Another twist in the battle between Valve, Australia’s game classification board and the countless thousands of zombies which comprise Left 4 Dead 2 (see our first blog entry on this farce here; thanks for the update on this story are due to Slashdot).
It seems that Valve has prepared a “compromise” version of L4D2 with which the Australian game classification board feel happy enough to award it a “15+” rating. Exatly how is this a “compromise”? The most popular quote from the board’s report is that:
“The board notes that the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment.”
We can’t help but wonder what this compromise version will look like – flowers and daisies will replace all the dead zombies (a la Serious Sam) ? Possibly the Tellytubbies or Bob the Builder might make an appearance?
Apparently, Valve is still pushing ahead for its full version to be accepted – a hearing is scheduled for later in the month. Let’s assume that that hearing decides the “compromise” version must be released. It seems to us that that decision may well lead to an increase in (i) downloads (or attempts to download) the non-Australian version of L4D2; and/or (ii) considerable attempts to crack the Australian version; and/or (iii) an increase in parallel imports of non-Australian versions. All of which would no doubt be in breach of several Australian laws. We will leave readers to draw their own conclusions as to whether the board’s rating decision should still stand in those circumstances…