The upcoming zombie survival game, Left 4 Dead 2, will be released short of a few features thanks to the actions of the Australian media censorship board. This board controls media by ratings and classifications, much like the American ESRB we’re all familiar with. Because we’re all Americans. Unlike our superior, more or less voluntary ratings board, the Australian version has the force of law behind it, and media without a proper rating cannot be sold.
The board has refused to give a classification to Left 4 Dead 2.
Features edited out to meet the board’s arbitrary standards include, “depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment.”
Now that dead people have been thoroughly scrubbed out of a BRAIN EATING ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE WHERE THE DEAD RISE TO FEAST ON THE LIVING (ahem), the Australian ratings board has given Left 4 Dead 2 a passing score.
Read more about how censorship in foreign countries affects your life here.
Personally? that sucks for australia, but I cannot wait to kill some zombies on L4d 2.