14 DAY TRIAL // Valve Software, which has developed Left 4 Dead 2, and Electronic Arts, which is set to distribute the video game, have appealed to the refusal of Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification to rate the title, which effectively means that it cannot be marketed or sold in that country. The board has said that the game features too much violence and that most of it is directed at beings that can be assimilated to humans. At the moment, Left 4 Dead 2 is also under a ratings' review in the United Kingdom and in New Zealand and can be sold in all the other territories.
In Australia, there is no 18+ rating for video games, even if movies get one, which means that anything that is too strong for a MA 15+ rating is effectively banned. Now, Valve is seeking a re-evaluation of the game, which it has created, but it is not clear whether the developer has made any changes to the video game in order to secure a rating that would allow it to be sold in Australia.
Tiffany Steckler, who is a spokesperson for Electronic Arts, has told GamesStop Australia that, “It’s funny that a place like Australia, which has come up with some pretty violent material in the past with something like Mad Max, can effectively ban video games for the same reason.”
Australia has also issued bans for titles like Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, Dark Sector, Fallout 3 and Silent Hill: Homecoming. The games received an edit-in order to be accepted in the country. The simple solution for all these issues would be to actually convince Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification to introduce a new rating for video games equivalent to the strongest one for movies, in order to be able to accommodate titles like Left 4 Dead 2.
Left 4 Dead 2 is set to be released on the Xbox 360 and the PC on November 17. It remains to be seen whether Australian gamers will be able to enjoy it on that date.