Blitz denied down under
Midway’s Xbox 360 sports title, Blitz: The League is going through a bit (severe understatement) of trouble down under. Australia‘s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has refused classification for Midway’s American football title, effectively banning it from sale.
GameSpot reports that the official ruling from the OLFC states that the game was refused classification because of in-game drug use. The OLFC board report states:
In the course of the game, the player may access what are purported to be both legal and illegal performance-enhancing drugs for the members of the team. Choosing to use these drugs (by selecting from a menu) will have both negative and positive effects on team-members, for example, by improving their speed while making them more susceptible to injury. Each drug has different characteristics. Fake urine samples may also be acquired for avoiding positive drug tests. While the game-player can choose not to use the drugs, in the BoardÂ’s majority view there is an incentive to use them. By using them judiciously, the player can improve the performance of the football team (while managing the negative effects) and have a better chance of winning games, thereby winning bets and climbing the league table.
The local distributor for Blitz: The League, Red Ant Enterprises, has yet to decide if it will appeal the ruling. Marketing manager Ivone Bozzi had this to say:
At this stage we haven’t decided if we are going to go ahead and appeal it. Quite a shame, as we did get some fantastic feedback from retail. It was unfortunately one of those games that are touch-and-go.
The Australian Computer Games Table of the National Classification Code states that titles that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults” will be denied classification.
One more game to the growing list of games denied down under. Here’s to imports.
Via Gamespot
Midway’s Xbox 360 sports title, Blitz: The League is going through a bit (severe understatement) of trouble down under. Australia‘s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has refused classification for Midway’s American football title, effectively banning it from sale.
GameSpot reports that the official ruling from the OLFC states that the game was refused classification because of in-game drug use. The OLFC board report states:
In the course of the game, the player may access what are purported to be both legal and illegal performance-enhancing drugs for the members of the team. Choosing to use these drugs (by selecting from a menu) will have both negative and positive effects on team-members, for example, by improving their speed while making them more susceptible to injury. Each drug has different characteristics. Fake urine samples may also be acquired for avoiding positive drug tests. While the game-player can choose not to use the drugs, in the BoardÂ’s majority view there is an incentive to use them. By using them judiciously, the player can improve the performance of the football team (while managing the negative effects) and have a better chance of winning games, thereby winning bets and climbing the league table.
The local distributor for Blitz: The League, Red Ant Enterprises, has yet to decide if it will appeal the ruling. Marketing manager Ivone Bozzi had this to say:
At this stage we haven’t decided if we are going to go ahead and appeal it. Quite a shame, as we did get some fantastic feedback from retail. It was unfortunately one of those games that are touch-and-go.
The Australian Computer Games Table of the National Classification Code states that titles that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults” will be denied classification.
One more game to the growing list of games denied down under. Here’s to imports.
Via Gamespot