Silent Hill: Homecoming, which is only getting so-so reviews (which stinks because it’s my favorite game series; Silent Hill 2? Now there’s proper narrative in a video game), is effectively banned in Australia because of its over-the-top violence. But what, exactly, is the reason why the game won’t be coming out down under?
How about this: drilling into and severing body parts. Yikes, is that even necessary?
Says IGN:
…the OFLC [the Australian ratings board] cited several high impact scenes in the game, mostly focusing on drilling into and severing body parts. One scene in particular that was highlighted as a problem involved Alex (the main character) having a drill forced into his right eye socket, which caused a lot of blood to spray out.
Konami is being urged to tone down the violence so that the game can see a release down there.
I don’t know, I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to excessive violence, so you won’t see me crying that the ratings board is giving Konami a hard time. I also can’t be bothered to fight video game censorship because, really, it’s not a big deal to me.
I used to live down there, and they have their priorities straight — sex in movies is okay for their lower ratings, but violence will get you the restricted rating.
Puritanical bullshit americans chose to make violence okay, yet *dog forbid* we see a nipple in a wardrobe malfunction that looks the same as the one we suckled on as infants.
As long as you’re not bothered, f*** ‘em, right? Creators of video games can’t be artists and shouldn’t care about not having the freedom to create what they want. Good for you. Great post. Their freedom shouldn’t restrict your right to not have anything consumed by anyone that doesn’t meet your taste. I don’t go for violent games, either, but I’d defend to my death the creators’ right to make them.