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Planning
for the videogame adaptation of Reservoir Dogs began with SCi
Games Ltd. acquiring the interactive rights as early as 2003, yet is
not due to be released until Autumn of this year. Players have the
chance to fill in any blanks the film may have left and shall
hopefully explain questions presented in the 1992 film of the same
name, created and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
In
this Third-Person Shooter you experience the run-up to the robbery
as well as the actual diamond heist itself. Players will get to play
as the films different iconic characters which feature both the
likeness and voice talent of Matthew Madsen who played Mr Blonde in
the movie. Considered to be close to Tarantino’s style of movie
production, with extreme violence, the full original Soundtrack and
it’s non-continuity edited story-telling, this title is already
becoming readily anticipated by many.
There
will be at least one country which will not get to see this event
however, as in a Press Release by Eidos it is revealed Reservoir
Dogs has been banned for sale, hire and demonstration by the
Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) in
Australia
. The reasons stated by the OFLC are that it “Contains frequent
depictions of violence that have a high impact”.
The
specifics have been described in a Press Release by the Australian
Government Classification Board and make for interesting reading.
First off we have the fact you can blow people’s heads off at
point-blank range, a slow-motion shootout which helps to emphasize
the violence and, perhaps most telling, is the inclusion of special
Signature Torture Moves for each character. These range from
repeated pistol whippings to cutting-off fingers and burning out
eyes with cigars complete with lots of blood. Three guesses what Mr
Blonde’s signature move will be!
Nay-Sayers
may begin to wonder what the chances are of it being banned in this
country, with such a violent résumé under the belt and our
‘nanny state’ status; however I believe it is important to
consider the types of classification available in Australia and how
each film or videogame is classified before jumping to any
conclusions.
The
tiers are similar to the UK British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
First there is G for General, which is the same as our Universal
(U); PG for Parental Guidance is the same in both countries. It’s
here where things get a little tricky. M is for Mature Audiences,
which rather than being a legality is more of a recommendation for
parents and guardians; next comes all the legal bumph with MA 15+
which states under 15’s would only be able to watch this with a
parent or guardian. R 18+ is at the top-end, perhaps obviously,
unsuitable for anyone under the age of 18. Unfortunately the R 18+
classification is only for movies so, as said in the official Press
Release from Eidos: “the OFLC's rating system does not have a
suitable age classification for this (game).”
The
highest classification for videogames stands at MA 15+ so many games
which contain strong adult themes may not get a release in
Australia
. For example Marc
Ecko’s: Getting Up Contents Under Pressure was considered
to promote crime in the form of graffiti so was withdrawn from sale
and subsequently banned, yet surprisingly Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas was eventually classified as MA 15+ although originally
it was banned also.
Although
not an authority in matters of classification, I believe it may be
time to add that R 18+ classification to videogames. In the past
ten-or-so years we have seen the videogame industry change
dramatically from being seen as something only children do to an
industry where a large proportion of its audience are adults, it
seems strange that the OLFC has not noticed or does not care about
the larger amount of games with adult themes coming in and included
the R 18+ rating for videogames as well as movies.
Incidentally
the BBFC has approved Reservoir Dogs for an overall 18
Classification. Although details from the BBFC are very sparse it
appears while the game itself was rated 15 it was the Cut-Scenes and
Full Motion Video which pushed it over the edge into an 18 rating.
With foul language and many instances of this extreme violence we
should possibly expect a certain amount of uproar when this game is
finally released sometime in Autumn of this year. Until then stay
tuned for news and information here at Electronic Articles.
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