Back in November last year, the Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC) reviewed the graffiti centered action game "Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure". It was approved for a MA15+ rating, meeting Australia's highest classification for games which all titles must make before they're given the greenlight for sale here.
Unfortunately, the Federal Government isn't quite happy about the rating which Getting Up received, so they're making an effort in getting the game reviewed, re-classified, and out of the hands of our highly impressionable (cough) 15 years and older gamers. From The Age..
"Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said tonight in a statement that the game Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure would be referred to the Classification Review Board with local councils and state governments angry at its MA 15+ rating..."The request for the review responds to the concerns of local councils and state governments who have written to me in relation to the way in which the game is said to condone and incite the use of graffiti," Mr Ruddock said.
"This is an important issue for our community and further consideration of the classification of this computer game is warranted."
Hey, let's not tell them about the graffiti action in GTA: San Andreas! It'll be interesting to see if the OFLC buckles again under pressure to de-classify a game like they did with Mahunt, but hopefully they won't give in this time. Honestly, when the Federal Government is pushing for a game ban, what chance do we have of ever getting that R rating for games? Oh, and Philip Ruddock, you've just made the list.
I never heard anyone complaining about Jet Set Radio Future when that came out (M15+), and that game was ALL about flouting the law, dangerous rollerblading, and COVERING THE WHOLE CITY IN GRAFFITI omg.
well all i can say is this is bullshit due to the fact that theres such games as Grand Theft Auto, Now they are not at all 'bad' games theres a whole game of law abiding there not to mention the graffitit aswell........ *COUGH**COUGH* sight anything else need to be said?
Mark Ecko's game wasn't re-classified and subsequently banned because you could perform graffiti, The OFLC had no problems with that. What got it banned was as part of the games extras there were "tutorials" in which real life graffiti artists showed people how to do it etc. The three points were:
1) The realistic scenarios whereby the central character Trane acquires his knowledge of graffiti tips, techniques and styles - including meeting with five real graffiti artists who pass on details of tips and techniques;
2) The reward for and positive reinforcement of graffiti writing on public buildings and infrastructure; and
3) Interactive biographies of 56 real graffiti artists, with details of their personal tags, styles and careers. The game detail states that all these artists began their careers performing illegal graffiti on public buildings and infrastructure and that some continue with this practice today.
This game is crap anyways so no tears spilt. When a decent game comes along that tackles REAL adult issues and not just excessive violence for its sake or stock standard illegal activities and is banned is when we should care.