Of course, that doesn’t explain why the PC version has no cuts. Unless they’re thinking that console = kids but pc = adults.

I am inspired to try your experiment, particularly as I am personally quite surprised by some of the content of television (which I rarely watch). I think it may be, as Warren Ellis said through the mouth of Spider Jerusalem, that you can get used to anything. A corollary of that is, perhaps, that things which you are not used to – even those ostensibly similar – can seem quite jarring.

The urge of antipodean post-colonial governments towards new and repressive censorship is probably fairly dull for those readers not currently living in those antipodean post-colonies. I don’t question the authority of a government to regulate the media, but I do find that the example of Australia is particularly good – if one is looking for an example of how *not* to intelligently regulate “new” media. I am pleased to learn that other governments appear to be more reasonable.

To haul, momentarily, away from such tasty ethical stuff, and to return to the nominal topic-at-hand – namely Dead Space – I found the zero-gravity segments to be rather infuriating. This was particularly true if the ‘breadcrumbs’ were used since this tended to result in some wild head – and thus camera – flailing, a slight sensation of nausea, and precisely zero intimation of where I was supposed to be travelling. Possibly this was a feature, intended to make zero-gravity navigation something of a puzzle, but I found it to be immensely irritating.

Regards,
T.

*Lunges wildly into the arena*

So ratings are based on the shock the majority will enlicit from a game? Like I could happily when younger watch action heroes eviscerate people and use extreme violence, but I was generally disturbed by the likes of the exorcist. Am I even on point?

I rarely post on here but I was bored tonight, yet I check this blog so often I think I’m rather sad. Might not agree with all Tom says (opinions in my opinion are pick and mix rather than a bundle) but he’s damn funny and insightful at times. What are these changes you’re making to here anyway?

Ciao ciao

Interestingly the BBFC used to work on a checklist system (head butts were arbitrarily cut for example) but now they’re more flexible, and more relaxed, and just better. Sadly other classification boards don’t emulate them nearly as much as they should.

The context of gore changes its impact. Seeing it come out of a monster that had to be killed to save a human life is different to seeing it come out of a human who was shot for no reason. Just as is it is different again to see that same gore inside someone on a medical drama. I don’t imagine they have a unilateral policy on the colour red, nor would I want them to adopt one. I know nothing about Australian censorship, but the UK’s BBFC works in a much more human and nuanced fashion than the dispassionate checklist of sex acts and viscera most seem to imagine.

To your other, aborted questions, it’s informative to sit and play a violent game with a non-gamer, or have them play it themselves. My friend Steve’s wife saw him hit a pedestrian in GTA and yelped, “Oh my God, I think you killed him!” Steve found himself replying “It’s okay, the cops didn’t see.”

Your fourth point is particularly good, however I believe that Australia is afflicted by proximity to Pnakotus, the Library City of the Great Race of Yith, rather than any emanations of malignant Star Spawn.

Your first point is correct. The ostensibly reprehensible behaviour is still possible, even actively encouraged in some instances, but in the censored version lacks the abundant red-coloured textures that accompany it in the uncensored version.

Your second point is likely to be, on balance, the closest to reality – at least to reality as you or I or any other piteous blessedly-blind mortal perceives it.

Regards,
T.

1. GTA is more about killing people for no reason, but rather than censoring the activity, they’re making it less violent, so no dice there. That’s your second point, Trimetheus, aye?

2. GTA is a controversial game; people who know nothing about games have an opinion on this game in particular. As part of a body or bodies appointed solely for the purpose of defending the populace against, you know, teh vidjeo gamez, you want to be apply the most attention where it is most effective.

3. Bodies like that must be aware of how their system is being subverted. A half-blind, xanax-popping parent might just buy GTA for their 12 year old kid. Hell, I knew a 13 year old in the US who could complete missions for me, and in Hitman:SA too. GTA is popular with the naughty kiddies, and perhaps they’re giving it special attention because they know kids will get a hold of it. Dead Space has horrible things on the box. It even smells of rotting meat, for the completely blind parents.

4. Australians are suffering from relatively close proximity to the sunken city of Ry’leh.

5. You all made all this up and I’m too tired.

6. Reloading!

Only now, too late, I notice my grammatical errors. I can only blame my latent terror for this.

I shall, nonetheless, vigorously beat my servants as a result.

My apologies.

Regards,
T.

I find your argument to be quite coherent, but I am dubious about how it applies to this situation. The censorship in GTA IV is rather cosmetic in nature. It seems to focus on epiphenomena associated with the sex trade (“service selection”) and violence (fountains of blood). Dead Space, despite the Just War-like defensibility of its violence and the inhuman nature of those upon whom the violence is inflicted is incredibly gory.

If the criticism of GTA IV was about its implicit sanction of lethal violence used pre-emptively and for personal ends (which I am – for the record – unsure about) then it would be necessary to ban it completely. To vaguely sanitize it seems more like a punitive or self-justifying activity than one that stems from considered moral principles (the consideration of moral principles being something that I tend to ardently endorse).

Your statement about the moral thinking of a, necessarily abstract, category of “Gamers” makes me wonder: Do we fail to register these things? If so, are we distinct from anyone else in doing this? I will stop this line of questioning though, before I begin to bemoan the lack of philosophical introspection present in our societies, and so on.

I must confess to being both curious, and vaguely terrified, by your terminal remarks. I hope that you will see fit to discuss it at length in future, if and when you convenient for you to do so. Video Game discussion and gratuitious Nietzsche quotes are, in my experience, a rare enough constellation that they should be prized.

Kind regards,
T.

I’m vaguely in support of the latter logic. As gamers we see things so mechanically that we sometimes don’t even register the moral difference between a game that asks us to strike first, against what are notionally humans, and those where we only defend ourselves from attackers.

Roadrunner: I think when a question like that weighs enough on your mind to type it out, James posts may be occupying too large a part of your brainspace.

I’m slightly rethinking the logic of this place, so it might be quiet for a while. The unhealthily astute may have already noticed a subtle change in the last couple of days.

Sorry. I just wanted to add another comment. :|

I believe, according to the exhaustive http://www.refused-classification.com website (their rigour somewhat expiates their use of Comic Sans from time to time), that the Australian release of GTA IV is edited very slightly. New Zealand was to receive the same version but a citizen complained about being subject to a decision of the OFLC, an Australian body, when he lived in New Zealand and so New Zealand received an unedited version.

The edits are minor, to my knowledge, but irritating in principle.

I have no idea how drug use is an issue in Fallout 3, but not in GTA IV, and how violence and gore is an issue in GTA IV but not in Dead Space – perhaps the OFLC reviewers were just extremely good players and were never decapitated by huge chunks of spinning metal in zero gravity? It is at least a possibility.

However, I fear we are radically disgressing from the topic at hand. Much has been written elsewhere on Australian censorship (and it should continue to be written there).

Thank you for your comments, dear interlocutors.

Regards,
T.

The Australia thing gets even weirder, they’ve just let the PC GTA pass without cuts, suggesting they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

Dead Space’s single greatest failing for me is one of timing. It emerged from its, no doubt hideous, pupation at a time when the marketplace is full of games of high quality, good length, and sound replayability. It is hard for a fairly linear game, even one whose combat is as interesting as Dead Space’s can be at times, to compete with the splendid environments we have had thrust upon us.

In truth I find myself not playing it only because I am so spoiled for choice.

The greatest mystery surrounding Dead Space is not its issues with aspect ratio, but rather why the honourable, yet stupefying, censors of the Commonwealth of Australia permitted it to be sold unadulterated while requiring the modification of Grand Theft Auto IV. Truly a riddle for minds greater than mine.

Regards,
T.

My dad is considering an upgrade, including a widescreen (‘Samsung SM-2032BW Pebble 20″ Widescreen LCD Monitor’ I think), with a 9800 GT would this be a good monitor, or should I consider pestering him to get a bigger/better one.

The flat screen thing is all the rage now, but sometimes they can be a bit dodgy. As you say, the CRTs are robust. I also like that it’s essentially a big laser pointed at my face, and I’m glad to hear that other games still use them. Anyone else use the big CRT monitors?

http://flickr.com/photos/pentadact/3074725475/sizes/l/
http://flickr.com/photos/pentadact/3074726427/sizes/l/

My 4×3, as it happens, is the very same monitor I’ve had since the days you’re talking about Jaz. It’s been on for around eight years at this point, switched off only to be dropped, bumped and carted across the country every so often, and it’s never once gone even slightly wrong. Taxan might have been wildly expensive at the time, but they last like freaking Cthulhu.

All your screen-shots are in 4:3 which, I’m afraid to say, was designed for people with eye-patches or monocles.

Isn’t Opposing Force insane? Who would have thought you could actually fire a teleport! The technology these days. Soon, they’ll sell 10gb HDD! If only they could make monitors flatter.

How the hell did the comments become about loving Portal? Oh my god.. my time machine! It worked! Now to go back just a bit further, then we can all share memories about how awesome Peggle is!

Also, how do we know that Isaac hasn’t had his left eye put out at some point… yeah, that’s a silly idea.

I also have to wonder, why would someone design a suit that had its vital information displayed on its back? The user would either need a parrot cam to do anything or some random guy behind you going “Dude, your health is kinda around the middle area. Sucks to be you”. That or mirrors all over the place to check it out yourself. 3rd person immersion breaking FTL.

King Kong did something similar, hitting a button would have your character call out how many rounds he had left, rather neatly if you’d been sprinting too long he was too short of breath to say anything.

I lol’d at hydroponics deck. Does it come off as a homage, or do you think they just assumed they’d thought up the idea, SS2 being but a faint memory?

Man, I love Portal. Speaking of portal, is there any news on Portal 2?

The rest is just bickering between two characters who I’ve forgotten who they are, and a series of technical problems I have to manually fix. Right now there’s a- no kidding, there’s a fleshy biomass clogging the hydroponics deck, and I’ve got to – yep – find an antidote and propogate it through the ventilation system to kill it off. At this point I’ll be surprised if SHODAN doesn’t turn up.

I like the breadcrumbs, though. I’ve never enjoyed working out which way I’m supposed to go, you spend all that time bumping up against the conceits of the game world. Lord knows the 3D map is no help.

ZomBuster: yes.