Yet Another Travesty Australia!
Once again Australia's "nanny state" classifications board has come to the rescue and stopped us from being exposed to the evils that are involved in video games. Thank you I hear you say, heaven forbid us fully grown, sensible adults be exposed to such terrible things.
Now if you cannot see the sarcasm dripping off that, then I cannot help you, but yes, another game has been refused classification in Australia, this time for the most ridiculous of reasons and the developer is not happy about it.
The game The Bug Butcher, developed by Awfully Nice Studios, is a 2D chaotically fast paced action shooter, inspired by arcade classics like Super Pang.
The reason behind the banning, well I'll let Awfully Nice explain this one to you.
"No hold your breath guys. Wanna know the reasoning behind this? Stay strong now dear friends: ........... We have a powerup called "Speed Powerup" where Harry injects himself a syringe. And THAT could be as well seen as a drug. WTF!!!! Seriously Australia?"
Oh it gets better!
"Australia is getting funnier every single day. We asked them what we could do to get the age rating and their response was to rename the powerup and change the icon. That's fine but the pricing. We have to pay the same amount again for resubmiting it. (890$). BUT there would be another option: Paying 10K for reviewing the old copy again!! Oh dear."
So yes it looks like once again our rating system has become a laughing joke on the world stage. After being part of the movement that for years tried to get an "R" rating for video games this is a bit of a kick in the teeth.
While I very rarely agree with our classification board, a lot of times I can understand why a certain game has been refused classification. I got my hands on Hatred, and after an hour of play was in complete agreeance with them due to the graphic nature of it. This time however, is just a joke.
Unfortunately for us it doesn't look like we will be seeing The Bug Butcher any time soon, and it looked to be a whole lot of fun, thanks to an over protective system.
On the plus side, now that more of this information is being plastered all over social media for the world to see, maybe, just maybe someone will wake up and realise just how far behind the rest we really are.
What say you Aussie Gamers!?
Pat (Snoogans)
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