My reaction to Mortal Kombat being banned in Australia

Well if you didn't know, I'm Australian and Mortal Kombat got banned here. Probably don't care because you'll be able to play it, but regardless of what people think or care I decided to give my opinion about it.

Personally I agree with the decision... under the current guideliness of the Classification Board. I mean look at it. There is no way it's going to pass with an MA15+ with all the explicit violence in it. I am pissed off about it being banned admittedly and I want to get the game but I can seem to find a website that will send it to me because of it's banning, and then there's the chance my PSN account could get banned because of playing it in Australia. A lose-lose situation as you can see.

Now when you look at why they denied it classification it's justifiable because of the x-ray attacks and the fatalities. The games fatalities feature dismemberment, disemboweling, decaptitation and other forms of slaughter. Now because it's using realistic graphics, this was enough for it to get denied.

Now I'd like to know what happened to Friendships, Animalities and Babalities? I miss those so much, don't you? I mean come on, in a world with online multiplayer why forgo these? I think it'd be awesome to beat someone and then turn them into a baby if they think they're awesome or do a Friendship finisher when I beat a newcomer who's not very skilled. As for Animalities it was just cool to have an animal form finish the opponent.

Now the SCAG(Standing Council of Attorney Generals) meeting to determine the R18+ in Australia isn't until July thanks to the NSW state election on the 26th of March so I thought of a solution I want Australian readers to do. Send emails, tweets, Facebook messages, whatever to Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment(WBIE) telling them to just release it after the meeting with all the DLC released at that point for free with it. There's a pretty good chance they'll listen if enough people tell them this. Please don't bother abusing the Classifcation Board or the members of SCAG about the descision. It's not they're faults completely and the more you abuse, the more childish you make us look.

Well they may still get it released under the current rating system without changing it if they're lucky but I think we should show them support and wait patiently... maybe it'll be the first R18+ game released if they wait which could be historic because it will be the game that helped Australia grow up.

[DelbertGrady]

If I lived in Australia my reaction would be "FUUUUUUUUU..."

[redDevil87]

Yeah but at least a dingo won't be able to eat you MK9 dvd :p

[hetz15]

In 08, I got a choice: go and live in australia, or US. Good thing I made the right move. I'd be screwed if I had picked Australia. I hope Australians can get that R18+ soon enough.

[rjgbyrne]

I got that same choice and chose Australia... the RIGHT choice. Avoided recession, pay and work conditions much better than most of the Western world and a Dollar above the US. Hope you enjoy MK9 with all the spare time you must have!

[unkn0wn]

Alright alright, rjgbyrne, creative name by the way, stick to the topic at hand. else I'll get the US to kick your immigrant-australian ass, just like we did in WWII.

I really hope the R+18 ruling goes through, because it's a win for gamers that can be felt around the world.

[rjgbyrne]

@Unknown aka Dangleberry- My Irish-Australian arse is not for debate here (What WWII tv show did you watch!?!), I think more US migrants from Ireland would also like to give you a little kickin'. When did this site become racist!?!
Also, http://www.vooks.net/story-...
Great Irish man doing something for the cause, just like the Kennedys or Even Obama with his very good Irish roots. Great reply mate, especially for Paddy's day!

[unkn0wn]

Wow, I know sarcasm is hard to pick up on the internet, but you must be really dense. I pity you. Enough with your pretentious nationalism, fool.

[toaster]

The funny thing is that according to some studies in AUS the average age of gamers is like 35 or something, lololol.

[Nizzy79]

haha that's funny... banning stuff that doesn't need to be haha shame on them :P

[ultimablackmage]

This is sorta true, it's more like 29. Also even though the average age is over 18, the fact is that the ratings system can ony change on a unanomous vote not a democratic vote. There is no democracy among the SCAG.

[Nizzy79]

i'd love to buy 100 copies and go over there and sell them

[distorted_reality]

A - It's not banned, it's been refused classification. Wish people would stop reporting and talking about this the wrong way, and would take the time to learn the difference.

B - There's plenty of websites and companies based in Asia that you can get RC'd games from, and the authorities can do nothing about it, as owning or buying the software is not against any law.

C - Your PSN account can't get banned for playing a game that is RC'd, thanks to Sony having no real region locking restrictions. This has nothing to do with Sony whatsoever - it is a problem between the publishers and the ratings board.

D - They've already had one appeal refused - a second one won't help. The only way it will get released here is through heavy editing, which with a MK game is completely pointless.

E - Personally, I wouldn't be holding my breath for a change in the ratings system if I was you. I think we're still a few years away from it.

[ultimablackmage]

It's banned alright. If you go to some of the import sites they'll say the game can't be sold in your region and Australian Customs is now on alert to hunt down copies of the games once it's released overseas like drugs at the airport.

Also we have a Sony and Microsoft in Australia who keep an eye on their respective regions activities so our online accounts are not very safe if we buy the game, somehow get it through customs and play it on our online enabled consoles.

In short we're screwed if we want Mortal Kombat in Australia and the only way to get it is preety much piracy and there's even worse of a punishment with that.

[distorted_reality]

Sigh. It hasn't been banned. It's been refused classification. If certain websites are deciding not to sell it down here, that's their decision, not one that is enforced by any law, and in any case it's not exactly hard to bypass that.

As to what Sony/Microsoft do - I think that, especially at this point in time, they would turn a blind eye to this even if it did effect them in any way. They'd be opening themselves up to a massive public backlash if they stepped in and took action against gamers in this case.

As for the piracy thing - if you really feel that you need to resort to that, you won't exactly get punished for it. ISP's only target big time pirates - and that's more for hogging bandwidth than for any copyright infringements, and the AFP have shown that they have no real interest in chasing down individual pirates.

Yes the decision sucks, but people are blowing this well out of proportion. It's not the first time a game has been RC'd and it won't be the last - hasn't stopped us playing what we want in the past, and again, it won't stop us now.

[ultimablackmage]

It has been banned. Australian customs and and Border Protection have now been told to seize all Refused Classification games being imported because it's now part of their blacklist. All RC games are banned because it's illegal to sell or promote any game that has been refused classification and anyone caught importing anything that is prohibited will have the item seized and will be fine up to AU$110,000.

So yeah it's banned and you're risking a huge fine if you are attempting to import Mortal Kombat. All we Australians can do is ask WBIEA to resubmit the game once the R18+ decision is made and compensate us with free DLC for the game. I have faith in an R18+ being implemented by August and that's assuming the new AG for NSW doesn't screw us over because we are guaranteed a new one after the state election.

[Bathyj]

Thanks or clearing all that up. Alot of people dont seem to realise Banned and RC'd arent the same thing.

I disagree about our chances for a rating change though. The AG who stood in the way for so many years is gone. As far as I know thats why they've put it up for discussion again.

Plus I think Australia is finally waking up and realising the need for R Rating.

The misguided think they're protecting kids from content they shouldnt have but the reality is alot of games get an MA15+ rating just so they get through when they really should be getting an R, which we dont have.

So the irony is by shielding kids from R rated material, they're actually serving it up and calling it MA.

[distorted_reality]

The problem is though that while the main culprit is gone - there are at least two people on the panel who's motives are questionable, and their voting in favour of the change is highly doubtful at this point.

I think the majority of Australians do realise why we need it - when they're given the correct information. The problem is that too many people aren't given the correct information, and we have too many news sources promoting bullshit excuses and the same old rhetoric.

Believe me, I want the rating change as much as any well informed and sane individual - but as has always been the case, we can't assume that the people who are making the decision are well informed and/or sane.