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Fallout 3 Banned In Australia?

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Fallout 3 has just very recently gone through the initial review process by the board of the OFLC and has been refused classification. Apparently the game includes the use of Morphine by your character. By all accounts this did not sit well with the Board as the portrayal of the unregulated use of proscribed substances is a bit of a no no and will damage the fragile minds of Australia's game-playing populace.
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au.gamespot.com
Alternative Sources:
Rumour: Fallout 3 Refused C... - kotaku.com.au | By: Syko 360
Fallout 3 Dubbed Restricted... - gamingshogun.com | By: JelalTrueshot
moneymaker - contributor
Published: 545 days 13 hours ago | Rumors | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Gaming | PC
 
 

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Fishy Fingers - 545 days 14 hours ago
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1 -
"the use of Morphine", yes the use of a real world pain killer in a game, it's easy to see why this would cause gross offense and result in a ban, personally, the prospect of using Morphine rather than a "med kit" makes me sick, What an absolutely disgusting prospect.

Obviously, that's sarcasm, I feel truly sorry for the Australian gamer, it should be you who chooses whats appropriate or not, not some board of tight arse'

Import....
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andron666 - 545 days 13 hours ago
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1.1 - No 1 reason why bans are useless..
Since it's generally easy to import them anyway.

Why not just rate it R18, and have it sold legally?

Bans are also counter productive. Making kids even more interested in "illegal" games...
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The Dark Knight - 545 days 11 hours ago
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1.2 -
Its alright i have a ps3 :)
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mistertwoturbo - 545 days 10 hours ago
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1.3 -
Yup, just like real life drugs. You tell the kids "drugs will make you feel good, high, and on top of the world for now! But you will regret it later!"

It will only make them more interested.
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FCOLitsjustagame - 545 days 11 hours ago
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2 -
Right, thats just crazy. If you call it a medkit or medical nanites or some kind of other made up word its OK? But calling it something that may exist in the real world isnt? And apparently they didnt have a problem with the whole Nuclear Holacost thing?
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meepmoopmeep - 545 days 11 hours ago
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3 -
PS3 owners have no worries.

Region Free FTW!
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3.1 radzy | 545 days 10 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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meepmoopmeep - 545 days 10 hours ago
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3.2 -
booooooo!

support your devs' dude!
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LastDance - 545 days 9 hours ago
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3.3 -
he cant lol:P
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VMAN_01 - 545 days 11 hours ago
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4 -
Man I live in Australia, this really sucks but I guess I can just import the game for PS3.
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Panthers - 545 days 11 hours ago
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4.1 -
Thats stupid they can ban games. Especially for the reasons they just said
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5 eddierivera | 545 days 11 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
5.1 Big Jim | 545 days 11 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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PirateThom - 545 days 11 hours ago
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5.2 -
Yeah, the USA which nearly imploded at an exposed breast on TV.
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Panthers - 545 days 11 hours ago
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5.3 -
No kidding. That was a great super bowl too. The thing about US is that people here care more about boobies than blood and guts.
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gogators - 545 days 11 hours ago
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5.4 - and
that breast wasn't even fully exposed. Wardrobe malfunction my ass.
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mistertwoturbo - 545 days 10 hours ago
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5.5 -
Why the singling out of single countries? Every country has it's own problems.
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kalos - 544 days 22 hours ago
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5.6 -
Yeah, because American media censorship is so radically different from Australian censorship. Face it, most nations have banned films, games, or even books for really stupid reasons, American is far from immune from that.
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VMAN_01 - 545 days 11 hours ago
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6 -
Its not a gay place to live, games never used to banned as regularly as today on top of that if they get an R18 rating out then it should be good but honestly I have not bought a game in Australia for a while, its importing for me.
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Muddyalcapones - 545 days 11 hours ago
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7 -
yeah, at least you guys can still box kangaroos or whatever it is you all do...
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Gish - 545 days 11 hours ago
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7.1 -
<---- Dont forget the wombats
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hunterchief1 - 545 days 11 hours ago
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7.2 -
If you all could see the size of the muscles on our big red kangaroos you would run in the opp direction.
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The Dark Knight - 545 days 10 hours ago
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7.3 -
Damn straight those kangaroos are feisty mo fos, you run in to them with a car, you cars gets more damage. There so strong
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hunterchief1 - 545 days 11 hours ago
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8 -
why they cant change the name to something else is beyond me but this is regulation gone to far. By the way Australia is one of the best place to live thank you.
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Gish - 545 days 11 hours ago
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9 -
This world is getting more and more run by the governments... It will be a sad day when they start regulating as heavily here in the US. Although the way everything seems to be headed... Looks like Democrats may take over, which means more government. Who knows what will happen at that point.
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9.1 Big Jim | 545 days 11 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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Gish - 545 days 11 hours ago
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9.2 -
Agreed about that. Although jesus freaks can't regulate things. Big government can. I hope we can make it so that we keep the government small and keep the wacko's (left and right) out as far as possible.
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FCOLitsjustagame - 545 days 1 hour ago
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9.3 -
Plenty of democrats that want to "protect the children" wasn’t it Tipper Gore that went after music lyrics? And of course democrats hate "violence" (you know when it’s not them using it to stamp on the rights of others to have free speech).

Ultimately though both republicans and democrats are two sides of the same coin. If you really want this mysterious "change" then you need to vote for a third party, Independent, libertarian, hell even the GREEN party would be a change (of course we would all be living in huts but still).
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Tacki - 545 days 11 hours ago
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10 -
Mario's been using mushrooms for decades. Not to mention he's supposed to be a plumber right? I've never seen him work a day in his life. I think they should issue a ban or risk spreading the wrong message to kids.
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silverchode - 545 days 8 hours ago
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10.1 -
its ok they're medical mushrooms ;)
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andron666 - 545 days ago
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10.2 - He gets them on prescription?
Probably for back pains. No easy job being a plumber, also that butt stomp must hurt...
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KidMakeshift - 545 days 11 hours ago
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11 -
Bloody kangaroo!!!
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MK_Red - 545 days 11 hours ago
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12 -
Dammit, I thought it was banned because of violence. WTF!? They banned the game for Stimpacks!? Retarded regulations. Seriously, it's just like a normal health pack... with some minor issues :D
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meepmoopmeep - 545 days 11 hours ago
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12.1 -
lol, yeah, it's morphine not ice!

lol, isn't ice a bigger problem over in Oz than morphine?
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MK_Red - 545 days 10 hours ago
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12.2 -
lol, I don't know.
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Charlie2688 - 545 days 8 hours ago
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12.3 -
If they ban Fallout 3 for the they might get a heart attack of ALL the "questionable" stuff they could find in Fallout 2 XD
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MK_Red - 545 days 8 hours ago
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12.4 -
LOL so true. Child Killer to name one :D
The "European version of Fallout 2" mention in New Reno still cracks me up.
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kwicksandz - 545 days 6 hours ago
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12.5 - God dammit!
This better not be true. This is my most anticipated game of the year >.<. Looks like ill have to upgrade my PC then and get it via direct download......
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agent_plang - 545 days 10 hours ago
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13 - The ratings situation here is beyond a joke.
For anyone interested, here's the situation:

Every state in Australian, bar ONE, has voted to bring in an R18+ classification for video games. The holdout state (South Australia) is due to a fundamentalist christian nutcase that thinks he's saving the country.

Unfortunately, it only takes one state to oppose the change to derail the whole thing. He's been petitioned for a long time, but he won't budge.

A lack of an R18+ classification in Australia means that any game exceeding MA15+ (our current highest games classification) simply can't be sold or made available in any way. It's against the law.

It isn't even the fault of the OFLC - they are simply doing their job and rating it truthfully as they see it. It's the fault of that idiot in S.A that ties their hands.

EDIT: Sorry, I only read the blurb - didn't realise the situation was already explained in the full article :)
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Agent-X - 545 days 10 hours ago
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14 -
oh thats fukn gay ive been waitin for this game and its getting banned in aus damn am i living in a crap country or what!!
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ElementX - 545 days 10 hours ago
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15 -
Ha, and the rest of the world laughs at US censorship. I'd rather have no swearing on TV and radio if it means I can play the games I want.
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andron666 - 544 days 19 hours ago
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15.1 - I wouldn't boast to much about US censorship laws....
Remember the useless AO rating (or NC17 for films) and MPAA's highly subjective rating practices.

Watch: This Film Is Not Yet Rated...

Instead of the Government censoring, it's big business and lobbying that rule.
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TrenchaunT - 545 days 9 hours ago
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16 -
Only morphine? The other Fallouts had worse drugs than that, just with non real-world names.

I still think censorship serves a good purpose. Even if it makes kids more interested in such games, at least it makes some parents wake up to the gravity of issues in the games so that they can make the choice to regulate what their kids play if they so choose. Otherwise, parents are at a severe disadvantage if they themselves do not play video games or have some completely neutral source for information on video game content.

In addition, regulation helps to keep game makers from going too far in the direction of marketing games solely upon the extremity of the content. This happens in TV all the time; the only reason some shows are popular is because of how trashy they are (i.e. Jerry Springer). Everyone loses when an industry targets their products in such a way, because in doing so they generally sacrifice actual the quality of the product (who ever said Springer was quality television?).

I have to say, though, I do think it would be nice if FO3 could have the same content that the previous titles had.
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Leathersoup - 545 days 7 hours ago
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17 -
What?!! Am I the only person who is confused by this? Kids are able to figure out that you shouldn't kill people even though you can kill them in the game, but as soon as it comes to morphine they're clueless?

Everyone on the ratings board concerned should slap themselves.
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Immortal Kaim - 545 days 7 hours ago
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18 - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.
Another hypocritical decision by the OFLC (Australia's classification board), I don't understand how something like dismemberment (NG2) can pass classification, yet a real-world prescribed drug cannot be mentioned in the game. God it's frustrating.

Though It must be noted that the game will likely be slightly changed (ie call the damn thing Norphine for all I care) and then it will be resubmitted for classification.
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