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Hotline Miami 2 Refused Australian Classification

I thought they took out the rape thing because they caved. I wonder how many whine induced articles journalists are going to pump out due to the rape scene alone in hm2.

They said that it didn't cause the intended reaction and they'd work on it, though it sounds like they made it even more brutal.
 

Coflash

Member
According to the official 'reason' on the Classification board website, it has been refused classification because it is among a category of games which "depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex

gtav_sex.gif


gtav_sex2.gif


drug misuse or addiction

gtav_drugs.gif



gtav_crime.gif



gtav_cruelty.gif



gtav_violence.gif


gtav_violence2.gif


gtav_violence3.gif


or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults



GTAV PS3 ✓
GTAV 360 ✓
GTAV PS4 ✓
GTAV XB1 ✓
GTAV PC ✓

2D top down 16-bit looking Hotline Miami 2 ☓
 

CLEEK

Member
Oh man, I think it's time to start a campaign to educate these groups ruining videogames with their politics. Let them know that games are fun. A harmless hashtag should do it, I reckon.

#GAMESRGREAT
 

Derp

Member
It's taken a decade for us to get an R18+ rating here and now this shit still happens. It's bad enough we seem to have the most powerful femenist group in the solar system, managing to get games pulled from shelves while the misinformed and delusional stores with GMs and CEOs who've never touched a game in their lives blindly follow because their heads are so far up their ass they can't see. It's R18+ for a reason dipshits. We need a new fucking classification board. And people who work for stores that can think straight.
 

Yagharek

Member
Ken Park needs to see the light of day here while Margaret Pomeranz is still alive

Yep. She's basically the best argument for why the Censorship Board in Australia doesn't need to exist. The perfect example of a reasonable adult.

It's taken a decade for us to get an R18+ rating here and now this shit still happens. It's bad enough we seem to have the most powerful femenist group in the solar system, managing to get games pulled from shelves while the misinformed and delusional stores with GMs and CEOs who've never touched a game in their lives blindly follow because their heads so far up their ass they can't see. It's R18+ for a reason dipshits. We need a new fucking classification board. And people who work for stores that can think straight.

They're not a classification board. They are a censorship board.
 

Quasar

Member
It's taken a decade for us to get an R18+ rating here and now this shit still happens. It's bad enough we seem to have the most powerful femenist group in the solar system, managing to get games pulled from shelves while the misinformed and delusional stores with GMs and CEOs who've never touched a game in their lives blindly follow because their heads are so far up their ass they can't see. It's R18+ for a reason dipshits. We need a new fucking classification board. And people who work for stores that can think straight.

It seems you need to pay attention to the limits the R rating has. There are some, with games and film. Its not an anything goes wild west.

And sexual violence is not something we like.
 
It seems you need to pay attention to the limits the R rating has. There are some, with games and film. Its not an anything goes wild west.

And sexual violence is not something we like.

Restricted (R18+) – Contains material that is considered unsuitable for exhibition by persons under the age of 18. People under 18 may not legally buy, rent, exhibit or view R18+ classified content. A person may be asked for proof of their age before purchasing, hiring or viewing R18+ films and computer games at a retail store or cinema. Some material classified R18+ may also be offensive to adults. The content is high in impact.
"Realistic and explicit" depictions of violence is permitted, though violence that is "frequently gratuitous, cruel, exploitative and offensive to a reasonable adult" will not be permitted.
Themes can have a "very high degree of intensity" but they shouldn't be "exploitative".
Sexual violence is permitted only to the extent that they are "necessary to the narrative" and "not exploitative" or "not shown in detail".
Sexual activity can be "realistically simulated", but depiction of "actual sexual activity is not permitted".
Drug use can be shown but "not gratuitously detailed" and should also "not be promoted or encouraged".
Nudity in a sexual context should "not include obvious genital contact".
Coarse language is virtually unrestricted in this category.

Doesn't that apply to HM2? The rape scene in question is there for the story and it's not shown in detail at all.
 

Coflash

Member
Maybe if you raped someone on top of the tortured guys dead body we would have equivalence

I didn't change their terms or description of why it was banned. They should either stick to their rules across all games they review, or stop reviewing them altogether. They are the most inconsistent, useless bunch of cunts that have influence on the games we play.

And let us not forget that this game isn't being banned from kids playing it, it's a game rated for adults. If anyone out there actually believes that most adult gamers are going to be more affected by a rape scene in a 16bit game, than the things you can pull off in GTAV, then they're absolutely deluding themselves.

If the rape fits within the context of the game, there shouldn't be an issue. Just as there isn't an issue in movies or books. It's rape. Yes, it's horrible, but people need to get the fuck over it. It's a fact of life and always will be.

If adults are disturbed by it, then they shouldn't play it. And they certainly shouldn't pay for it. We don't need a nanny state to tell us how to use common sense. We're big boys and girls, we can figure it out.

Screw them and their censorship bullshit.
 

Fusebox

Banned
Slightly annoying but most Aussie gamers will just get it from the US PSN store anyway, same as all our other games.
 

danm999

Member
Aussies are well versed at getting around geoblocks, and I don't believe this applies to Steam, so hopefully this won't affect too many people, but yeah, another bad decision from an out of touch Classification board.
 

Shaneus

Member
I didn't change their terms or description of why it was banned. They should either stick to their rules across all games they review, or stop reviewing them altogether. They are the most inconsistent, useless bunch of cunts that have influence on the games we play.
I would've said Ubisoft was right up there.

There's a 37 year old skater in there. I bet he's the reason we got that Marc Ecko game on Steam.

Seriously, he's probably the only voice of reason on that board. At least, as far as we're concerned.
 

Dingotech

Member
I knew it would be the rape scene that caused it as per my original post.

It couldn't have been the violence given the first was classified.
 

commissar

Member
I didn't change their terms or description of why it was banned.
FYI, when you read law you have to keep on going past all the ands and ors until you get to the end of the sentence. It'll be clumsy reading for sure but then you don't miss the final phrases which are the critical part under which each of the categories you cited have to be considered.
 

Derp

Member
Ninteen Eighty Four had a Ministry of Truth. That doesn't mean the name was accurate.

It's a Censorship Board. Call it what it is.
I'd rather call it what it's called, so yeah.

It seems you need to pay attention to the limits the R rating has. There are some, with games and film. Its not an anything goes wild west.

And sexual violence is not something we like.
You do realise I posted this before i knew what the reason was, right? We now know it was due to sexual violence, but we weren't aware of this a while ago. Obviously there are limitations, I never argued against that.
 
Your rating board sucks if you refuse classification of things. You can have your "shameful black sheep we really hate this and we're suggesting stores don't carry it" rating like the ESRB's AO (although that needs some work too), but refusing it classification is just a failure of your system.
 

FUME5

Member
Yup, bolting an R18 rating for games on to the archaic framework we had was always going to throw shit like this up.

Obviously our Classification needs more work to prevent these situations.
 

red731

Member
I hope they were blown by the OST too.

Can't wait for this game, even though some of the scenes there might not be pleasant to watch.
After all, it is Hotline Miami.
 

Joyful

Member
glad they stuck to their guns and kept the rape scene in

since it getting classified and the surveys for their figure kickstarter went out today I can only assume the game is done and the release date is coming soon
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
I'm glad I live somewhere will the game will be released without a problem, but this still frustrates me to see other people treated this way, particularly regarding a game I've been looking forward to since its first announcement.

Australian gamers, you have my sympathies. I'm sorry you have to deal with such an archaic board of censors who treat their citizens like children who don't know what's best for them.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Don't they have a 18+ Rating now? What the hell?

The lack of an R rating was never the real issue but rather the guidelines that board members use to determine whether or not a title should be refused classification. As others have already said, though, the ruling shouldn't affect the PC version of the game since digital titles aren't required to be rated in the first place and Valve isn't in the business of policing the regional availability of games.

The underlying and frustrating problem with our game classification system is that games being interactive in nature results in them being more harshly judged -- you'll find no shortage of R-rated films with sexual violence, but it in any form is one of the big no-nos when it comes to games, hence Hotline Miami 2 being shown the door.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
Why are people so excited about a rape scene?

People are happy that a scene that was taken out of context from the game's larger story wasn't removed from said game due to negative reactions from people who saw the scene and took it out of context.
 
Why are people so excited about a rape scene?

Sometimes a story needs to be ugly to be told properly. I don't think people are "excited" about the rape scene, but this is restricting the dev's ability to tell a story in the same way that other mediums employ.
 

Keio

For a Finer World
Are you upset it's getting in the way of all the violence? Why are you drawing the line of abhorrence at sexual assault?
No. And you are drawing a bizarre implied meaning from my question. Why are you so keen to defend a rape scene?

I'm asking because I'm honestly trying to understand this thread. I did play the first HM and thought it was a well made game, but the reactions around HM2 perplex me.

Edit; and to be fair other forms of media don't also often feature scenes as portrayed by the Board in the description. Curious on how it will contribute to the storytelling of the game.
 
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