I wonder what must the majority of mainstream Aussie gamers think - do they feel as though their government is too protective of their young minds, taking the stance that the youth aren’t able to make good choices or that they are not insulated enough against violence by stepping in once again with the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV video game by Rockstar? The video game publisher has confirmed that the soon to be released GTA IV will be edited with certain censorship being applied in order for the title to receive a MA15+ rating. This makes the game’s ratings being suitable for those over 15 and not 18 upwards (if the censorship was not applied by the Office of Film and Literature Classification here).

According to the board, its rating also advises consumers that the game is filled with “strong violence, strong coarse language, drug and sexual references” - the very elements that made the Grand Theft Auto series such a hit in the first place in this fallen world which we live in. Rockstar has not yet revealed exactly which segments of the game was cut out for the title to be suitable for 15 year olds - at least by the ratings board’s standards. I guess history has a very strong tendency to repeat itself, where back in 2001 Grand Theft Auto III was refused classification due to the game’s nature which enabled players to chat up prostitutes and have a go at them. An edited version was later released in Australia, followed by a censored version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Will this slow down the sales of GTA IV down under, or will it do just as well as its uncensored counterparts on other continents? I suppose folks won’t mind importing uncensored copies at a higher price in order to extract the full gaming experience for this long awaited title.

Source: Afterdawn

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