Left 4 Dead 2 banned in Australia???

I just saw this today on Kotaku. News is that Left 4 Dead 2 has been refused classification, meaning that the game is technically banned in Australia! My friends and I (and many other gamers in Australia) were already so excited in pre-ordering the game and then this news came up. My first reaction when I saw the Left 4 Dead 2 baned in Australia post title at Kotaku was “WHATT???”

If you don’t know what Left 4 Dead is, it’s a first person zombie shooter game based on the Source engine (the same engine that CounterStrike:Source and Team Fortress 2 use). It’s fun and I guess nobody here minds when a game involves killing Zombies or Nazis. So what makes it different with Left 4 Dead 2?? Here are some possibilities.

Some possibilities why Left 4 Dead 2 might be banned in Australia

These are just my opinions as there have been no official news yet as of why the game has been refused classifications.

• More body dismemberments
  
  Left 4 Dead 2 will have a “more satisfying & realistic” body dismemberments compared to the first. Although it only involves dismembering Zombies, you got the idea.
• More blood
  If you watch some Left 4 Dead 2 game play trailers, you can see more and more blood being introduced in the sequel. And I thought bloodier means better…
• Melee weapons
  In Left 4 Dead 2, Valve introduces melee weapons that you can use to whack the zombies. These weapons include every day items such as a baseball bat and a frying pan. I guess the government is too scared seeing your kids walking around in the city carrying your frying pan from the kitchen and whack people up. Alright, alright. I get the idea of using knives, swords, and baseball bats..but still..what’s so different with watching violent action movies??
• Clown zombies
  In one of the campaign map, there are zombies dressed in clowns. I guess this might cloud a kid’s mind to think that clowns are indeed scary (hey I was scared when I was little) AND deserved a bloody beating?
• A new Special Infected zombie named the “Spitter”
  A sexy-looking-pregnant-lady running around while wearing a bra? Now that deserves a ban!
  

UPDATE: Okay, based on the official L4D2 ban PDF report (from News.com.au), here are the real reasons why Left 4 Dead 2 is banned in Australia:

• “The game contains realistic, frenetic, and unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon “The Infected” who are living humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently”
  Err…..right. So you are okay with hitting a randomly poor old lady on the street with a baseball bat (GTA IV) or dismember aliens who were living humans once (Dead Space) but it’s not okay to do it to Zombies in L4D2..?
• “…..however, it is the use of the “melee weapons”…cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations, and limb dismemberment…..which may reveal skeletal bits and gore….abdominal wounds which can reveal innards or even cause intestines to spill from the wounds…”
  Umm I think I saw some intestines and innards coming out from the half-dead-Nazis-bodies when I played Call of Duty 5 (screenshot below).. nobody seemed to complain? Or maybe they never fully played the game? Besides, I think they are cool effects *whoops, I guess I need myself checked?*
  

  So I guess this is okay

I’m pretty sure that L4D2 won’t be totally banned here in Australia but we’re probably gonna see some silly toned down version of the game, suitable to be played by a 10 year old kid In Germany, you actually have to play a less gore-y version of Left 4 Dead as you can see from a YouTube video here:

One word for the video: “Eeewwwwww…”

If you think you can get away with buying it through Steam, well you can’t. I dont think you can even buy a retail version outside of Australia since you have to be authenticated through Steam anyway. Meanwhile, thanks for this, I’m pretty sure there will be many legitimate Australian gamers that will go over to the “dark side” just to get a full copy of the uncensored release and play it through a different channel..

Meanwhile, I’ll be playing my “Plants vs Zombies” game, decapitating zombies’ head with a sunflower seed. Now that doesn’t sound too violence, does it? There is also an online petition going on but I never believe that a petition actually ever works. If you believe in such system though, feel free to sign the L4D2 unban petition.

Guess I’ll just be playing my Batman: Arkham Asylum that I pre-ordered through Steam yesterday night..