Australia's History with Banning & Censoring Video Games

[@Gggmanlives]

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[@Beanzops]

I eat the cotton candy from my walls and

[@DarkeningDemise]

When you going to review more adult games mate? It's been forever since I had a good laugh on your channel from Together BNB and Seed of the Dead 2.

[@cerebraxis607]

You ever played through Interstate 76/82? If you liked HOD Overkill, you would probably enjoy it's world.

[@jadedheartsz]

i'll bet you the reason they banned Getting Up for graffiti but not Jet Set Radio is down to plain old racism, don't think it's a coincidence that one game has minority characters and another does not. I remember that one racist cartoon one asshole cartoonist did about Serena Williams and then he threw a hissy fit when people dared to call him on it.

[@Brahmabullz]

How did you buy the game with your own money if it was taken off shelves the week before?

[@Indigo_Gaming]

"Gonna have to tone down that violence there, mate." - Descendants of the first real-world Battle Royale continent

[@LennyMiller739]

You, you never heard of Africa? They've been warring since prior to the modern humans existence. Like, they still use each other as currency dude

[@yolobathsalts]

​@LennyMiller739 I present to you the middle east. At war when Africans were still primordial ooze

[@LennyMiller739]

@@yolobathsalts .... I'm not sure of any even remotely credible theories that have claimed that middle east was populated by people prior to Africa

[@EximiusDux]

@@yolobathsalts The current theory is that humanity began on Africa and migrated across the globe.

[@ARagedTaco]

No it was in turkey​@@EximiusDux

[@heret1c385]

As a german I can totally understand the frustration. The sheer audacity to tell full grown adults whats too brutal or naughty for them or not is insane. They'll always argue with the children, which basically admits that their rating systems doesn't work and children play the games they're not supposed to anyways. It just makes no sense.

[@robertharris6092]

It aalso ignores the simple fact that many games are meant exclusivly for adults and not for children to even be considered to play it.

[@MuscleCarLover]

I kinda understand the Wolfenstein ban in Germany but also not really considering the game's context

[@urseldowntownempire1930]

@@MuscleCarLover The "ban" was lifted years ago

[@MuscleCarLover]

@@urseldowntownempire1930 I knew the ban got lifted, just didn't remember when

[@A_Succelent_Chinese_Meal]

You Europeans love to poop all over we in the US, but that first amendment is ironclad.

[@chheinrich8486]

As a German I’m saying:“welcome to the club“😂

[@thejuiceweasel]

Ugh I really wish that club wasn't mandatory 😢

[@henriklarssen1331]

I can still remember robot enemies in Half Life 1 insted of Marines and rolling bombs insted of suicide bombers in C&C Generals. It was a strange time when it came to Game censoring.

[@IndianaJason2]

At least we can still buy our games from austria / the netherlands etc.

[@urseldowntownempire1930]

We got better however, there are almost zero censored games in the past years. Although it's a bit sad, cause it meant I had not much to do as author for schnittberichte lol

[@potatodadave]

That wolfenstein censorship of a mustache is still one of the funniest clips I have ever seen

[@Myriad-Truths]

From an american perspective, its so weird, bc aussies get portrayed as these good humored, idgaf about danger, funny phrases kinda people, so its so interesting to see yalls government be so tight

[@mrblack5145]

They stayed loyal to the crown much longer than we did.

[@vorbo01]

Australia is a dystopian nightmare. Remember the vaccination camps?

[@alighieri99g81]

​@vorbo01 there weren't any vaccination camps

[@alighieri99g81]

​@@mrblack5145Australia is still loyal to the crown, the king is our head of state. 99.9% of Australians just don't care about the royal family.

[@vorbo01]

@@LennyMiller739 lol why bother gaslighting? There's videos from 2021 of people people filming in the camps, getting yelled at for being on the wrong side of their little porch to talk to some guy who was also forcibly quarantined there.

[@DebugMenu]

I remember going to a PlayStation press event in Sydney where we got to play Hotline Miami 2 really early. As soon as I saw the rape scene at the start I burst out laughing and said “yeah this isn’t ever coming out here” to the Sony rep standing next to me.

[@TheSolidMidgetOfficial]

I got Hotline Miami 2 from G2A. Phuck the censorship. Same with HATRED. But I pre-orded it from the website back in 2014.

[@Wildstyle_aus]

Couldn't even buy the damn soundtrack on vinyl because it came with the game

[@TheSolidMidgetOfficial]

@@Wildstyle_aus The devs said to pirate it anyway. But I took the G2A route.

[@RayneOfSalt]

GMan, up until 2015 the average age of members of the aus classification board was 63. That's why game bans have no rhyme or reason, an old person saw a trailer and if it gave them an ick the game got banned (also because video games were for children, not adults).

[@kainthedragoon8081]

And we didn’t have an R rating for games because of the Families First party. They used to have so much bloody power

[@RayneOfSalt]

@@kainthedragoon8081 For sure. The Psycho Christian Cult Lobby used to hold an insane amount of sway over government.

[@Yalbit]

They also don't play the games, they rely on a document from the publisher/developer that lists things that may be an issue, they'll list things like language, violence, drug use and have to explain how it appears in-game. Classification worker's don't sit down and watch every movie or play every game to check for stuff, that's impossible.

[@CrewCell1984]

​​@@RayneOfSaltnow it seems the psycho Big Pharma Cult Lobby has all the sway

[@JamesTDG]

@@Yalbit So it is entirely possible to just sneak by through basic deceit

[@Cryptic0013]

A lot of non-Aussies are shocked by how uptight a former prison colony is, and I have to remind them that means the government started as prison wardens and still seem to have that mentality.

[@WanderlustZero]

Yeah, it just contrasts with most aussies you meet IRL or see portrayed on-screen who are easy-going, up for a laugh, etc. Then you see the prissy politician types -_-

[@Quaker763]

Our Government and media do a very, _very_ good job of projecting that image internationally, when in reality this place is filled to the brim no fun allowed, nosey curtain twitchers. I mean, we still can't even have airsoft for Christ's sake.

[@Cryptic0013]

@@Quaker763 And then there's Victoria.

[@Bubba__Sawyer]

@@Quaker763 Why would we want airsoft guns?

[@Nereosis16]

​​@@Quaker763oh no, no Airsoft?!? Oh. My. Goddddddd. How can anyone live a fulfilling and secure life if we can't have toy guns!!!!!!!!!!

[@TeddyOnTheSpot]

I actually had no knowledge of Med-X being morphine. Really dumb reason for bans/censorship, especially considering how Fallout is a game where you can literally shoot enemies to pieces, but taking a drug which you can easily become addicted to for damage resistance is too much. I’d ask what your government was smoking, but I think we already know that answer.

[@MorkiMoo]

That’s also why the other addictive substances in the games are called chems and not drugs, the devs had to change them way back when releasing Fallout 2 to get approved for sale in Europe.

[@killzoneisa]

Med-X sound like a brand name of it

[@forsakenmoth6066]

Australia has a really bad drug problem so the government thinks that having video games where you consume real world drugs could influence people to take the drugs in real life

[@thatonefpsgamer1339]

​@@MorkiMooHoly fuck bro Europe has no right to fuckin critique America when they censor bullshit like this

[@thatonefpsgamer1339]

​@@forsakenmoth6066ope guess we can't have movies on ww2. People might be inspired to start war.

[@alexkogan9755]

Australia is a prime example of why I’m extremely opposed to censorship. People who don’t actually participate in the medium are allowed to make dumb decisions, to paraphrase Shinji Mikami.

[@anionleader]

It's the prison colony nanny state, and it hasn't evolved much from that!

[@Swordslinger-hb1ns]

I’m surprised Gman hasn’t mentioned another particular granddaddy of controversial video game. Fallout 2. Where to begin. We have graphically murder children, drug and alcohol usage, getting married and pimping your spouse for sex cash, having sex with other people for favors, becoming a porn star with a nod to the critically acclaimed 1997 porn film Boogie Nights, and for the first time ever in 1998 contract a venereal disease.

[@Martonic]

It's literally a nanny state. I live here and I'm not a fan.

[@LadyBits2023]

Australia has quite literally become a dystopian nightmare Along with the UK.... Imagine putting people in prison for joke, comments that they make on Twitter and thinking that they're on the right side of any kind of history

[@madisonbailey2564]

Makes you think when politicians try to ban guns but have never held one

[@topos2900]

Fun fact: Dead Island 2 was censored in Germany and was released without the ability to further mutulate dead bodies. IN A ZOMBIE GAME WHERE EVERY ENEMY IS ALREADY A DEAD BODY

[@JustFun-ho6qy]

The Dying Light games suffered similar fates. I think the first was never officially released here while the second got censored.

[@colindanger3396]

The whole EU switch eshop has banned dying light because the the eshop is technically based in Germany

[@craigoneill2216]

To quote a great Australian “This is democracy manifest”

[@raptordoniv6779]

GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY PENIS!

[@otakuman93]

Mate just wanted to eat his succulent Chinese meal

[@WanderlustZero]

@@otakuman93 And you sir... are you ready to receive my limp [CENSORED]

[@enfenfenf]

God I wish I could have the Chinese food he was eating

[@Gopnikawa]

GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY [REDCATED]

[@Trowelhands]

As well as renaming Morphine to Med-X, they also had to change the word "drug/s" itself to "chem/s", which has remained a staple term in the franchise today.

[@Chonkems]

Germany now recognizes games as art, so Australia stands alone in game censorship outside of hardline regime countries lol.

[@Timic83tc]

Japan still censors the heck out of violence

[@BadenBattleBase]

Still many "low violence" and no hentai games on steam.

[@lennylennart88]

@@BadenBattleBase The "no hentai" thing will probably remain for some time, but the "low violence" games will eventually die out. Some Publishers are probably also to lazy to change that for old games. There are still some unbanned games still not available on german steam.

[@austinbatton4849]

@@BadenBattleBasehentai is basically child porn so that’s a good thing its banned

[@Nereosis16]

...did you perhaps take a look if any games have been banned recently? Cause, it's pretty clear you don't know what the f you're talking about

[@unadulterated]

sucks to be in australia for this but imaging living in new zealand and ALSO getting the censored versions even though it wouldn't be illegal just because publishers don't bother sending different versions to Australia and NZ

[@AlKusmantoro]

It’s going to cost the developers millions of dollars to have a version sold in NZ. NZ gets the same version Australia has boils down to distribution and marketing reasons.

[@AstralPhnx]

Fun fact! If a game gets banned in Aussie, often it just, doesn't make it to New Zealand at all! They can't be fucked submitting it for rating so it just... Literally never even makes it over here to begin with! Thanks Australia!!!

[@AlKusmantoro]

@@AstralPhnx that’s what I said. It’s going to cost millions of dollars to have a version made only for NZ. The distributor could not be bothered to do that nor those at the OFLC/FVLB would even bother to classify this game to NZ.

[@long_chin_man]

its a kiwi tax, once they start fielding their own air force we'll get around to sending them some proppa games right

[@rummazknowsbest1152]

In the UK our Carmageddon pedestrians were changed to green blooded zombies. Luckily a patch could fix either game.

[@AllenZomberg]

Based Carmageddon veteran

[@Crazy_Borg]

Be glad, as we germans just got robots. Not the C3PO kind, more the R2D2 type. Hovering, beeping metal trash cans.

[@teolaurich7212]

The german version of the first Carmageddon was so heavily censored, it got a 12+ rating

[@chillhour6155]

You didn't need a patch, you just typed in the password to re-enable it

[@emultra759]

The UK/Germany is also responsible for Contra becoming Probotector, Shadow of the Ninja -> Blue Shadow, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -> Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.

[@eurosonly]

If you're a well adjusted adult, violent video games won't have a negative impact on you as the brain can tell the difference between fiction and reality.

[@poleon2003]

And if they do have a negative impact on you then you need serious help lol

[@sujimayne]

Even as a kid, violent games, cartoons, movies, etc. are just fantasy and won't have any meaningful impact on you as a person.

[@sujimayne]

Kids have always, since the dawn of humanity, played "violent" games where someone is being chased, hunted or attacked. Animals do the same. It's our evolutionary trait and we wouldn't be here where we are if kids imagining some form of violence actually made them bloodthirsty psychopaths.

[@alewis514]

let me guess, is the rating board full of old men? like any establishment in developed country? then don't expect any reasonable decisions, only expect what advertisers want. the high seas have none of that crap. no bans, no censorship, no exclusions.

[@kainthedragoon8081]

Pretty much

[@JonathanWillow-zz7rb]

Found the disgruntled female.

[@choo_choo_]

@@JonathanWillow-zz7rb I don't think that's fair, everyone hates old dudes that make up arbitrary rules because they don't (and are unwilling to) understand the young'uns. I mean FFS, the US government is run by old men that wear diapers and shit their pants. Governments are run by literal toddlers that wear the faces of old men.

[@Timic83tc]

full of sjws more like it.

[@GabrielPhelanLucas]

Women are more censorious than men. Check surveys of college age women supporting suppression of free speech or just look at the majority sex of any given HR department.

[@GooseMcBruce]

surprised he didn't mention the removal of dismemberment for GTA 3, arguably the dumbest change the censors have ever made because their "censoring" makes the gun violence more realistic

[@CyanRooper]

The dismemberment in Vice City was worse than 3. Seeing NPCs claw at their missing heads after getting shot scared the shit out of 8 year old me.

[@armando1is1great]

@@CyanRooper funny that didn't scare me as a kid but Majoras Mask did lol

[@yaroslavkurgansky6205]

Wasn't that the devs' decision to remove it due to 9/11?

[@Bubba__Sawyer]

@@CyanRooper Who let you play Vice City at 8 years old?!?!?

[@CyanRooper]

@@Bubba__Sawyer I mean, most GTA fans worldwide played GTA games before they were 17 years old. Every video about the first OG Loc mission from GTA San Andreas has at least one comment saying something along the lines of "bro, I had no idea Loc got graped in prison, I was too young at the time, I thought he genuinely killed a guy for stealing his rhyme book."

[@aliensounddigital8729]

That's why mods are required. Bypass dumb decisions.

[@RomanZ-zy1ef]

Hell fucking yeah mods bring back everything without the horror things like blood gore etc there's no fun but only those with brains and thinking should play these games not brainless and mindless ones who will immediately copy everything.

[@skipskilligan7077]

Like the german versions of wolfenstein The Reich is renamed the "Regime" Himmler is called "Holler"

[@lordmontymord8701]

Yeah, but i mean that's really a joke nowadays. There was no reason to do that in the newer Wolfenstein-games from The New Order onwards when there are plenty of WW2-titles who changed forbidden symbols, but not names. And you even have something like Sniper Elite, where the newest games also got the "Kill Hitler"-dlcs without any problem. That's more anticipatory obedience from the publisher who thinks this is still a thing ...

[@TheHideout911]

thats the german version, right. however, you can also buy the international version that isn't censored on like psn or steam, with a german account. this ridiculous censorship is at least for now a thing of the past.

[@emultra759]

Everyone should refer to the Bundestag as the Reichstag and the Bundeswehr as the Wehrmacht until the censorship stops.

[@alantyndall85]

@@emultra759 My mother was based on West Germany in the 60s. It wasn't uncommon for a bunch of unrepentant Nazis to meet up in seedy pubs to have a Swastika themed lock in, which occasionally got broken up. They have good reason to ban Nazis symbols.

[@lancebaylis3169]

It becomes ludicrous, because at some point it's like denying history under the excuse of protecting sensibilities.

[@MissRosie722]

It is funny you mentioned THAT scene in FEAR 2 because I distinctly remember Outlast 2 being banned here in Australia for having *the exact same thing*

[@Timic83tc]

i can buy it tho

[@MissRosie722]

@@Timic83tc that's because the ban got lifted

[@WithoutStrife]

@@MissRosie722 yeah and after i played outlast 1 i was hyped for outlast 2 and then saw a article about how it was banned and i was like no fuckin way

[@Asilentobserver]

The same people that send you off to die at 18 years old are the ones telling you you’re not mature enough to see gore in a game.

[@trunguss]

What are you talking about?

[@AlamoOriginal]

@@trunguss politician making draftees went to war

[@DioTheGreatOne]

​@@trunguss You can't be that dense. No, it is not possible...

[@trunguss]

@@DioTheGreatOne I was just curious, jeez. I'll just keep quiet, not ask questions and stay ignorant from now on.

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

Here's a fun little tidbit: America had Jack Thompson, disgraced attorney and raging activist who hated video games and anything related to fun. Australia had former Attorney-General of South Australia Michael John Atkinson, another raging authoritarian activist who hated video games. He was also the only AG at the time who was staunchly against introducing the R18+ rating for games saying, "it will greatly increase the risk of children and vulnerable adults being exposed to damaging images and messages." When he finally stepped down in 2010, us Aussies finally got our wish of a rating system that treated us like adults... mostly. Do games still get banned down under? Occasionally, but it's no where even close to awful during those dark days. The latest game I can think of that has been banned is Postal 4: No Regerts. I'm not exactly crying about it because it's Postal 4. Postal: Brain Damaged, however, is very legal here. I have that game on the Switch right now.

[@lancebaylis3169]

@DawnOfTheOzz Expect a return to the nanny state after the govts new misinformation/misinformation bill becomes law. They're already using the "protect the children!" casino chip as an excuse for that one, it'll be a small leap from that back to winding back the R rating on videogames again.

[@RaineErasmusWalker]

I've been watching GManLives for at least 5 years, this is the most interesting concept for a video since he did Unreal & Unreal Tournament (which I've rewatched many times, I just enjoy a true fan talking about iconic games). I can't wait for my post-Sunday-workout GMan+chill ritual to round out the week! cheers m8 from 🇭🇺

[@SomeHomesickAlien]

Playing the german/australian version of L4D for like 12 years (before the censorship got removed) was one of the most frustrating things ever in gaming. Literally didn't knew where to go because the corpses just disappeared 😐

[@WillyDIreland]

That Left 4 Dead 2 censorship was a crime!

[@brumby92]

It split the community in half. Many played an imported copy, or changed a text file, but you were in a different server region and couldn't play with censored versions.

[@Rendo86]

To me, It makes it look like the survivors are fighting their inner demons.

[@CraigSteelyard]

The UK cover art was altered, because of the offensive hand gesture

[@wickednature2062]

love how aus bans games with drug use cause they don't want to admit they have a meth problem

[@Timic83tc]

no they do it to irritate the public

[@johng6565]

Not only is The Punisher game under loved, but so is the movie. The Jane/Travolta one

[@Versudan]

There's the other side of this that wasn't covered: The stuff like FIFA with simulated gambling targeted at children that they gave a G rating to. Which they still do, to this day.

[@LUCID_Rokka]

I recall always wanting to play Dead Rising 2 back then, but it was banned in Germany. Absolutely sad.

[@nullakjg767]

they can ban movies, video games and books, but they can never erase what they are.

[@raven80wolfx2]

​@nullakjg767 What they were. That is like saying Americans are all slave owners. We had a battle and ended it. No one alive to do is slave owner. It's history, and this is about video games strictness.

[@sandrinowitschM]

If it never occurred to you to import it or simply sail the high seas that's on you.

[@nullakjg767]

@@raven80wolfx2 bruh theyve been banning things up until very recently. stop acting like they were banning video games 150+ years ago lmao.

[@lordmontymord8701]

I think i still have the Polish version of DR2 lying around somewhere that i bought back in the dark days ...

[@lancebaylis3169]

The Australian government is a nanny state. Their legislation to stop youngsters using social media being only the most recent example. It's a shame, because it didn't always exist this way. Back in the 1970s there were things on Aussie TV that would've made America and Europe blush. Full frontal on a soap opera called Number 96. The deviancy in Prisoner Cell Block H. Heck, even in the early 1990s there were frequently softcore movies every weeknight on SBS. This country went ultra censorship crazy at some point and never looked back. It's kind of sad. And 99% of the population will immediately go, "Oh, they must be doing it for a good reason", and never question it at all.

[@mikaelamonsterland]

i wish governments didn't have the power to censor media down there in Australia or anywhere

[@jfwfreo]

One more interesting case of a banned game was the 2006 game "Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure". It was originally given an MA15+ rating but then a bunch of stupid local councils said "we need this banned because it might encourage people to commit real-world acts of graffiti vandalism" and the government listened and banned it. Its way past time we busted the myth that video games where the player does something (kill stuff, do sex things, take drugs, commit acts of vandalism etc) could influence people to do those things in the real world.

[@DCGMatthew1]

I don't know if you'll mention this but Postal 2 was actually banned a second time in Australia not long ago from Steam, but they did finally get the game re-rated and it's available again. Edit: Yeah, Postal 2 was always available on Steam here though.

[@JonAleno-jx1vg]

When my dad visited Australia in the 80s he loved how laid back it was. When I visited from england last year I was surprised that I couldn’t smoke on a beach . Not surprised it has strict censorship also

[@RainBird88x]

In the UK we had the BBFC and its bizarre hatred of nunchucks...

[@robertharris6092]

To my unnderstand it was anything related to ninjas. Hence why the teenage mutant ninja turtles name was censored.

[@WanderlustZero]

My brother heard about nunchucks from the BBFC ban, and immediately made a pair himself and got obsessed with ninja shit. I think we still have his shuriken somewhere. Good job BBFC!

[@drewrussell8531]

Canada has the same thing, I believe.

[@HowlYaDoin1999]

When it comes to Dead Space 2, there is graphic violence throughout the game, Isaac's suicide if you fail to defeat the apparition of Nicole, and the school shooting against necromorph kids; 'the pack', yet the game still obtains an MA15+. One day, if the second game gets a remaster without any changes aside from graphics and dialogue, Dead Space 2 will be R18+ for sure.

[@mauromerconchini]

As the Aussie gamer that I've been watching and following for the longest, I was curious when you'd get around to making a video on this subject. Because at this point you have so many good examples to choose from.

[@Irochi]

Germany is quite different now, almost nothing gets censored anymore. Every Mortal Kombat from X onwards was released uncut, and so the Wolfenstein games ("old school" symbolism included)

[@Reebz0r]

My favourite one, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. While initially passed with an MA15+ rating the Queensland Government appealed claiming "that the game promotes, and provides instruction for illegal graffiti and real-life graffiti artists." The Classification Board reviewed the appeal and on a 3 to 2 vote the game was refused classification.

[@tarnetskygge]

I read somewhere that due to the obvious historical tensions, Australia also had at one time a policy of censoring anything related to Samurai or Bushido, which I expect would have affected a lot of Japanese films and games... how much truth is there to that?

[@seanmckelvey6618]

Not that I'm aware of.

[@Astfgl]

That was the UK that did that. Quite a few games in the '90s had various ninja-related things cut out, like Li Long's nunchakus in Soul Blade for instance. Also the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were named Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles here. Of course since the UK mandated it, that affected the entirety of Europe as well and PAL games in general, including Australian releases.

[@Nereosis16]

You heard of Google, mate? You can look things up yourself, it's pretty cool.

[@lancebaylis3169]

@Astfgl Somewhat fascinatingly, while it affected every Hero Turtles home computer game (which were usually just the UK games literally released in Australia), the console games and arcade cabinets were released as Ninja Turtles, as was the cartoon. So, Australia got this weird hodgepodge of completely uncensored TMNT media, with the occasional piece of imported British merchandise bearing the Hero Turtles logo instead.

[@JewelCartmanJaty]

Don't forget South Park:The Stick of Truth. It has censored in Australia where there's a suggestive mini game have replaced with a picture of crying Koala.

[@Zombonkers]

I still remember my dad modding my PS2 so he could go overseas and get the punshier so I could play it in Australia, absolute mad lad

[@dustyliao3592]

Ah yes, I can still remember Australia ban Disco Elysium because the alcohol lower your morale point

[@Nereosis16]

The ban was reversed. That's what good governance is by the way - recognising mistakes and fixing them.

[@anonfaceless6088]

In the UK. The cover for L4D2 was turned round. As two fingers is a insult here. Found that hilarious

[@underthemayo]

Great idea for a video. Your dad helping you with the content restore is wonderful to hear lol. My mom let me put in the blood code for Mortal Kombat 1 on genesis on my birthday!

[@UnwovenSleeve]

Can't believe you didn't talk about Rimworld or Hotline Miami 2, Hotline Miami 2 still being banned for some reason.

[@williamsmith6706]

I've put so many hours in the level editor levels in Hotline Miami 2. The first game has more brutal sprites and attacks despite it being legal. It's all so ridiculous.

[@freman]

I love the banned titles list, it's basically my shopping list, if the gov says I can't have it I go get it.

[@Dnbray]

I remember australia telling callisto protocal devs to censor the gore and the devs basically said go fuck yourself at which point they just banned it

[@forsakenmoth6066]

Huh? i think you mean Japan right?, they banned it not Australia

[@chillhour6155]

They should've asked them to make a good games instead

[@DCGMatthew1]

That wasn't Australia. Fix your comment or I'm coming for you.

[@Timic83tc]

game is available here. your thinking of japan

[@Nereosis16]

Classic "Australia bad" mentally coming out when you can't even get simple facts straight 😂

[@tytoyanov]

Rimworld got outright banned for like a week several years after its release

[@Marine_Dynamite]

Which is ironic because Rimworld has the most realistic depiction of drug withdrawal of all the games I've played

[@tytoyanov]

@Marine_Dynamite we happy few is also about how blinding yourself with vices instead of facing reality is bad and it also got banned

[@Estaran]

As a German, I can totally relate to all the censoring. We got hit pretty hard with all that BS in the 90s and early 2000. Back in those days Soldier of Fortune and Kingpin were just some of the games that were totally banned, with the first one getting a hilarious censored version. In that version, all the human textures were replaced with robot textures, just like we had robots in the first Half-Life back when the German version officially was released. In a twist of events, most if not all games now are released uncensored. At least, I can't remember the last game that was cut because the rating board decided it was not fit for our gaming market.

[@Akaikabe]

Funny thing with the whole build engine stuff. At some point Duke was reclassified allowing it to be sold uncensored. Since Blood and Shadow Warrior came after that and the definition of what is MA15+ may have been tweaked around then, they went through fairly smoothly even tho they were objectively more violent.

[@lancebaylis3169]

Curiously, after the Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition was released in Australia uncut, subsequent releases of regular Duke Nukem 3D on PC were printed... still censored, but with a patch on the CD Rom you could apply to uncensor it. And the Playstation port of the game was uncensored right out of the box. Talk about a cluster-fbomb.

[@kangaroojacked440]

I remember my dad rented me the Punisher from blockbuster when i was 7-8 years old and I was bragging about the super detailed ways to kill people. My mom got mad and asked me "who bought you that?" and then my dad proceeded to repeat her question to me in an angry suggestive tone. Never felt so betrayed up until that point in my short existence

[@moomoomang]

Most of the inconstancies come from what devs include/omit in their submissions to ratings boards. It's not the board being inconsistent, it's that some devs would include, say, the Alma sexual assault scene in their submission under "sexual assault", and others would decide themselves that it's ambiguous, and it's fine. The only risk is that if someone complained to the ACCC, then you get fined for omitting details from your submission. You also get a chance to explain context, so a lot of these early examples were devs not providing good context along with their submission. Sorry to be a nerd, I'm just a dev that deals with this BS all the time, and it's so much more complex than people realise

[@Lazares222]

Best quote about censorship I have ever heard: "Censoring something is like telling a grown adult that they cant eat steak because babies cant."

[@seronymus]

This is my first time watching you again since a more controversial review you made, but it's comforting you keep your classic style, awesome interesting stuff!

[@AMillar1]

Is this why the majority of the amazing modders I know are all ozzies? The good old “if you won’t give us it, we’ll make it ourselves”

[@RomanZ-zy1ef]

Looks like it that's why old gamers rock and know how to handle true action and horror while today's gamers are mindless and brainless who are way too soft and sensitive

[@muratonuryilmaz5385]

A Turkish story for you. In Turkey (around 2015) they tried to ban minecraft for violence. News said "In game you steal cars and kill people" and more stupidly "A child wounded himself while trying to build a sling like he did in minecraft". Those news gone nowhere and stopped after about 1 month of bullshit. They also said game incouraged "animal cruelty" which was stupid as PETA. Now they banned Roblox btw

[@chriswilliams8159]

Still remember Dark Sector getting banned in Australia. Surprisingly, one of the better single player titles I played as a kid.

[@Infindox]

That game got banned? That's a bit bizzare to me.

[@diablosv36]

I think the problem was mainly because we had no adult rating for Videogames, as graphics got more realistic, violence issue were a crap shoot to classify, but this was largely solved by introducing the R18 rating, which was the rating we had for adult only movies, but still things like drugs are still kind of problematic, despite context.

[@thsudy]

“First they came for violent video games and i said nothing since I don’t play them. Then they came for the hentai and i said nothing since i don’t watch them. Then they came for me and no one was left to speak out for me” -Friendly Jordies

[@josephchandrasegaran276]

Thanks so much @Gmanlives for making this video. The topic of Australian censorship in both film and video games should be studied. Video games especially, as depictions of rape are not allowed (except in film), drugs (whether fictional or not) should not have any positive effects on the player. The list goes on This topic I find so fascinating, I’m even thinking of making a whole documentary on the topic, similarly in the vein of “This film has not yet being Rated” Again, tanks so much for cover in a topic like this.

[@DiscoBallGaming]

I still find it amazing a country filled with people so badass has a government so butthurt by video games, here in the US we got past this in the 90s

[@themeangene]

The Clinton administration was the last administration that tried to censor this stuff. I remember Tipper Gore claiming the increase in games going back to pong correlated to crime lol. Correlation

[@GiuseppeBeatz]

Growing up I always remembered hearing about Australia censoring videogames. It's nice to see your video and answering a lot of questions I had over the years and the reality of the situations of the censorship. The L4D example is a good one with modifying a config file and the only caveat was you could only matchup with others who modded theirs as well. It's hilarious that it wasn't even a problem cause everyone modded their L4D to have the gore in it. BIG FAN Love the vids!

[@Lando00100]

Growing up in the 90s it really feels like fighting to get things uncensored is now going backwards. Uncut DBZ episodes, parental advisory and Mortal Kombat were big deals at the time. Now boobs, gender and opinions are enough to get pulled off any market.

[@MewBlood]

Yeah, in the 2000s we had the likes of Jack Thompson trying to censor our games. Nowadays it's Twitter, Resetera, and Sweet Baby Inc. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@themeangene]

​@MewBlood lol exactly. But unfortunately these people nowadays seem far more successful ruining projects. At least games back then largely made it through untouched

[@tonymonroe3678]

I mean, those "interrogation" scenes in Punisher is 100% torture in the eyes of the Geneva Convention.

[@omarkumar8036]

Well the rating board in Japan is wonky as well. Like if you played Mgr revengeance the red blood will be switched to this white nano machine like blood for them.

[@CommanderBohn]

Honestly why there's red blood for cyborgs and machines boggles me since there is one big plot point about Sam and there is a reason why all cyborgs and machines have white nano blood. This in fact downplays the revelation about Sam.

[@ashleyseaton7422]

There's also the torture scene in Peace Walker being turned to tickle torture by Kojima as a way to protest the censors objecting to it

[@forsakenmoth6066]

CERO only applies to console games though

[@thischannelisajoke6810]

In the OG RE4, the Japanese version didn’t have the decapitation, meaning the oversea versions are less censored

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

In 'Deus Ex: Invisible War', the player could knock unconscious or kill any character. Even decide to kill some already unconscious character -- and carry around and drop the unconscious/dead bodies. I mention this because there was a girl's school academy in the game. Even in the Australian copy. It's so worthless a censorship that now children are either absent, or invincible.

[@Floptart]

OI MATE YOU GOT A LOICENSE FOR THAT VOIYLENCE?

[@ZFCaio]

The first time I listened to Aussie accent I thought it was Irish Both use "mate" and are hard to understand for me (English is my second language)

[@spiderwog1908]

Words cannot describe how much I passionately loathe censorship like seriously old farts who’ve never touched controller in their life should never be given the authority to ban shit they’ve never played or barley even understand. the only time and I mean only time I’m pro censorship is when it involves child corn, grape corn, real life gore videos, and snuff films

[@mrblack5145]

Something else to keep in mind is that the stuffy old codgers we have for politicians are getting voted out or dying, and getting replaced with younger (but still crooked) politicians. They also have younger staffers who are likely more in touch with the video game culture and can potentially sway the politician with reason. That might be a reason why its less of a deal than it used to be. Hell, maybe the allure of unattended minors or insider trading has taken priority over banning video games, it really is a crapshoot.

[@Reebz0r]

Politicians just bounce from one moral panic to another. Today its kids using social media, and online porn; they want to ban the kids and make people submit ID to access porn.

[@Nereosis16]

Hence why this banning video games problem barely exists now. All the games listed here are 10+ years old

[@dylansmith1851]

Yo gman love the vids bro been watching for i believe 2 years now. Please keep using the lil boosie "cmon dawg" that was to funny

[@Skullduggerydodo]

I always thought Australia was tougher than that , being from the UK we have this idea of Australia being the most relaxed and take no crap kinda ppl

[@DrMxy]

Indeed. Seeing as we sent all our criminals there, you'd have thought they could handle a few red pixels.

[@123mandalore777]

Everything you think about Australia is wrong then. Aussies are high strung, stressed out, anxiety ridden wrecks and they bend over and take absolutely everything given to them because they are spineless.

[@Skullduggerydodo]

@@DrMxy 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ZFCaio]

It's one of the hardest countries to enter, even more than America as far as I know I am a Latino from the far south of South America (really a remote place on earth) When I was a kid I watched a child's movie called Napoleon My dream was to visit Australia since then But that's gonna be a hard task

[@123mandalore777]

@@ZFCaio If you even visit, take note of all the threats we put up on the walls of our airport. I've been to several airports around the world and the Australian airport in Sydney is the only one that greets you with threats, and then you just see more and more threats plastered all over the walls the entire time until you leave the airport. Every other country has warm welcomes or advertisements or artwork put up around their airport.

[@pureventrue2357]

Mate your comment about the lack of consistency is spot on. F.E.A.R. 2 is one that always perplexed me so I'm glad you covered it. How can something like that get banned yet apparently the dimwits on the ratings board looked at the stroggification scene in Quake 4 (which came out 4 years prior) & thought yup, can't see anything wrong here. Teenage me had NO idea what he'd signed up for & was genunely traumatised by that. Still haven't forgiven them. 😑 That was actually my example argument of why we needed an 18+ category for games, so there would be a bit more distinction between product x & product y.

[@Trojeans]

Witcher 2, south park the stick of truth, Hotline miami 2 😥

[@Reldonator]

My copy of Postal 2 is also on a burned CD from the 2000's. My dad worked at a pc repair shop and they'd rip games they wanted off peoples computers and crack them. What a time to be alive

[@MasterBirb]

As an australian, its a pain in my ass, have you seen australian horror movies? Goriest ive ever seen, far better than anything the US could yet i wouldnt be able to play Postal 2 lol

[@LeafFerret]

There is one mention of 50 Cent Bulletproof where all the blood and gore were removed, the heads were left intact when you do a counter kill and the scene where the guy gets chainsawed is replaced by a black screen instead.

[@CatsOverdrive]

This reminded me of the serious sam games. To have the option of enemies exploding into pieces of fruits and bleed flowers, are very fun and funny to me.

[@Darkreaper1982]

I remember "Hatred" causing a lot of issues, which was funny as I don't remember anything about Postal 1 being a problem!

[@berko9647]

I love Aussies but they definitely do have a bit of a "nanny state" situation there.

[@user-gj1lb6xp3t]

I always thought Australia would be more chill on that stuff, interesting vid, really digging this channel 🤙

[@killedbyacat]

Don't they have more important things to do? Just ban them spiders not videogames, Jesus

[@bobcornhole1867]

You guys had it so bad. F for respect. Thanks for the videos GGGman.

[@dressionep]

So happy im not Australian

[@mortezalove9702]

Bro seeing syndicate (2012) footage in the intro brought a smile on my face. Such a underrated game.

[@burgerpocalypse]

the re5 racism has plausible deniability until you come across zombies wearing grass skirts and throwing spears at you

[@pezdispencer113]

You mean the remote isolated African tribes? What did you expect them to wear, Calvin Kleins?

[@AlamoOriginal]

its a tough concept, but true fans will know its rather the fact that the japanese developers and japanese people in general always set games in specific idealized version often in tone deaf approach, i mean all their games about Europe are usually about castles and their villages usually filled with plague-bearing people-burning zealots, and for Africa to be exotic or violent, it doesnt get much different from Western movies from 1970s or 80s. But racism isnt exactly the word, maybe unintentionally racist, but we need to find a word to explain it

[@arthurbarros5189]

23:03 the only other game I saw intestines trailing behind a wounded enemy is Dwarf Fortress. It even adds something trailing behind the creature in the map. Usually seen when dealing with undead.

[@Lord_Deimos]

Censorship is always garbage

[@DodgyDaveGTX]

"Are you gonna talk or die?" I've got a special place in my heart for The Punisher - pure nostalgia 😁

[@RSNTM3NT]

Australian Classification Board is a mistake and should have been disbanded for a long ass time.

[@jsutton0010]

If that was to happen, how would movies, TV shows and video games get the appropiate ratings then?

[@havanadaurcy1321]

CP should be legalised you sicko?

[@krazownik3139]

@@jsutton0010 Why the hell you would need rating in the first place. I watched Cannibal Holocaust and played GTA as a 12 yo kid and I didn't grew up as some criminal monster.

[@jsutton0010]

@@krazownik3139 So there are movies, tv shows, and video games for the appropriate age groups.

[@happynigel]

The look on Issac's face 28:20 will never cease to absolutely buckle me lmao

[@venomsnigle44]

Look I get it some people are weird but as soon as G-Man puts out a video, I watch

[@TheTrueJNR]

If i remember correctly, either Soldier of Fortune 2 or 3 had to turn all its enemies into robots, and Command & Conquer Generals also had to turn some or all terrorists into robots. Really dumb

[@Timic83tc]

perfect since australia about to pass an internet banning bill

[@Nereosis16]

Is this "internet banning bill" in the room with us?

[@Maxamush]

lolwut

[@Swordslinger-hb1ns]

1996 Gman. Duke Nukem 3D was released on January 29, 1996. A good 144 days before ID Software would release the revolutionary fps Quake on June 22. That’s almost 6 months btw.

[@fattiger6957]

I don't know if Australians are aware of it, but we used to think Australians were tough badasses. To be fair, it was based off of Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max, but it was a positive image. Now that image is shattered since we have discovered Australia is a nanny state run by people who are constantly in some moral panic.

[@MuscleCarLover]

The spider stuff is true however...at least most of it, not the car sized spiders I've seen in memes

[@Flesh_Wizard]

The people tend to be badass. The government, on the other hand...

[@WanderlustZero]

As someone posted elsewhere here, it makes sense when you consider: ex-convicts vs ex-prissy descendants of prison administrators

[@Nereosis16]

Holy shit, you guys are so deluded. Social media isn't real life my friends. Please, go outside.

[@dylanhenderson9555]

We used to live up to that reputation, but then the wokes took over. Not allowed to be blokey here now otherwise we get smeared as "racist" and/or "incels"

[@fricklinkfate360]

I watched this in my sleep (played as I was sleeping) and let me just tell you even though I had no visual input your voice and the audio coming from the video gave my dream and information output max overdrive that dream was WILD

[@Grudgebearer47]

Reason why there’s less video game controversy now is because the moral guardians have moved on to trying to censor anime instead of

[@tveye363]

No effing way. Anime isn't even a blip on their radar. Now it's all about social media.

[@AlamoOriginal]

they went way back old school with books and banning war medias (im Russian living in Florida)

[@tveye363]

@@AlamoOriginal Florida is such a shit state. They'll ban anything and everything if they could.

[@zzz66688]

Not at all, it's more like they've moved on to trying to censor sexuality/nudity rather than violence, basically, Australians are becoming more and more Americanised. Because as you know, sexuality/nudity is even more immoral than violence in the US.