Censorship for games in Australia?

I just read an article that makes me very nervous.


http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/state-of-decay-refused-classification-in-australia-20130627-2ozku.html


An open-world zombie survival game, State of Decay launched globally earlier this month, but it missed its local release, as the Australian Classification Board had not reached a verdict on the game.
It was announced on Wednesday that the game had been refused classification.
“Today, State of Decay was given a Refused Classification (RC) rating by the Australian Classification Board, meaning that the game cannot be made available to Australian customers at this time,” reads a statement issued by Microsoft. “[We are] currently evaluating the options with regards to the title’s classification.”

Are you reading that?

Developer Volition is working on an edited version to secure an Australian release.

Are you alarmed? I am very alarmed. I might let my complaint letter to the Australian Classifications Board speak for itself here.


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To Whom it May Concern,

I recently read a disturbing article on SMH.com about a game - State of Decay - being refused classification and was being edited FOR release here, I wanted to check with the people that would know, whether this was true.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/state-of-decay-refused-classification-in-australia-20130627-2ozku.html

If this article is false, please advise.

If this is true, I want to know how I can protest this.

I read that Australia wants to release an edited version of this game. I am not happy with this. I am a 27 yr old adult, and feel very alarmed when material that I purchase here has been censored in any way.

I value choice.

If the game is too violent, or there is drug use, or there are people exploding then I - as a 27 yr old adult - have the choice not to spend my money on it.

If the game developers want to access a larger market, they have the choice to remove certain elements from the game.

But removing elements from a game just because Australia refuses to allow the game into the country is not an acceptible choice.

Please write back.

Regards,

***


I'll post the reply here. I hope this isn't true, but if it is - this is no good.

What a fitting name...

A male character from borderlands had a boyfriend. And?

This isn't going to be a big post. It's just something I've wanted to say for a while, but it's such a small thing that I haven't said it.

Sir Hammerlock from Borderlands universe had some man love.

How do I know this? Because he makes an offhand comment about an ex-boyfriend in a mission he sends you one.

Why does it matter to the game? It doesn't.

That's why I wanted to say something.

So if he only makes a single offhand comment about an ex-boyfriend, and it doesn't matter at all to the game, why are you posting about it?

Simply because I found it really, really cool. There's no big reveal, there's no payoff to it or big storyline about his sexual preferences, he's not a romance option within the game. He's just a character in an FPS who happens to be gay or bi.

After sending you off to morph bugs into super bugs, and asking you to kill the ugly spider-octopus that chopped his hand off - this is just another mission. It's just something you do in the hopes Hammerlock will give you a badass sniper rifle.
"An old boyfriend of mine, name of Taggart, was hired to wipe out the Stalker population a while back. He also, adorably, tried to write a book about his adventures in the Highlands. You find the chapters of his book, and I'll plagiarize the living daylights out of them for mine. Win-win-win, as they say! Nobody says that. I say it." - Sir Hammerlock


This is business as usual stuff. It just happens.

And I love that.

It doesn't matter, in the end, Sir Hammerlock is just a cyborg dude giving you a quest. And we really need more of that sort of general, unphased representation. It's such a little thing, but it is important to gaming culture - to our culture at large.

You go, Gearbox.

Just chilling, being a role model for character creation.

Disney putting down the pens and picking up the software.

 

Disney turns away from hand-drawn animation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/07/disney-hand-drawn-animation

 

What a saddening article.

 

Let me start off by saying I don't dislike 3D animated features.  They're good, often quirky, usually funny. But I think they have a personality that is very different to a 2D hand-drawn film.

I was born in the mid-80s so I grew up smack-bang in the middle of the Disney Renaissance - just when Disney was having a resurgence of popular animated movies and enjoying time at the top.

I remember my uncle giving me a copy of The Little Mermaid on VHS – still have that too, despite my lack of VHS player. I remember seeing The Lion King and Aladdin at the movies. I re-watched Pocahontas just today and realised, hey – I knew at least two of those songs word for word and I didn’t even have a copy of Pocahontas as a kid. The same phenomenon occurred when I re-watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Epic soundtrack to that one.

So, what was it about these 2D hand-drawn animated movies that I love so much? Why do I prefer them over the 3D films?

For a while, I thought I may be recapturing a sense of my childhood when I watched Disney, especially the ones I grew up with. But, hell, it’s not just me. The Lion King is the highest grossing hand-drawn animated movie ever.

It can’t be the storylines. The films under the banner of “Disney Renaissance” don’t exactly follow the same formula.

Hercules, for instance, is a comedy. It’s filled with comedic antagonists, an oddly unfitting motown score and chock full of pop culture references.

Nice.

 

Pocahontas is a serious story about race clashes and the telling of the fictional love between historic figures John Smith and Pocahontas. It's also one of the only (the only?) Disney movies where the love interests don't end up together at the end. Though I'm not in love with the art in this one, it's a bit flat unless there's neon leaves whisking about.

Mulan is a study on gender equality from a Chinese poem, with the best love story in a Disney movie to date - I mean, she's a "dude" when their love story blossoms.

He's up for it.

(p.s. love how wiki categorises this one: "Mulan is a 1998 American animated comedy-drama martial arts musical film")

 

It's a combination of story, art and soundtrack that made the Disney Renaissance what it was. But that old Disney magic shines brightest through the physical efforts of it's animators. And as much as I like 3D animated movies, I am yet to see them match the feeling evoked by the Disney Renaissance. I'm yet to be convinced it CAN be replicated. 

Iconic.

Tangled was Disney's fiftieth animated movie and marked a turning point for the company. I think that turning point was that it was using half 2D half 3D animation and beat Princess and the Frog twofold in box office ticket sales.

And I know that the crinkle of hundreds of millions of dollars is hard to argue against, but I am. There is a place for this, there’s an undeniable charm of 2D hand-drawn Disney.

Hopefully, that charm lies in the future as well, not just the past.

 

 

 

Wonder Woman: BLOOD (the new 52)

 

Wonder Woman.

Everyone knows Wonder Woman. She’s an icon as recognisable as Batman or Superman. And she’s been around for a while.

I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about Wonder Woman - I don’t. Her history is varied. I do now at one point she owned a mod boutique and was also made from clay. I know she had an invisible plane - which is always fun to imagine. And I know she has been an enduring symbol of feminism when she was released. In fact, I think that was the point of Wonder Woman. She did everything the superhero men did – but she did it while being in possession of a vagina.

 

 

I know she has been relaunched a few times, the most recent of which was the new 52 - which is what I’ve just got as a present from one of my friends.

And it’s good! Blood is a collection of the first six issues, and so far I like what i'm seeing.

You probably already know the basics about the relaunch - that she’s now being written as the bastard daughter of Zeus - and no longer birthed from a wish on clay. This is now just a cover story that Hippolyta used to protect her daughter from god-driven machinations.

Wonder Woman is a bit younger, a bit less all knowing, a bit more impulsive. She’s fierce, and can be a bit scary. She’s still well known – but her plans don’t always work – which is great!

There's a strong emphasis on mythology - and that's what really sucked me in. I love the greek gods, and these interpretations of them are fresh and interesting.

The story starts in media res, with an introduction of the antagonist (well, one of them) and then following a young girl - Zola - who suddenly finds out she is pregnant with another of Zeus’ bastards.

That god gets around.

 

The main conflict in the story is really about the gods’ affairs. Zeus disappears, leaving his brothers Poseidon and Hades trying to take his throne. Zeus’ unloved wife – Hera - spends the first six issues rampaging around in a peacock feather cloak, taking revenge on all Zeus bastards - including Zola. Hermes entangles Wonder Woman by asking her to take care of Zola - then she is further entwined by the revelation that Zeus is her father. Wonder Woman spends the first six issues trying to sort out the whole “who should be sitting on the god throne” thing - and also dealing with her mother’s lie, and the fact she suddenly has a family of gods and demigods. And is a demigod herself.

That’s a big change. Though events in the book, Wonder Woman must align herself with her “new” family - the gods, instead of the Amazons. I know she’s left the Amazons in other timelines - but still that changes her character in a big way. I can no longer think of her as an Amazon – and a major event in the book removes that option – I now think of her as Zeus daughter. Hercules’ half sister...

Weird. But weird doesn’t equal bad.

Another big change in character is the addition of male heritage to Wonder Woman - and Hippolyta - who had become a perfect feminist icon.

on the cover of Ms.

 

I’ve been reading a few forums where internet peeps are questioning this – implying that adding the father, in fact giving her any male relations, reduces the impact she has as the perfect Amazonian.

Let’s just think about that. It's a little misguided.

Wonder Woman didn’t become a feminist icon because she was made of clay and a wish – she became a feminist icon because she believed in good over evil – she fought for good, over evil – and was a woman.  

It shouldnt matter that she is somehow "tainted" by the seed of a man. Being an amazon or a demigod doesn't have to affect her core character. Because being a pure amazon isn't what made her act the way she acts.

She should be the same basic character with a few tweaks.

 

 

Give her a chance in this new relaunch, let her prove herself to be what you expect. If she falls short - she does. I mean it's not like she hasn't had a few stumbles over the years ...

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/03/the_6_worst_jobs_wonder_woman_ever_had.php

...but she remains a strong character. This new series is exciting because not only is Wonder Woman in the middle of an interesting story, she’s a strong character, who just happens to be a woman.

I love that.

TAKE MY MONEY, DC. I WANT THE NEXT ONE.

Borderlands stays out of the kitchen!

'Sup.

So, in relation to my last post... Borderlands 2 is one of the games that realises apparently half the gaming population is female. And what follows is a rambling review of gender-specific part of the game.

Unlike the first game, which I remember being pretty heavy on the sausage (and light on the story) this game has surparssed expectations and made a shooter that includes women. And I don't mean a token chick - an effort to reach a demographic - women are integrated into the fabulous world of Pandora. The roles for women aren't - for the most part - female specific, a lot of the roles seem genderless, and only include women because, well, half of us ARE female.

The producers of the game haven't targeted girl-gamers, it doesnt come off that way at least, they've just made a fully realized world. The whole production of the game seems pretty female-friendly... okay, apart from that casual misstep where one of the producers nicknamed one of the "hey you suck? well pick this" skill the girlfriend tree and got raked over the coals...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-13-borderlands-2-gearbox-reveals-the-mechromancers-girlfriend-mode

 

Just to clarify, I suck at critical hits. But that's because I didnt grow up with first person shooters - I grew up with Bloodrayne.

...the whole Borderlands 2 experience is welcoming for a woman. I'm not going to go into the "TITS OR GTFO" experiences some people have on the servers, I haven't played online so I don't know what the community is like - but the game itself is done the way it should be.

Ellie - likes: cuddling, murder

It's little things - walking up to a NPC in town and hearing a female voice (alot of the random characters in the towns are androgynous looking), getting many questlines of female characters. You spend time with the vault hunters from the first game - and the character that's around the longest is Lilith. Surprising.

I have to note that the humanoid grunt-enemies you fight in the game are all male - you wont find any real female presence there apart from the occasional Queen Sandworm .

I can't assume it was to save costs when there are so many enemy types. I'm not sure what drove that choice when female presence and image was so easily achieved elsewhere in the game. Perhaps market studies show that people are just happier shooting virtual men? *shrug* for a different blog perhaps...

Before launch, there were four main characters, and it was the usual spread of three male/one female - but then they added Gaige, who I believe is a thirteen yr old robot-constructor. I was pleasantly surprised! Three to two isn't bad - especially when we're talking about a shooter, a usually male dominated genre.

But on TOP of the even character genders, they also show a full spectrum of female archtypes. From Tiny Tina - a tween explosives expert, to Moxxie - the oversexualised one,

Moxxie's favourite weapon - Miss Moxxie's Good Touch is a gun that vibrates your controller when you equip it.... Hmmm....

to Angel - the helpless madonna, to Gaige - the cute one, to Ellie - the one defying body image, to Captain Scarlett - the one that will definitely stab you in the back.

I friggen love the jovial, upper crust, hook-handed Scarlett.

These women aren't the usual bikini clad, big chested dolls that usually populate video games (despite what an internet search on the females in the game could lead you to believe, I swear there are a lot of great artists out there that want to do nothing but draw Maya performing favours on the rest of the main characters) - not every female character is a sexpot like Moxxie. And that's important to have - it's good that females aren't just represented by "sexy". There are more character options out there - and Gearbox understood that.

Wearing a blood-stained mask of a Psycho on her head...

I couldn't be happier seeing so many females populating Pandora. And the ability to play two different female characters - with female voices - it's just great. I'm invested in this game, and it is an amazing game besides all this, because I feel welcome to it.

 

Hopefully the big damn success of Borderlands 2 will encourage other production houses to look closely at what Gearbox Software does. Not only has it made an engaging game here, it’s made an involving game for all those gamers out there - not just half.

Girl gamers? Not such a minority anymore...

So I got the EB World email, along with 1 million other gamers. And I was surprised to see 42% of those gamers ... were female!

Say what?

I know. For a moment, I thought someone may have made a typo as well. But I'm going to go with it. In fact, the surprise was a happy one. All I ever hear about in regards to girl gamers is the gender disparity in the community - mostly represented by the question: "Wait - you play games? You?"

Yes I do. And apparently so do a lot of other women.

This what it must've been for all the gamers in 1986, victoriously finishing Metroid after hours only to find... *GASP* Samus Aran is a girl!

You crafty bitch! I couldn't see your swimsuit under all that power armor!

That might not seem like a big surprise but in 1986 - it was! Whahhh? A girl?
The creator actually put this reveal in to surprise the player - which to be surprising has to be unexpected. And it was, despite coming out early in the line up, Samus was surrounded by Contra, Super Mario Bros, a ton of male sprites in assorted sport games, Castlevania etc etc And Samus caused a stir. She even has a trope named after her...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SamusIsAGirl

Despite being created for shock value, Samus also created a female presence in games. While many people perceived her as hardly making any strides forward for female kind because under the power armor she could be anything - male, female, alien - that's not really the point. She just is a woman. The story isn't any different, she kicks butt like any other character would. She definitely isn't helpless. And she's a chick.

Why did I even mention Samus? Because she represents! I'm a woman and I don't mind playing male characters but that doesn't mean I *only* want to play male characters.
Portal's Chell is a modern version of Samus. She's a woman for the reason that... she is. There is no reason. It's not a big thing. She just has girl-parts instead of boy-parts. There should be more of this.

And I agree, we are getting much more! RPG games would have a female character choice as a standard now.
FPS usually have at least a 1 in 4 chance of a woman. Borderlands is the one I've been playing recently. Left 4 Dead is another.

But I want more. I want a female protag in a Bioshock type game. I want a Wonder Woman game as awesome as Batman: Arkham City!

Games are still mostly representing males, it's true. A quick view at Playstation's Coming Soon List confirmed my suspicions (along with a very high number of sequels?) I think all the titles in the next few months have male looking characters on the covers.

But hey, if 42% of gamers are apparently females... then we have a weighty presence. We BUY almost half your products. Want to sell more games to 42% of your market? I have a few ideas how...

Angel: Blood and Trenches by John Byrne

Set in WWI!

I picked this one up because of the artwork actually. Not just the cover (above), but the artwork is a bit different than what I usually see, and very cool. John Byrne is the writer and artist for this one, and the graphics are actually pencilly looking. There's no real ink work. No clean lines. No real colour for most of it! The pictures look like sketches.

I think that's awesome!

The only colour that appears that departs from graphite - is the colour red. I'd say it was Sin City-esque but Sin City is so clean and sleek - this isn't. This is rough. And it works.

The artwork is great - what about the story?

Basically, Angel is in New York, reading some news articles about the war, and (without spoiling you too much) he sees "something" that he believes might require his attention on the front line. *ahem* vampires.

That's not really a spoiler, it was a pretty high chance the antagonists in the story would be vampiric. Or demonic.

Anyway, Angel gets himself on a boat and starts investigating while working as an ambulance driver.

Sound interesting? It is! Actually this is only a few pages but that just sounds enthralling to me. I want to know MORE. I wanted to see more of his interactions with the other people. I wanted more build-up. I want MORE backstory, more character tension, more every-day situations and how hard they are for him at that time. But what I got was still great. I just wanted more...

Angel as an ambo in WWI.

This story is more of a character study about Angel, dealing with his nature. This is a lot closer to his Angelus days than we usually saw in the series. Which is great. I like exploring Angel's past. I always wished there was more of it in the show - and a graphic novel form is the perfect media.

Byrne writes Angel very well. He's very reserved in this era - and has a lot less control over himself and his actions than the Angel we're used to. He's still trying to come to terms with himself. He's not there yet.

The story is pretty simple, though told in a not-quite-linear fashion which stops it from going dry too quickly. I liked Angel's headspace in this one - he flees a lot, he's not strong, and he's not quite in control. It's a great look at a character I love.

I recommend it.