Prostitute animation missing from Au GTA IV

By Mike Bantick
Wednesday, 28 May 2008 06:09

Opinion and Analysis

Australian and New Zealand Grand Theft Auto IV owners have a cut down version of the game.  RockStar have insisted all along that the product is not compromised in the game play experience whilst not being forthcoming in the actual edits made.  It was only a matter of time before an eagle eyed player catalogued the cuts however.

Over at the excellent PALGN website Luke Van Leuveren has reported a website reader’s dissection of GTA IV regional differences.

According to ‘Mick’; “, when players pick up a prostitute in the Australian version, there is no way to select a 'service' from the prostitute. The sexual intercourse sex animation has also been completely removed, so players will only see the car bounce from a locked rear-view. In the uncut version, after selecting a service from the prostitute, players can rotate the camera to see the prostitute's actions.”

There were also reported differences in the blood depictions within the game, but these are possibly incorrect. 

No cut-scene changes have been made it seems.

All in all, the furore caused by reporting of the cut version of GTA IV does seem ludicrous.  If indeed, the prostitution animation is the extent of the cuts made; this doesn’t seem to be a big deal.

On the other hand, the fact that the cuts were needed at all highlights the need to overhaul local video game classification laws in Australia.

With the misunderstood MA15+ rating being the ‘top’ level of video game classification, it is easy to see why publishers quail at releasing content intended for a mature market. 

The threat of the title destroying ban hangs over any attempt to target the older demographic in Australia and New Zealand.  So games destined for this market are often – inappropriately – shoe horned into the MA 15+ classification by making cuts such as the reported GTA IV modifications.