rating
December 14th, 2009 at 08:40pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
Move over, Modern Warfare Reflex! Soon, Wii players will have a choice of “modern” FPS. In assigning an M-rating, the ESRB has revealed a game called SABRE Team, an FPS that takes place “‘behind enemy lines’ in a number of Middle Eastern-style locations.” The game lets players “navigate tight alleyways and corridors, secure buildings, and kill enemy forces.”
The publisher is listed as Collision Studios, developer of Jumper: Griffin’s Story on Wii and PS2, as well as both Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010 and Daisy Fuentes Pilates. Maybe, to save money, Collision will reuse some celebrity character models, and we’ll see a couple of Daisy Fuenteses providing cover fire. At the very least, all the soldiers should be limber. The dev is also responsible for 300: March to Glory on PSP.
The name SABRE Team was also used by a 1992 Amiga game. This could be a refresh of that series, but since the original was a strategy game and this is an FPS, even if it is based on the same source material, it’ll bear little resemblance.
ESRB: M-rated ‘SABRE Team’ deploying on Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading ESRB: M-rated ‘SABRE Team’ deploying on Wii
Tags: collision-studios, esrb, rating, sabre-team, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading ESRB: M-rated ‘SABRE Team’ deploying on Wii
December 11th, 2009 at 11:15am
Under Xbox 360
Konami appears to be daring enough to localize Ninety-Nine Nights 2 — which, we suppose, isn’t too much of a surprise since it showed the courage to publish the sequel to the mediocre action title in the first place. While Konami hasn’t said anything official, an OFLC rating has appeared for N32, outing at least a tentative plan to publish the game in Australia. Speculation: Konami’s not going to localize the game just for Australia.
Whether the announcement is good news or not depends on your faith in Feelplus (for whom this is the first action game) to deliver a better Dynasty Warriors-type game than Phantagram did.
OFLC suggests Western release for Ninety-Nine Nights 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading OFLC suggests Western release for Ninety-Nine Nights 2
Tags: action, australia, feelplus, konami, ninety-nine-nights-2, oflc, q-entertainment, rating
By Mister-X
Continue Reading OFLC suggests Western release for Ninety-Nine Nights 2
November 27th, 2009 at 05:00pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
Q-Games and Nintendo had a recent partnership in the release of Digidrive, but it doesn’t seem like they’re letting their relationship cool off any time soon. According to a new OFLC rating, Q-Games is developing — and Nintendo is publishing — a game called Reflect Missile. No platform was announced, but the safe money’s on either a DSiWare or WiiWare release.
Now, let’s get to determining exactly what a “Reflect Missile” is. Is is just, like, a really shiny missile, in which one might see themselves? Or is “Reflect Missile” a command in weird, broken English? For instance, “Captain Douglass, reflect [that] missile?” Or is the command being issued directly to the missile itself — “Reflect, Missile!” The possibilities are as endless as they are nonsensical.
[Via GamerBytes]
OFLC rating reveals Q-Games’ Reflect Missile, Nintendo publishing originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading OFLC rating reveals Q-Games’ Reflect Missile, Nintendo publishing
Tags: nintendo, oflc, q-games, rating, reflect-missile, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading OFLC rating reveals Q-Games’ Reflect Missile, Nintendo publishing
October 22nd, 2009 at 08:38am
Under Uncategorized
When Valve and publishing partner EA appealed the Australian rating board’s decision to refuse classification for Left 4 Dead 2 in the country, essentially making it illegal to sell down-under, Valve also sent through a cut down version of the game featuring altered content in order to pass classification.
That version of Left 4 Dead 2 received an MA 15+ rating, which meant that a censored version of the game would be allowed to go on sale, and would not contain “depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment,” which was a major concern for the Australian ratings board, the OFLC.
Simultaneously, though, Valve and EA appealed the original classification refusal of a fully featured Left 4 Dead 2, dismemberment and all, which has now officially been denied a rating and will not go on sale in Australia.
A media send-out regarding classification for the original version of Left 4 Dead 2 has revealed that the board has slapped the game with an RC rating – Refused Classification:
“Computer games classified RC cannot be sold, hired, advertised or demonstrated in Australia,” reads the classification results, which means that without a proper rating (for example, an MA 15+), Australians won’t get access to Left 4 Dead 2.
The rest of the classification results follows below:
“The Classification Review Board convened today in response to an application from the distributor of the computer game, Electronic Arts, to review the decision made by the Classification Board on 15 September 2009 to classify Left 4 Dead 2 RC.”
“A three-member panel of the Classification Review Board (the Review Board) has unanimously determined that the computer game Left 4 Dead 2 is classified RC (Refused Classification).
“In the Review Board’s opinion, Left 4 Dead 2 could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification. The computer game contains a level of violence which is high in impact, prolonged, repeated frequently and realistic within the context of the game.
“In addition, it was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional ‘infected’ characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the impact of this game on minors.”
Well, there you have it – Australians won’t be getting the full, uncensored version of Left 4 Dead 2 on Xbox 360, but Valve chief Gabe Newell has promised that a patch to add the removed bits back in may be possible.
Continue Reading Australian classification of Left 4 Dead 2 refused… again
Tags: australia, left4dead2, News, rating, xbox360
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Australian classification of Left 4 Dead 2 refused… again
October 8th, 2009 at 04:35am
Under Uncategorized
On its first attempt at trying to become accepted by the age ratings board in Australia, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), Left 4 Dead 2 had a miserable time and was ultimately rejected and denied a rating, which meant that Valve’s next zombie co-operative shooter wouldn’t be allowed to appear on store shelves in the country.
Valve recently appealed the rejection, however, by submitting a version of Left 4 Dead 2 to the classification board with altered content, in order to ease the board’s concerns over the game.
[Update] Details on what’s been cut from the Australian version of Left 4 Dead 2 follows below:
It seems as though the plan has worked, because an official classification and age rating recently appeared on the OFLC website, stamping Left 4 Dead 2 with a MA 15+, and declaring it to contain “Strong bloody violence.”
Just the way we like our zombie games.
If it is the edited content that got Left 4 Dead 2 through the Australian ratings board, Valve has promised that a patch will be released to add the removed content back in, for PC gamers at least. Xbox 360 players may not be so lucky…
Source: VG247
[Update] In order to get the approval of the ratings board in Australia, some extreme cuts have been made by Valve including the fact that the game “no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment,” while “No wound detail is shown and the implicitly dead bodies and blood splatter disappear as they touch the ground.”
You can read the entire report made by the OFLC concerning Left 4 Dead 2 over here.
Continue Reading Left 4 Dead 2 gets severed thumbs up from Australian ratings board
Tags: 2, australia, left4dead, News, rating, valve
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Left 4 Dead 2 gets severed thumbs up from Australian ratings board
September 30th, 2009 at 05:44pm
Under Xbox 360
Australia has a long, sordid history when it comes to banning the sale of mature games. Titles which exceed the limits of the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s MA15+ rating are refused classification, preventing them from being sold in the Land Down Under. Following such a ban on Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2, the introduction of an R18+ rating has been feverishly debated by the nation’s officials — however, a South Australian attorney general named Michael Atkinson is holding up the proceedings by vehemently opposing the adoption of the mature rating.
Atkinson told Australian news outlet News.com.au that he’s uncomfortable with the interactive nature of the medium. “People are participating and ‘acting-out’ violence and criminal behaviour when they are playing a video game,” he explained, later adding, “it certainly does restrict choice to a small degree, but that is the price of keeping this material from children and vulnerable adults. In my view, the small sacrifice is worth it.”
Rarely can governmental actions be attributed to just one person, but the OFLC’s refusal to rate mature titles is a direct result of Atkinson’s opposition. Remember, this is the same guy who tried to censor a public document which canvassed Australians on the issue in an attempt to better advise the nation’s ratings officials. He censored the study on censorship. Consider our mind truly boggled.
[Via GamesIndustry]
Australian attorney general refuses to support 18+ game rating originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading Australian attorney general refuses to support 18+ game rating
Tags: australia, ban, law, left-4-dead-2, mature, michael-atkinson, oflc, r18, rating, valve
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Australian attorney general refuses to support 18+ game rating
September 1st, 2009 at 06:00pm
Under PSP
The ESRB has proven to be the unacknowledged PR firm for the announcement of Sony’s PSOne Classics — today, the ratings board released its biggest onslaught of upcoming PSN titles to date, including such gems as:
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- Cool Boarders 3
- International Track & Field
- Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
- Pandemonium!
- Syphon Filter 2
- Um Jammer Lammy
Some of these ratings are new — however, Um Jammer Lammy has already been released in Japan, and Blood Omen and Pandemonium! were actually given ratings last March before mysteriously disappearing from the ESRB site. Hopefully, their resurfacing is indicative of their swift arrival — we’re jonesing for some old fashioned, Silicon Knights-branded Vampiolence.
[Via CVG]
ESRB rates Oddworld, Blood Omen and others for PSN originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading ESRB rates Oddworld, Blood Omen and others for PSN
Tags: blood-omen-legacy-of-kain, esrb, pandemonium, playstation-store, ps1, psn, rating, um-jammer-lammy
By Mister-X
Continue Reading ESRB rates Oddworld, Blood Omen and others for PSN
