Aliens Vs Predator Ratings Appeal Succeeds in Australia

So in early December, the Classifications Board of Australia decided that Sega’s new game Aliens Vs Predator (based obviously on the franchise of the same name) was just too gory for its highest possible rating, MA15+. While Developer Rebellion agreed emphatically that their game wasn’t suitable for game players that weren’t adults, they also stated that they would not do what other studios have done and release a ‘toned down’ version of the game in Australia.

Sega, the Publisher - that is to say, the guys making the most money off the deal, and probably with the most to lose if AvP didn’t actually go on sale in Australia - felt differently, launching an appeal with the Classifications Board that went ahead this Friday. This Appeal has been successful, and now the previously too-bloody-to-be-classified AvP is now a comfortable MA15+, able to be sold in Australia. Leaving many gaming commentators thinking: huh?

Obviously most gamers are pretty pleased that they’re now able to play the game in question, but this decision is rendered particularly baffling in light of the recent experiences of another recent hit videogame, Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2. L4D2 was Refused Classification both originally and on appeal, and was only cleared for a retail release after a censored version was produced for classification. But some would argue that the MA15+ version of AvP is, in reality, just as unsuitable for gamers under the age of 18 as the Refused Classification version of L4D2.

Among the reasons the Board cited for rating AvP MA15+ instead of its original Refused Classifications rating was that “the violence is fantastical in nature and justified by the context of the game… the context serves to lessen the impact”. Which has many gamers asking, why isn’t that the case for L4D2? Surely a zombie apacolypse caused by a bizarre strain of rabies that also horribly mutates its hapless victims is fantastical enough to be considered justification for some blood-and-guts violence, unless the Board knows something the rest of us doesn’t.

Certainly the rest of the Board’s reasons - which will be available in detail on the Board’s website when finalized - aren’t as applicable to L4D2 - namely, that the extreme violence is relatively infrequent, non-player-controlled, and commited to or by non-humanoid enemies. But at the same time, doesn’t that still seem inconsistent?

Games rated MA15+ can’t be legally sold to children below the age of 15, sure. But what about kids from 16 to 18? Is Australia saying that that level of interactive violence - and let’s not kid ourselves here, at this level of goriness it doesn’t matter if it’s happening to humans or reptilian-alien-things - is acceptable for kids over the age of 15? Presumably that’s not what they mean to do, but in the absence of an R18+ rating category or equivalent, content that simply isn’t meant to fit into the MA15+ rating is being shoe-horned in because there isn’t anywhere else the Board can put it.

Aliens Vs Predator will be released in Australia with an MA15+ rating - available to anybody 15 and over - on Febuary 18 for XBox360, PS3, and PC, assuming no counter-appeal is launched. Ah, I can almost hear the cries of “won’t somebody think of the children!” even now…