Mortal Kombat Banned in Australia

Australia is famously strict about what it lets go on sale in its video game stores. It’s slightly odd that such a free spirited, easy going nation of people should be so uptight and restrictive when it comes to the world’s largest entertainment media.

The latest title to suffer from the over-zealous Aussie banhammer is the upcoming (and rather exciting-looking) Mortal Kombat. The game has been banned due to the graphic nature of its “Fatalities”. The Classification Board have issued a statement attempting to explain their decision:

The game includes over 60 fatalities… which contain explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, disembowelment and other brutal forms of slaughter. Despite the exaggerated conceptual nature of the fatalities and their context within a fighting game set in a fantasy realm, impact is heightened by the use of graphics which are realistically rendered and very detailed.

So there you have it, Australians. Those of you who are old enough to drink, get married and vote are apparently too naive to realise the difference between fantasy violence rendered in a video game and actual violence that you might be tempted to commit yourself.

Source: Gamepron

18 Comments

  1. Ratings board win: FLAWLESS VICTORY

  2. Heroic Brutality? *Awaits stoning from angry mob.*

  3. You’d think we’re still in the 20th Century.

  4. I watched Wolf Creek and Road Train recently, both made in Australia, both Brutal and fairly sick in parts.
    Hypocrisy springs to mind. If I was an Aussie, I’d be quite aggravated. I imagine it costs a lot to import there too.

    • Cheaper, but no dlc. Our games are way overpriced, even compared to the UK.

  5. It’s not our fault, we’ve been trying to get an R rating for years but every time it looks like a possibility some politician postpones it and pushes it back. It’s a pity, but that’s why there is ebay and cdwow :)

  6. They ban ths, but they didn’t ban splatterhouse. Wierd. The aussies have made some gory movies in the past. You’ve got to wonder what the have against games.

  7. Import it from Canada: videogamesplus.ca

  8. Its cheaper to import from ozgameshop/365 games by almost 40 %, and they wonder why all the retailers are going broke

  9. I have been playing Mortal kombat games since i was 5 and it has always been a great way to connect with my older brother and sisters.

    despite not being a family game it was a great way to connect with my family.

    Mortal Kombat kept me from my madness, with the game i had a fun way to play with my siblings, despite the age gap between us.

    The banning of this game will only end in anger, anger of which could have been avoided had the government not tried to act as moral guardians and let us make our own reasonable decisions.

  10. 60 fatalities…. sorted :)

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