, there's nothing wrong with your populace knowing how to kill zombies. I mean, what happens if they start shambling over towards your parliament, Mr. Australian Prime Minister? Your population will not know what to do!!! It's all Rudd's fault! Fleeeeeeee!1122

Hmm I didn't know Australia was pro-zombie. It's only a matter of time before they ban Dragon Age unless they really hate dragons.

They aren't pro zombie. They're just anti zombie table manners. They also censor the news when the zombies attack because nobody wants to see a zombie eating. They would probably do the same with footage of a dragon eating.

Damn those zombies and their bad table manners, we need to get them bibs so the Aussies will unban the game, those zombies are so uncivilized.

lol next time I'll drop the N on dam.

@DarthOdium Or they ban Sonic games because they are against games that suck. With the exception of Dark Brotherhood.

@mykalgaidin LOL that would be funny. Australia creates "B.A.G. Bad Australian Games" and teams with M.A.D.D. to prevent bad games from making to Australia.

Australian Game Gore Repression Organization, or A.G.G.R.O.

lol nice new acronyms

I don't think Dragon Age will be banned, if they let people pre order it, its also been screened. Its rated MA 15+

@Mishy yeah I read your reply about pre-ordering in the forums after I posted here. So you can kill dragons but zombies are a no.

Is it a problem with what you're killing, or with what's eating you? I can see a dragon game being more likely to be let in if the dragon doesn't eat you after it wins.

they just said because of graphical violence so im assuming because you kill them

You don't just kill them. You splat them by dropping a vending machine down the stairs.

thats gory? jeez the government is outta touch lol

It's funny that our respective governments get all up in arms about young people playing violent video games but have absolutely no problem sending them to another country where they're forced to kill their fellow human beings.

Wait, I didn't mean "funny". I meant "totally f*cked up".

/agree on that one

That's right. We train them to drop fire on people, but they can't write "@#$%^$" on the bombs because it's obscene.