South Park: the Stick of Truth News: Game Faces Censorship in Australia, Replaces Controversial Material With Koala
- Frank Lucci
- Dec 23, 2013 01:20 PM EST
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"South Park: The Stick of Truth" is the game that fans of the cartoon have been waiting for ever since the days of the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation One, as those consoles were the last to see a full disk-based game based on the series.
However, the game has been delayed frequently, and now the game has faced censorship in some countries such as Australia. However, developer Obsidian and publisher Ubisoft has found a way to avoid being banned in that country while adding even more humor to the game.
According to Player Attack, the game was refused a rating twice in Australia by the Australian Classification Board. This means that the game was effectively banned from the country unless Ubisoft and Obsidian changed the game and removed the offensive content. The scenes that caused the Australian Classification Board is one where the game has a scene that involves aliens giving characters anal probes, as well as one scene set in a abortion clinic. In the game's second submission to the board, the ACB had this to say about the game's offensive content:
"While the Board acknowledges that the game is satirical in tone, intent and context, is based on, and true to, the South Park television series, and that limited modifications have been made to the original game, this modified version includes visually depicted, implied sexual violence and, as such, exceeds what can be accommodated within the R18+ classification."
This is not the first time that Australia has refused to give a game a rating due to scenes of aliens using anal probes. "Saints Row 4" faced a similar situation when that game was under review, and developer Volition had to remove to offensive content. However, The team behind "South Park: the Stick of Truth" are fighting back and not taking their refused rating lightly. They resubmitted the game on Nov. 21, 2013, and the scene has been modified somewhat to remove the nonconsensual sexual acts from the scene. However, when the explicit instructions for the scene flash onscreen, a new addition appears. An image of a crying koala appears onscreen as a reference to the game being changed for the Australian audience.
In any case, it looks as though that South Park: The Stick of Truth looks to have the same aesthetic and humor of the long-running series, and the creators of the cartoon are used to controversy at this point. The bigger hurdle the game will have to face is making sure that it finally makes it to it's new March release date instead of being delayed again.
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