Legal Niches

Down Under Reversal on Aliens vs. Predator

By pete_gallagher

Australia's Classification Review Board has overturned a ban on Sega's Aliens vs. Predator PC game, granting it an MA15+ classification.

The decision of the three-member Board (PDF) was unanimous and the game will carry the descriptor 'Strong Science Fiction Violence.' The Board determined that the fantasy nature of the game reduced the impact of its violent content:

… violent scenes are not prolonged and are interspersed with longer non violent sequences. The violence is fantastical in nature and justified by the context of the game, set in a futuristic science-fiction world, inhabited by aliens and predators. This context serves to lessen its impact. The more contentious violence is randomly generated and is not dependent on player selection of specific moves.

Refused-Classification notes that this is the first successful appeal since F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin in 2008.

The Classification Board had originally Refused Classification for Aliens vs. Predator, citing violence as a factor.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on December 18, 2009 (boomark / email).