14 DAY TRIAL // Dead Rising 2 was surprisingly accepted by the Australian Classification board without any censorship. The title received an MA15+ rating, the highest age rating permitted for games in Australia. This was unlikely, given the fact that Valve's zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead 2, was initially refused classification by the Australian board, banning it from sale. The title was edited and later on accepted by the censors.
The Australian Classification Board warns, however, that Dead Rising 2 contains strong horror violence, blood, gore and adult content references. THQ, the publisher that distributes Capcom games in Australia, declared that Dead Rising 2 was not edited in any way before the submission to the censorship council.
This is just another example of the strange behavior that has been the hallmark of the Australian Classification board regarding video games. While titles like 50 Cent: Bulletproof or graffiti game Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure have been banned by the Australian censors, The Witcher, Dead Rising or Zone of the Enders have passed classification unscathed with an MA15+ rating, despite the Mature ratings they received in the rest of the world.
Dead Rising 2 is the latest horror title from Capcom. It is directed by Keiji Inafune of Mega Man fame and sees the players fill in the shoes of Chuck Greene, who has to fight his way through hordes of zombies as he tries to escape Fortune City, a virtual copy of Las Vegas. Capcom encourages creative disposal a zombies, introducing a weapon crafting system.
It will allow players to create new equipment from components found in the game world, like a vacuum cleaner filled with circular saw blades, a paddle with two chainsaws attached to each of its sides and many others that have been deemed as not violent enough by the Australian Classification Board. Dead Rising 2 will be released on the 30th of September on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC.