Grand Theft Auto IV was classified MA15+ last year, but the question remained whether it had to be cut to meet that rating. Well the crappy news is in. SMH has now confirmed Rockstar will release an edited version of the game for Australian audiences. Adults in Australia are not allowed to play the same game that adults in other countries can.
Fairfax games writer (and Christian father of two) has written a blog post on why we need an R18+ rating. Definitely worth a read.
And remember the poll FairFax was running that asked do you support the introduction of an R18+ classification for interactive games in Australia? Last week it had a phenomenal amount of No votes. Turns out most of which came from just one IP address.
Here’s Jason’s response:
No poll is obviously foolproof from those determined to exploit it, and just checking now there was actually 3000 votes coming from a single IP address and voting no, and two lots of 600 voting no coming from single IPs. These votes have now been removed. The rest of the voting patterns seem reasonable.
Grand Theft Auto IV will be released April 29.
– Mike
