14 DAY TRIAL // The Australian rating board has confirmed that the original version of Left 4 Dead 2, the zombie shooter from Valve and Electronic Arts, will not be allowed under any circumstances to be sold and marketed in the country. Its recent decision upholds the initial judgment related to the video game that said that the level of simulated violence against the Infected, which retain their human characteristic, was too high to allow the game to be sold in Australia.
Valve has already submitted an edited version of Left 4 Dead 2, with some of the violence toned down, which has been approved for release with an MA 15+ rating, which means that players will be able to get the game Down Under and enjoy the new features that Valve has brought to the series. Presumably, most of the changes are related to how gore is depicted and Australian players will be able to get into multiplayer matches with no problem, although they might see less blood and bodies than players in other regions.
On most of the markets, like Europe, Japan, North America, Korea and South Africa, Left 4 Dead 2 was rated as only being suitable for those players who were over the age of 17 or 18. Unfortunately, Australia has a rating system that does not allow the equivalent of a “Mature” rating for video games, although it has one applying to movies.
This can lead to the bizarre situation where people over 18 can watch the Saw movies in Australia but cannot play some of the latest video games, like Left 4 Dead 2, Shellshock 2, Dark Sector or Fallout 3. If more and more high-profile releases are affected by the idiosyncratic rules and need to submit edited versions, which imply an investment of time and resources, the Australian rating board might be forced to change them via lobby actions.