Fallout 3 gets Australian release

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 12 August 2008 04:40

Your IT - Entertainment

Banned initially, the award winning Fallout 3 has been tweaked and now given the go ahead for Australian retail.

Though the actual edits required are yet to be announced, the good news is that Bethesda and distributer Red-Ant seem to have satisfied the Office of Film and Literature Classification in Australia to allow Fallout 3 to be released.

Originally banned , or rather classified as unclassifiable thanks to a lack of an R18+ rating for interactive entertainment, Fallout 3 was said to contain… “ the option to take a variety of "chems" using a device which is connected to the character's arm. Upon selection of the device a menu selection screen is displayed. Upon this screen is a list of "chems" that the player can take, by means of selection. These "chems" have positive effects and some negitave effects (lowering of intelligence, or the character may become addicted to the "chem"). The positive effects include increase in strength, stamina, resistance to damage, agility and hit points.

Corresponding with the list of various "chems" are small visual representation of the drugs, these include syringes, tablets, pill bottles, a crack-type pipe and blister packs. In the Board's view these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method bring the "science-fiction" drugs in line with "real-world" drugs.”

At this point both Bethesda and Red-Ant have not mentioned how the game has been altered to allow its new classification of MA15+ in Australia.

A Red-Ant spokesperson did say however:"We are happy that the game has been classified by the OFLC and that it will be releasing in Australia"

Like the slight edits to GTA IV for this country however, fans will be interested to know how much has been changed before rushing to the sales counters on the games release.

iTWire will let you know when this information comes to light.