50 Cent shot down by Australian censors

By Randolph Ramsay on 29 November 2005

Looks like Fiddy won't be In Da Club for Australian gamers, with the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) effectively banning the game 50 Cent Bulletproof from local sale.

The OLFC has refused classification for the upcoming PS2 and Xbox title 50 Cent Bulletproof, which means it can not be legally sold in Australia. The publisher of the game, Vivendi Universal, now has the option of resubmitting a toned down version of the game or skip sales in this country completely.

While the Board accepted the violence, coarse language and drug use in the game as "justified by context", it took particular objection to the game's 'counter kills' methods in arcade mode.

"The counter kills are enacted in detail, they are prolonged and take place in close up and slow motion. The most impactful of the counter kills involve knives and on-screen blood splatter. The Review Board determined that the impact of this mode was high and could not be accommodated at MA15+ classification. Therefore the game must be refused classification," Maureen Shelley, convenor of the Classification Review Board said.

With no R rating for games, MA15+ is the highest rating a video game can have in Australia. The OLFC has previously banned games such as Narc, Duke Nukem 3D and Manhunt in Australia. Earlier this year, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was refused classification after a hidden sex-based mini-game was found. Publisher Rockstar Games resubmitted the game with the offending content removed and was re-granted MA15+ classification last month.

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Topics: australia, game, 50-inch, cent, fiddy, banned, ban, classification, bulletproof, refuse

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Comments (2)

  • luke commented on 11/01/2006 14:32 Report abuse

    i think that they shuld make an r rating four games in australia,

  • big jim commented on 03/12/2005 01:17 Report abuse

    Its stupid, i am a big fitty fan and i pre-ordered the game and now i find out it is banned what a crock of **** i dont care about violence or the rap, i am a 16 year old i own man hunt and i dont believe that the 50 cent game could be worse...

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