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Australia wins at Virtual Console
Four more import games have now been rated by the OFLC, implying a Virtual Console release in that region and probably others. Those four games, all for the Turbografx-16, are: Gradius II GOFER no Yabou, Digital Champion Battle Boxing (which is just coming to Japan this month), Star Parodier, and ... Cho Aniki. This first game in the outrageous series starred the relatively normal Idaten and Benten (seen here), with future stars Adon and Samson as beefy support characters.Under most conditions, we'd be freaking out about Star Parodier, which is a Parodius-like "funny" version of the Star Soldier games. But Cho Aniki! Outside of Japan! It's like a beautiful dream. We're buying Wii Points right now.[Via Aussie-Nintendo]
Australia gets censored GTA IV
The Age is reporting that Rockstar had to submit an edited version of Grand Theft Auto IV to the OFLC in order to receive a passing rating. Rockstar confirmed this, but did not clarify what the censored content was. The game officially earned an MA15+ rating last year, Australia's most restricted rating.This must be really saddening news for all you Aussies. Not only do you have to live with those horribly annoying OFLC ratings crowding your beloved box cover, but they also serve as cruel reminders of the censorship only you must endure. Sad indeed, especially after hearing the good news about the UK version.
Witness the miracle of new import games for Australia's VC
It was weird enough when Milon's DokiDoki Adventure showed up on the OFLC ratings search site, and weirder still when it came out on the U.S. Virtual Console before Australia's (it has yet to be released there).Now another fairly unknown Japanese game has been rated for release, indicating a worldwide release in the near future: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Bio Miracle Baby Upa) a Famicom Disk System platformer from Konami starring a baby who can inflate enemies with his magic rattle. It's best known for being rejected by Nintendo's bowtie-wearing Howard Phillips, who hates babies.Gleylancer also appears to be traversing the globe; recently seen on Germany's ratings site, the shooter has appeared on the OFLC site as well.[Via Siliconera]
No classification for Dark Sector in Australia
We've been kind of milquetoast on Dark Sector, the first "next gen" game ever announced, for reasons ranging from its completely uninspiring title to ... well, it's basically the title. But now that the game has been denied a rating by Australian classification board the OFLC, we're totally in to it.How could they not see how their plan would backfire? Check this line from their report: "When Hayden cuts off his opponent's limb with the glaive, large amounts of blood spray forth from the stump and the injured person screams in agony which increases the impact." Umm, we'd like to write something about how awesome that sounds, but we're a little busy pre-ordering eight copies. IGN guesses the game will be softened and resubmitted, but unless they're going to insist that the stumps are actually spraying strawberry preserves, it sounds like they have a lot of work ahead of them.
BARF! OFLC approves River City Ransom for VC
As much as we value and admire the Virtual Console, we've always found it to be lacking in the area of River City Ransom. Our hopes that this oversight would be corrected were briefly raised in October, when the game appeared on the Virtual Console in Japan (where it is known as Downtown Nekketsu Story), but since then little has been heard about any Generic Dudes making the trip to English-speaking parts of the world.So imagine our excitement this morning, after learning how Australian regulatory body the OFLC has approved the release of Street Gangs (River City Ransom's inferior PAL title, with matching inferior PAL boxart) and Adventures of Lolo 2 on the Aussie Virtual Console. Which, as we know from history, usually leads to a release on other Virtual Consoles. If we fail to write any more posts for the rest of today, now you know why: it's because we're too busy running around with our jumpers pulled over our heads in fits of celebration.[Via Go Nintendo]
Australia to get Mega Man 2, U.S. to get Not Mega Man 2
The latest update to the ESRB's ratings search page reveals some new games headed to the Virtual Console; among the more notable releases are King of Fighters '94, Top Hunter, Rolling Thunder 2 and The Dynastic Hero. The most notable release is Puyo Puyo 2-- on principle, anyway. That's because, while there are already two Puyo games on the VC, Puyo Puyo 2 is another of Sega's promised imports. As "awesome" as a third Puyo Puyo game is, the news is completely obliterated by the latest OFLC updates for Australia: Blades of Steel and Mega Man 2, which probably hint at a European release as well. We don't even have Mega Man yet! This must be what it feels like for European and Australian gamers most of the time. Have fun playing basically the best game ever, jerks. We'll just ... oh, wait, we've got the NES cartridge, and also the Mega Man Anniversary Collection. We'll just play one of those while listening to "Okkusenman".
Manhunt 2 not likely for Australia, Germany
After Britain, the United States and Ireland, where do Australia and Germany stand on the issue of Manhunt 2? Australian officials are saying a release in their country is doubtful, meanwhile an official for the German USK ratings board has told Joystiq that game has not been submitted.Insiders in the Australian government reportedly told Smarthouse (via GamePolitics) that the game is likely not to be released down under. "We don't want to preempt the decision of the Office of Film and Literature Classification Review Board but it is looking very doubtful," they said. The Office of Film and Literature Classification was closed when Joystiq tried to reach them for comment, but Jason Hill of The Age reports that as of yesterday, the game had not been submitted for a rating.In an email correspondence with Joystiq, the USK's Christine Schulz told us as of this morning there was no application submitted for the game. Should Take Two and Rockstar forego submitting Manhunt 2 for any country, it would not be surprising.Both German and Australian ratings boards are notorious for banning games, by refusal of rating, with too much violent content. For the German USK, past titles to not get rated have included Dead Rising, Crackdown and Gears of War -- and the banning protocol is rather confusing. Australia's OFLC has Restricted 18+ ratings, but they are not applied to video games, so the highest rating for a game is Mature 15+ age. Hence, if a game were to be deemed too inappropriate for MA15, then it would be refused classification and the game must either be edited and resubmitted or just not sold. Games who were refused classification include Reservoir Dogs and Marck Ecko's Getting Up.
New Prince of Persia DS title confirmed
Future Gamez has confirmed that Ubisoft is working on a new Prince of Persia title for the Nintendo DS, but it doesn't appear to be another card battler like last year's Battles of Prince of Persia. Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification added the new game to their online database under the title, Prince of Persia: Rival Blades, for multiple platforms. However, an Ubisoft rep commented that Blades had been an alternate title for The Two Thrones, and the OFLC's listing is a placeholder for a new DS version of the prince's most recent console adventure.
