Australian GTA IV gets the chop, 10GB PS3 installation |
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BY Thom Dinsdale April 5th, 2008 |
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If you live in Australia, own a PlayStation 3 and are looking forward to GTAIV you might want to sit down, because I have some bad news.
Earlier in the week the BBFC cleared the game for release in the UK with an 18 rating. But more importantly, the game was released with no cuts to the content. Australia it seems hasn’t been so lucky.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that in order for the game to receive the MA15+ rating (Austrialia’s highest certificate of classification) it needs for release, Rockstar has been forced to produce an edited version of the game. Rockstar currently is not giving any clues as to what exactly has been cut from the product, but with all the buzz around the role of prostitutes in the game, my money is on something to do with the sexual content.
This isn’t the first time that a GTA game has run afoul with the Australian authorities. GTAIII was refused classification in Australia because players could pick up prostitutes. The game was denied classification, effectively banning it, but this wasn’t until thousands of copies of the game had already been sold of course.
Followers of the series will also remember the infamous Hot Coffee incident, a sex mini game hidden in GTA San Andreas which saw a lawsuit brought against Rockstar’s parent company’s Take-Two. The game once again found itself pulled from shelves down under.
This ruling doesn’t bode well for Australia’s retailers. After all, PS3 games are region free and as a result a lot of Australian consumers may start looking farther afield for their software.
If all that wasn’t enough to get you riled up and drafting letters of complaint, it also looks like GTAIV is set to join that growing list of games with overly long, HDD consuming installs. It’s proving to be one of the more painful symptoms of multiplatform development but Rockstar is doing its best to reassure gamers that there will be subtle yet noticeable differences between the performance of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Whether that justifies the 85 minute, 10GB installation is yet to be seen. Note to self: Drink at least one cup of coffee before posting stuff (Thanks guys.)
[See also: Grand Theft Auto IV gallery]
April 5th, 2008
at 3:15 pm
This seems funny considering Australia is one of the few places where open prostitution is considered a legal and perfectly legit profession.
On top of this, they’re also going to be paying over $100 for the game (as with most new games); makes problems that we gamers in other countries like the U.S. face seem minor.
April 5th, 2008
at 4:19 pm
The 10 GB installation was an April fools joke, my god. The site you linked to is on Sarcastic Gamer, did you continue reading the article? On the 2nd page:
I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything had I only had access to one platform, but I noticed the “whores” on the PS3 seemed to “do their business” quicker than the 360 whores. When I brought up the observation, one of the testers replied “Yeah, the PS3 whores are faster… they’re streamed off the hard drive… the 360 whores have to be read from disc. Take a close look… the 360 whores are actually drawn to be a little older and they’re more haggard looking. It’s an inside joke of the programmers and artists.” as he chuckled. He then looked around to see if his boss was listening and whispered “the whores on the 360 version only have red lipstick on 3/4 of their mouths… check it out next time you play, but don’t make it to obvious, we’re hoping to slip that one through certification testing. Brad, the artist that did that, calls it the Red Ring of Herpes!”
April 5th, 2008
at 4:32 pm
Yes, the 10gb install isn’t even possible, considering that the game will fit on a DVD9. There isn’t even 9gbs of information on a DVD9.
Please correct this or something.
April 6th, 2008
at 7:58 am
Poor Aussies, they seem to get the shaft from their own government when it comes to videogames. They haven’t even got Rock Band yet.