So Grand Theft Auto IV has now been rated by the Australian Classification Board. It is not as mature as we might have expected, but this is a good thing for Australia.

The game has been rated a 15+. That is, no-one under the age of 15 can play the game without adult supervision. The game is said to include strong violence, strong coarse language, drug and sexual references.

Expected a higher rating? I mean this is the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto. It’s also set in a faux New York, and has more realistic characters. However, if a game is rated higher than 15+ in Oz, then the game cannot be sold. The game would be banned.

This was the case with Grand Theft Auto III; pulled off of Australian shelves for three months. Moreover, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were edited especially for Australia audiences.

So can we expect a tamer GTA experience? We don’t think so. Rockstar have just been conscious of the ratings boards, especially after the Manhunt 2 debacle.

Does this mean the game is now finished? Not necessarily. Often developers provide unfinished games to be rated, or even provide a “mix tape” of the typical content way before the end of development.

Via Neogaf

Tags: Australian, Grand-Theft-Auto, GTA-4, Rated, Rating, VI

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5 Comments » Andrew Podolsky on December 13, 2007 7:37 pm Is it possible that Australia is getting a toned down version of GTA4? And I hope this means the game is nearly done… I want to play it so badly! Chad Lakkis on December 13, 2007 9:18 pm Just call Bruce… Conway on December 13, 2007 10:18 pm All the GTA versions in Australia come out with the full package for about 2 weeks, then they get recalled and edited. You have to grab the game within that timeframe if you want to bang prostitutes. Rockwallaby on December 17, 2007 9:10 pm I import my ps3 games anyway, I managed to get the others & manhunt before they were pulled off the shelf jimmy on September 29, 2008 4:36 am try to have one after you play get outside your room and get your shotgun start shooting people around you Lol:))=)) RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.