John-ShepardWow, we're used to writing such headlines for Australia, but it isn't often that Japan is forced to play the "AO" card.
Not only has the United Front title received the AO – Adults Only – rating in the Land of the Rising Sun, the game has also been cut and altered. According to CVG , the Japanese rating board had a big problem with civilian casualties.
Therefore, the game now features a penalty for attacking civilians "during certain missions." They've also removed a "less gratuitous sex scene" and a character who signals the start of a street race (apparently so players don't run him over). So now we'll be interested to see how other ratings boards, including the ESRB, handle the potentially harmful/offensive content in Sleeping Dogs . This is starting to remind me a little of the Manhunt controversy…
Sleeping Dogs currently holds an August 15 release date. And Square Enix really doesn't want it to have the AO rating here; it means major retailers won't even stock it, and in stores that do have it, you'd have to ask for it by name, as the product is kept behind the counter. Kinda like what we did with that Playboy game when I was workin' at EB.
Related Game(s): Sleeping Dogs
As a person that hated the True Crime series I'm not expecting much from this game. Let the idiocy shown by the Australian government be a sign of things to come to the Sates. Tomorrow we find out if we're totally screwed.
Last edited by LimitedVertigo on 6/27/2012 9:22:32 PM
Too Hot?! This coming from the land that brought Tentacle anime porn and other weird hentai?
what he said.. with the stuff they show in their anime (even the non porn graphic ones) i didnt think ANYTHING could be "too much" in Japan
They do fuzz their porn, so what you can see has to be extreme 😉
Also umm doesnt Japan gave GTA? which allow syou to do all the "bad" things listed in true crime so why doesnt that get an AO rating?
Cripes, I was kind of interested in this but if they dice it up for the US then never mind.
Right , I'll take the unedited AO ,"complete ", edition.
I heard that the ESRB rated it M without the edits, so we should see an unedited version in the states.
I see this game being edited or outright banned in Australia, especially if it is as violent as they say.
Wasn't really interested in this game anyway, looks like a poor man's GTA but without the hilarious fun of Saints Row.
Here's hoping it gets through the Aussie censors. I'm kinda worried because I've been interested in the game since it was True Crime and everything I've seen of it has made it look like what I'm wanting. Looks like the perfect game to tide us over until GTA V next year, if it doesn't end up being better. UFG has collected a lot of experience in where their staff has been in the past.
according to EB its already been rated MA so looks like its safe, surprisingly!
wonder if it got edited or not though.
I don't mind controversy or adult content, but seeing what does get through the censorship today I'd say this game here sounds more like a scream for attention than anything else.
Like a really bad b-movie.
Last edited by Beamboom on 6/28/2012 2:24:55 AM
Aye – you make a very good point. Given what normally does get through, makes you wonder what got 'em that rating!
Yeah. It's probably extremely speculative. Or just plain junk.
Prepare for the inevitable refused classification when this hits Australia…. because of torture scenes etc etc.
Meanwhile, i can watch The Human Centipede 2 & The Divide whilst eating lumpy fruity yoghurt in my undergarments if i so desire. :/
I'm not too interested in this one regardless, so if it does come out before our R18 comes in & gets the chop i won't be too bothered as it shares too much of a likeness to True Crime for my liking, & those games were hairy donkey balls.
aparently its already been rated here so we should be ok.
we probably got the botched japanese version though, so i might think of importing it.
from what ive seen though id be surprised if it has not been edited, i mean a roof top fight where you throw a guy into a air conditioning duct slicing up his face?
OUCH!
while blowing a zombies head off in L4D2 is a no no.
sigh.
Now I'm looking forward to this game more than ever.
This is starting to remind me of the GTA: San Andreas controversy.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 6/28/2012 11:24:16 AM