The OFLC has struck again banning yet another game from release in Australia. This time the Office of Film and Literature Board has set their sights on Digital Extremes' violent title, Dark Sector, due for release on the Xbox 360. The reasons they are stating are numerous ranging from, "violent and sometimes gruesome game with a sinister storyline and ominous outcome. The violence and aggression inflicted upon the protagonist is of a high level, naturalistic and not stylised at all."
The centres around main protagonist, Hayden Tenno, who as a result of contracting a bio-weapon virus inherits powerful combat abilities. Tenno is also a member of a highly elite black-ops unit which contributes to his highly advanced killing skills.
The OFLC continued with another gruseome reason, "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." The report also mentions that some of the most violent elements of the gameplay, including "decapitation, dismemberment of limbs accompanied by large blood spurts, neck breaking twists and exploding bodies with post-action twitching body parts" are "relatively easy to accomplish".
In order to get this published now by D3Publisher, the game will have to undergo some modifications and then be graded by the OFLC again. AFA Interactive's Sales & Product Manager, Adam Zweck, had this to say, "This is (hopefully) not the end of the line for the game however, just a pretty substantial, but temporary, set-back".
This has raised the inevitable question of an R rating classification in Australia. Hopefully some clear guidelines can be reached soon so these issues become non-issues in the near future.