Australia's Ban On Mature Games Lifted

Gamers of Australia rejoice! After several years of debate, indecision and, let's face it, a tiny bit of stubborn attitude, Federal Parliament has now added R18+ to the video game classification system. In the past, games that had been classified as R18+ in other places around the world had to be heavily censored to fit the MA15+ rating, which was the highest in Australia. Games like Left 4 Dead 2 were modified to the point that they were practically a different game, in terms of effects at least. Here is an old video to give you an example of the version of Left 4 Dead 2 that Australia has versus the version that everyone else has.



Pretty different, right? Not to condone or encourage violence or anything, but technically the Aussies were getting jipped out of quite a few things in the game. Not anymore, though. Now, every game that receives an R18+ rating in the UK and the rest of Europe will be available to gamers in Australia, unedited, unmodified, kept pure, however you want to say it. To quote Senator Brandis of Australia:

The passage of this bill will no doubt be welcomed by adult gamers all across Australia. The industry has been waiting for this change for some time.I'm sure there are plenty of Australian gamers right here on TA, let alone the rest of the internet, who would no doubt agree with that statement wholeheartedly.

Let the celebrations commence!