I know we're all pretty tired of hearing about game bans, but it's always interesting to read about the aspects of the game that pushed it over our highest rating for games, MA15+. "Blitz: The League", an Xbox 360 sports game which had a release date of February 22 in Australia, is the latest to be refused classification after review by the OFLC. Gamespot reports...
"In the course of the game, the player may access what are purported to be both legal and illegal performance-enhancing drugs for the members of the team. Choosing to use these drugs (by selecting from a menu) will have both negative and positive effects on team-members, for example, by improving their speed while making them more susceptible to injury. Each drug has different characteristics. Fake urine samples may also be acquired for avoiding positive drug tests. While the game-player can choose not to use the drugs, in the Board?s majority view there is an incentive to use them.
Banned because of drug references? I thought that films and games were supposed to work on the same system now, apart from the lack of an R rating.
And 'R' rated films routinely have drug refererences!
Not that I am one to support Midway/Drugs in games, this is just another classic example of the OFLC making decisions for us as informed Adults. Fair enough, keep this stuff out of the hands of our children, but for crikeys sake, allow us to make our own minds up.
OFLC = the new moral authority!
I don't have an issue with the OFLC banning sport games that promote drug use as a GOOD thing. Next we'll have FIFA players shooting up before they kick-off, and AFL players popping pills before they come off the bench.
As an adult, I don't see the harm in me doing that in a game if I want to. That is the beauty of games, its freedom in the form of players not having to be shackled to morals that they don't want to be shackled to. To play the villan if they want to, without the consequences that come with it in reality.
Some CEOs should take note...