Australia, April 9, 2008 - Late last week, it was revealed that the Australian release of the hugely anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV's content had been 'trimmed' for the sake of getting the game through the classification process.

This is Rockstar Australia's official stance:

The Australian version of Grand Theft Auto IV was rated by the OFLC in December 2007 as MA15+. Unlike the US and Europe, Australia still lacks an R18+ rating for video games and as a result many games are edited for release in Australia, including most previous Grand Theft Auto releases.

While there are some minor differences between the Australian and US/EU versions, they are not significant and we do not believe they take away from the level of scope and detail that make GTA IV such an incredible experience. We would not release the game in Australia if we believed these differences compromised the quality of the game in any way.

We strongly support the OLFC and will continue to work within their guidelines; however we believe the government needs to bring games in line with other media by introducing an R18+ rating, or edits to games will continue to be necessary. We encourage consumers to let their politicians know that they support an R18+ rating for games.

Last week, IGN AU featured a look at the OFLC's lack of an R rating, and the debate surrounding it. This latest statement once again highlights the disparity beween the OFLC's classification system and those of other countries.

With Rockstar weighing into the debate with a public statement, perhaps the discussion will be accelerated.

We do find it disappointing that we were informed back in December that GTA IV had made it through the classification process without any cuts made to the content, when the reality was that Rockstar felt they needed to censor their own content prior for a gaming population in Australia with an average age of 28.

BTW: I preordered GTA 4 in Australia but after hearing this I will cancel it. I do not want a watered down version of a great game despite how little impact it will make upon the game. Ninja Gaiden 2 will get either banned or watered down too, that would affect NG 2 sales. On the large scale smaller numbers of GTA 4 and NG 2 in Australia a small gaming market does not matter. 

Well I might order the game online from the UK. UK is not going to edit the game. Australian bureaucrats are morons and out of touch with mainstream society.

I wish the Aust government would get of their arses and make a R catgory. They have it in movies so why not games.

 You fool! Movies cant cause violence but games...oh games...they can bring about the end of the world!

Sigh. Much love to the Australian Government...

It sucks hard that this country is backwards in so many issues, however... does it really matter that you wont be able to pick up hookers? was GTAIII a bad game because of it? No.

Would it have made any difference to the game if u could? No.

This mass import will only hurt the Australian games industry and market.

My fingers are crossed that when we do get a R18+ that rockstar will put out a patch giving us that 0.000001% of content we dont have and probably wont notice.

I don't see the big deal.

As long as the game is great, what's the problem?

I hope it does hurt the local market. Then maybe the government will see the damage they're doing when they realise they aren't getting as much tax money.