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Valve fails in appealing Left 4 Dead 2's Australian ban
Valve has failed in appealing the Australian Classification Board's ban of the uncensored version of Left 4 Dead 2. The group refused to grant the sequel with an MA15+ rating -- Australia's highest -- after determining that the title had "high impact violence" against "living humans infected with a rabies-like virus," and "graphic depictions of blood and gore."
All is not lost for aspiring zombie hunters in the land down under, though; Valve submitted and obtained MA15+ classification for an edited version of Left 4 Dead 2. While the censored game will be quite watered down, with no depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, wound detail, or piles of bodies lying about the environment, I assume it's better than not launching at all.
Left 4 Dead 2 is slated for a November 17 release on PC and Xbox 360, and a demo will arrive on November 3 (those who pre-ordered have access to the demo from October 27).
All is not lost for aspiring zombie hunters in the land down under, though; Valve submitted and obtained MA15+ classification for an edited version of Left 4 Dead 2. While the censored game will be quite watered down, with no depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, wound detail, or piles of bodies lying about the environment, I assume it's better than not launching at all.
Left 4 Dead 2 is slated for a November 17 release on PC and Xbox 360, and a demo will arrive on November 3 (those who pre-ordered have access to the demo from October 27).
User Comments (23)
Post a comment| TomSEA on October 22, 2009 12:23 PM | LOL...this blows me away (pun intended). I wonder how many copies Valve will end up selling of a game where you shoot zombies, but nothing happens. :p |
| Burty117 on October 22, 2009 12:37 PM | lol! "quite watered down, with no depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, wound detail, or piles of bodies lying about the environment" - so basically its literally nothing? like not even joking!? i own left4dead and if its that watered down, what do you actually do? |
| Guest on October 22, 2009 1:21 PM | I don't understand this at all. Why doesn't Valve just give the Australian government the bird and not do an Aussie release, and instead, make it regionless? Then Aussie's can buy their copy through online retailers overseas, and Valve can make the local retailers go after the legislators. Stupid censors. |
| Guest on October 22, 2009 1:36 PM | lol oh well **** it its only in australia so who cares unless u live der .... |
| Relic on October 22, 2009 1:58 PM | Is this really surprising? Australia is known for there harsh censorship (harshest of any western society imo) and has been doing this for years. And I'm not sure that would even work Guest, given that they've been trying (and failing) to censor everything coming in Australia internet wise. |
| Guest on October 22, 2009 3:18 PM | Wow. Are there any Aussies reading this? I'd like to hear your all's opinion on this. I would be pretty f!$@ing mad at my government. |
| Classic Rock on October 22, 2009 7:08 PM | I'm an Aussie, and I bloody hate it. God Damn those stupid,
self rightous, inbred bastards. Next thing you bloody know
guns will be banned in videogames as well, and if by some
mirracle they aren't they won't shoot bullets any more,
they'll make a kissing sound, and bake a F***ing cake for
the target. Do you know that it is now illegal to own a bloody REPLICA firearm in Australia?!?!?! If you have one, it's classed as a real gun! Brilliant. Cap guns are next. Soon kitchen knives are going to be too dangerous for us simple minded civililans to use. God Damn the F***ing Government! |
| TomSEA on October 22, 2009 7:24 PM | So I guess we can all agree that Classic Rock is mildly
ticked off.  And definitely deservedly so. I'd be having a coronary and applying for an employment visa in another country if I was dealing with that level of government control. |
| Guest on October 23, 2009 8:31 AM | I"m an Aussie and I agree with the ban. I don't understand
why society wants to see the horrible depictions of damage
caused to the body. I play Left 4 Dead and I think it's too
graphic as it is. Even with hardly any blood I find hte gameplay more than enough to keep me playing. |
| Nirkon on October 23, 2009 8:48 AM | What do you mean? they don't shoot rabies-infected humans in Australia? |
| JenTok on October 23, 2009 8:54 AM | Australia not being able to kill zombie wow that like having a bacon sandwich but no bacon... |
| Zeromus on October 23, 2009 3:38 PM | Instead of a BLT, just L |
| Guest on October 24, 2009 4:43 PM | lets just play neighbours then eh! ffs... |
| red1776 on October 25, 2009 2:28 AM | this really isn't a issue of where...just what. so how about this?....ban and make illegal anything the slightest bit controversial, or the least bit offensive. then you will have no crime or distastefulness... of course you wont have any freedom....but who cares about that!? |
| Guest on October 26, 2009 5:23 PM | I'll assume that Valve has tried submitting a version with the word Infected switched with Zombie... |
| Guest on October 26, 2009 11:01 PM | "I"m an Aussie and I agree with the ban. I don't understand
why society wants to see the horrible depictions of damage
caused to the body. I play Left 4 Dead and I think it's too
graphic as it is. Even with hardly any blood I find hte gameplay more than enough to keep me playing. " i suggest you push for book bans as well. many distasteful things are in books as well. many books are filled with horrible depictions of all sorts of suffering and depravity. might as well legislate taste across the board! .... seriously though...australia needs to get with the program and stop censorship and legislation through moral panic. |
| Guest on October 28, 2009 6:11 PM | To all the Aussies, dudes check this ous: your gov't says you can't do this. Uuuugh, right. OK. Soooo, who gives a rat's ***?! You can still download the uncensored version and play it all you want. Like, come on, who cares!! Do not understand what's all the hub bub. Download and have fun. It is a different matter that I indeed think there is way too much violence in everything today, but that is like I said, a matter for a separate discussion. There has never been, and never will be, a government out there that will tell me what I can and can not do, and that I will actually do what they tell me! Hah!! Funny. |
| kharis on October 28, 2009 10:14 PM | The demo has been released today and there is some footage of the censored version on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGCADuPYKM0 it's quite ridiculous as far as i'm concerned. Luckily for me I have a friend in the US who was happy to send me a gift copy and hence I can have as much gore as I like. Being a 31 year old female gamer I should have the right to choose what games I play and not be restricted to games that are rated to 15 year old gamers. |
| red1776 on October 28, 2009 10:32 PM | To all the Aussies, dudes check this
ous: your gov't says you can't do this. Uuuugh, right. OK.
Soooo, who gives a rat's ***?! You can still download the
uncensored version and play it all you want. Like, come on,
who cares!! Do not understand what's all the hub bub.
Download and have fun. It is a different matter that I
indeed think there is way too much violence in everything
today, but that is like I said, a matter for a separate
discussion. There has never been, and never will be, a
government out there that will tell me what I can and can
not do, and that I will actually do what they tell me! Hah!!
Funny. There are only three possible scenarios to
that ridiculous screed. 1) you live on your own undiscovered
island. 2) you are twelve years old, or 3) you are full of
it.do you pay taxes on anything you buy? do you drive the speed limit, or slow down when you see a cop? pay property taxes? go to school or send your kids to school? the list goes on infinitely. no, no, you are doing what the government tells you to do in many ways, even thought you fancy yourself some sort of renegade. with an attitude like yours, by the time your kids have kids, people in dark suits will be showing up at their doorstep for 'inspections'..... oh yeah....read your (or your parents bill) for internet service....see the line items marked 'tax' or 'fee' ? power to the people, rebel without a clue. |
| Guest on November 2, 2009 1:15 AM | What a bunch of ****heads to the guys who shut the uncensored version down. How am I supposed to enjoy the game with just a tiny little blood splatter??? I mean, what is it even helping?? Because we can get the uncensored version of the game from overseas for cheaper anyway. How have they stopped minors from getting the game, I'm 15 and I have an ebay account so haha dickheads!!!! |
| sushrukh on November 2, 2009 3:38 AM | So I guess we can all agree that Classic Rock is mildly
ticked off. And definitely deservedly so. I'd be having a coronary and applying for an employment visa in another country if I was dealing with that level of government control. |
| lardy1664 on November 4, 2009 6:00 PM | I play L4D alot in the UK and was just wondering what
happens to the piles of dead zombies in the dumbed down
version that Valve have had passed. Do they just disappear in a puff of white smoke and fairy dust once you've shot them so as to not upset players. God for-bid anyone has a sleepless night after playing this. |
| Guest on November 8, 2009 7:33 AM | If i got a sleepless night from l4d2 it'd because of a tank just bursting through a door infront of me not a fountain of blood from a common infected who just got blasted to bits |
