Mortal Kombat Australia "official" thread.

[Trogdor1138]

Search button approved.

I thought I'd make a topic to have anybody interested in MK's status over here be able to check this thread. Maybe there are sites to share that offer imports or if you know of any updates on the appeal they're currently working on?

I'm looking forward to this game a lot, I've noticed that Play Asia isn't offering to import now and ozgameshop cancelled it too. Game UK still has it up, but who knows what will happen in the next month, will wait to explore my options and decide the best way to go about it.

I'm really hoping this appeal goes through, if so I'll probably import the game any way because fuck our prices, especially tempting with the American collectors edition, the collectors strategy guide sounds really good too.

Australia... Feels bad man.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Any appeal will have to be after the NSW state election in two weeks, plus however long it takes for them to finish the mucking around after that.

Having said that, "meh".

 

[StormShaun]

I "was" looking forward to it but I got other games to play/get like Dragon Age 2 or Crysis 2..

 

[Gentleman_Reptile]

Hey Australias rating board? Can you hear me? Good, oh and this goes for you too religious zealots and all mothers channeling the essence of Helen Lovejoy.

Remember the Punisher game? No? I didnt think so. Well that game was made by Volition and originally released in Australia on the PS2 a few years ago (not terribly long after the release of the first Manhunt if I'm not mistaken), and it was approximately five hundred thousand times more sadistically brutal than Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, Left 4 Dead 2 or Alien Vs Predator combined. In the long run, I'd be willing to say it was even more violent and brutal than the upcoming MK game.

It was rated AO18+ in America, but Australia managed to secure the exact same version, except according to us, 18 year olds are not 18 year olds. 18 year olds are also 15 year olds.

You actively controlled the distance between the drill tip and the screaming mans eye as he begged for his life, and the game flat out told you that you had to put the fear of death into your enemies to get the advantage in gameplay.

Guns, knives, bottles, bricks, bats, swords, garbage presses, pirahnas, power tools, jet exauhsts, curb stomps, woodchippers, snakes, sharks, rhinos, lazers and deep fryer oil just to name a few......the game was absolutely savage and was a shining example of everything that is said to be "wrong" with those darned videogames according to people who obviously have never studied them more extensively than ten minutes on Google (it was also an example of an extremely well made and fun game, especially for something that could be classed as a tie-in).

Now what I would like to know, is how a game like The Punisher, that bluntly encourages virtual torture and death, can make it through the censors with no changes that werent also applied to releases in all other countries yet a new Mortal Kombat game, a series that prides itself on its reputation for gore and has done for over a decade, is all of a sudden so violent that we cant have it?

Australian censors are fail.

 

[[Insert Name Here]]

Hooray for Democracy, right? Now, I'm off to blast someone's limbs off in New Vegas.

 

[Trogdor1138]

Just letting everybody know, apparently the appeal failed

It's also apparently illegal to import, but 99% of the stuff goes through anyway, customs have much more to worry about, but there's a chance it could happen. I'm thinking it'd be better to wait a month or so after the launch before getting it through incase they're on the lookout. Whatever seems best.

I'll still be buying the collectors strategy guide, since I assume they haven't banned that... Yet

 

[gentleben]

Aussie customs to seize Mortal Kombat imports

Australian Customs and Border Protection Service adds refused classification fighter to blacklist; copies detected to be confiscated, fines up to A$110,000 issued.

The Australian gaming population fired up overnight, with news coming in yesterday afternoon that the Australian Classification Board (ACB) had decided to uphold the decision to slap a refused classification (RC) rating to fighting game Mortal Kombat. A game which has been RCed is illegal to promote or sell in Australia, meaning the title is effectively banned Down Under. And for those considering importing the game to circumvent the ban, it seems the Australian authorities are already on the lookout and ready to stop copies from reaching the nation.

GameSpot AU spoke with an Australian Customs and Border Protection Service spokesperson, who confirmed that the service had added Mortal Kombat to its list of prohibited items. The spokesperson said attempting to import Mortal Kombat is indeed illegal as it breaches the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956.

"As Mortal Kombat has been refused classification in Australia it is considered objectionable material. It is therefore a prohibited good, and illegal to import into Australia," the spokesperson said. "Customs and Border Protection works closely with Attorney General?s Department to identify imported games that are banned in Australia. This includes games purchased over the internet from foreign websites. Attorney General?s Department regularly updates Customs and Border Protection about classification decisions on publications, films and computer games, including the reclassification of material, and about different versions of computer games (some of which may be refused classification), and how to identify those versions at the border. This information is then used to assist in identifying and seizing banned versions of games.

"Any copies of the games detected at the border, including via international mail, will be seized."

The Customs spokesperson said someone caught trying to import RCed games into Australia could expect a fine of up to three times the value of the product, or A$110,000, which ever is greater.

http://au.gamespot.com/pages/news/story.php?sid=6303984

Customs are now blocking any attempt to import the game from anywhere else. This is the greatest length I've seen them go to yet.

 

[Yassen]

Frankly I doubted this ever had a chance of getting through anyway, not due to the violence and gore but due to it's reputation of violence and gore. Even people who don't play games know about Mortal Kombat and what it contains. Obscure titles with more horrifying gore have gotten through fine here and I'm willing to bet it's because they didn't search too hard through it and simply went by its reputation and whatever they were told it would include.

This was what went wrong with Left 4 Dead 2. Valve assumed that because the first got through fine that they wouldn't need to watch too closely what they were presenting to the board. They made the mistake of talking about using first-person melee weapons against human like opponents and that sealed the games fate.

But frankly I don't think there was anything the developers could have done against the simple bias that is rampant in the classification board and its unbelievable lack of consistentcy. As has been said time and time again there needs to be a complete revamp of our classification system but that won't happen because A) It's a lot of work and B) They probably don't care that much about it anyway.

Frankly I'm not sure there's much else we can do except hope the Attorney Generals pull their head out their arses. As sad as this is, control of this is now out of our hands.

 

[pdgeorge]

This is bloody ridiculous, all of it.

If it was an online game where they couldn't do crap about it (that is, a game you could download off the internet) they wouldn't even be saying crap like this.

Ratings boards, politicians and other idiotic dill weeds, it's their FAULT that video games are more expensive in Australia and that they come out later then the rest of the world!
It's their fault we are losing potential jobs for a game making industry and also potential retail jobs as people are forced to import a lot of games since it's cheaper and faster in a lot of cases.

Then again, we have to be honest with ourselves. Politicians don't give a flying crap about video games. They don't KNOW anything about it, even the rating board that's expected to know a lot about games don't play the games, they just read reviews and use hear-say BS "Oh we were told it's scary... so ban it" so the truth is unless gamers make sure politicians know "We care about this and we will actively fight against you if you continue to fight against us" none of this will change. Games will continue to be treated as something worthless which can easily be used as any politicians 'evil' they wish to fight to earn more votes. I wouldn't be surprised if one day some fool runs on the platform "Let's ban all video games that are M15+ or above!"

 

[Saelune]

I dont see why people are treating MK more special than any other game Nazi Australia Ratings Board has banned. Hell, even less strict places would not be surprising to ban MK. Do remember games now have ratings mostly BECAUSE of MK.

 

[johnnnny guitar]

Hahahahaha it?s great cause this is no longer a problem for me I just import my games from overseas with advantages

1. If it's censored here I can get the original version or better yet a special edition that wasn't realest here IM LOOKING AT YOU FALLOUT 3!!! yes we got the bobblehead edition but there was so much more that we missed out on.

2. It's cheaper, games that you can buy online are 40 to 50 dollars cheaper than the aussie releases E.G. killzone 3 average Online price $50(but I saw it as low as $30) Ebgames price $108.

3.Another advantage is not having to deal with the stores I HATE GOING TO EB AND GAME THEY SUCK
Game has some good prices but the people I have to deal with are really annoying.
EB SUCKS!!! Because their prices are really outrages MW2 IS STILL $80.


Oh well all I need now is to figure out which one to get Xbox or PS3
PS3 GETS KRATOS HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

 

[johnnnny guitar]

WOW that's never really happened before usally the just say that and nothing ever happens
owell I'm still importing from Ebay nothings going to happen

Im talking about Dr.Mcd's post BTW

 

[Jelly ^.^]

hmm, well New Zealand customs will probably be all over imports, but there are a few good British EBay sellers who ship exclusively to Australia.

$110,000 fine or 3 times the amount being imported? Excellent, let's round up 33,000 copies and try to get them over the border. It's got to be worth a shot. Lol.

 

[MrNickster]

Yeah, the Aussie Ratings Board is completely broken. for a littlecontrast, lets see what gets through and what doesn't.

MadWorld, a game that is exactly what ant-game activists are always banging on about. It's extremely violent, has gratuitous blood and gore, gives you more points based on how brutally you eviscerate an opponent AND it was on the Wii, the family friendly console. It got through fine.

Soldier of Fortune, a game featuring explicit dismemberment, evisceration and enemies dying horribly by your hand. It got through fine.

Bulletstorm, another game based around rewarding the player by giving them money based on how savagely and unecessarily cruelly they slaughter an enemy. It got through fine.

Left 4 Dead 2, a game featuring grizly, detailed wounds on zombies, just like its predecessor did-BANNED.

Mortal Kombat, a reboot of the franchise with no more gore then its previous, uncensored predecessors-BANNED.

When the Attorney Generals FINALLY fix this problem (But don't count on it being anytime this year), Australia's classification system will be remebered as a joke and our Attorney Generals complete and utter imbiciles.

 

[Layz92]

To be fair the game did wash all the colour out and make the camera swing away when you actually committed the act in most cases (I have the game and still play it and enjoy it). Personally I don't care all that much about MK games but I do care about the damn lack of 18+ rating. Yes I am Australian BTW.

 

[Joel Soh]

A thought, if there was a downloadable version of MK9 on the USA/PK/JPN PSN, could Australia get the game?

Hardly policable.
Probably still illegal though right...?

 

[Trogdor1138]

A thought, if there was a downloadable version of MK9 on the USA/PK/JPN PSN, could Australia get the game?

Hardly policable.
Probably still illegal though right...?

This would be possible I believe, if you had an American PSN account and such, which I obviously didn't use to download the demo earlier today and be in awe of how much more we're getting ripped off than I thought with prices and content.

 

[ten.to.ten]

Just letting everybody know, apparently the appeal failed

It's also apparently illegal to import, but 99% of the stuff goes through anyway, customs have much more to worry about, but there's a chance it could happen. I'm thinking it'd be better to wait a month or so after the launch before getting it through incase they're on the lookout. Whatever seems best.

I'll still be buying the collectors strategy guide, since I assume they haven't banned that... Yet

It's only illegal to import if you're from Western Australia, otherwise it's perfectly legal to own RC content, as long as it doesn't violate any other laws (like child pornography). You just can't order it to distribute to other people, or something like that.

I know the government has been fucking around with the R18+ rating for games for a long, long time now but I heard on some ABC show (might have been the news, might have been Good Game, can't remember) that in June or July the federal government wants to sort out an R18+ rating for games once and for all, and if the states and territories can't agree the Home Affairs Minister was saying that the federal government will look at alternatives, like completely overhauling classification laws.

In the mean time, just order it online from Asia or America, it'll be much cheaper anyway.

 

[Tyro Seri]

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43381.html

heres a link for a petition to get the ban on Mortal Kombat removed, and to introduce a R18+ rating to the Australian game ratings.