14 DAY TRIAL // Rockstar Games' highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV has now been rated by the Australian Classification Board and got a 15+ rating. Should we expect a more... peaceful GTA? We doubt that, but we'll probably find out, since this rating proves the game is almost ready.
If you didn't know it already, if a game gets rated higher than 15+ in Australia, it means just one thing: ban. The game can't be sold, and that happened to Rockstar already, when Grand Theft Auto 3 was banned for three months. Vice City and San Andreas, the latest games in the series, were especially edited for Australian audiences. So the 15+ rating means that this game could be edited, too. Or that the Australian Classification Board started to think a little different and their country just became the place where all young gamers would like to live.
However, the GTA 4 report says that the game has "Strong violence, Strong coarse language, Drug and sexual references". So, yes, it is Grand Theft Auto! And, as we said, this could mean that the game is almost done. This is just a guess, still, since game developers could use unfinished games to be rated. Maybe they're just keeping the spicier things for the last second.
After the recent Manhunt 2 debacle and with Rockstar having quite some experience regarding bans and different kinds of violence-based issues in Australia, at least, it seems that the developers have done their homework as they should and the result is satisfactory.
Even though Grand Theft Auto 4's recent rating by the Australian Board could mean that the game is close to its gold status, Rockstar hasn't changed the date announced for the launch ? sometime between February and April. But with the trailer up and running and information coming from everywhere, it's just easier to wait.