Silent Hill Too Scary For Australia

We always thought that when push came to shove, Australians were some of the toughest and craziest people on the planet. Witness Australian Rules Football, their more violent version of full contact rugby, for an example. However, when it comes to regulating the video games industry, it turns out that Australians have rather weak stomachs. First, we heard that the OFLC (their official classification board) refused to give any kind of rating to Fallout 3, because it was just so over the top. Now, Japanese games maker Konami finds themselves in the crosshairs of this notoriously tough ratings system.

Upon review of the Japanese company's upcoming survival horror title, Silent Hill: Homecoming, the Australian board decided that they could not rate this title as it was presented. That means that there was no rating strict enough in that country to express how much they didn't like this game. Ouch. So, we are faced with two possibilities. Either Konami has crafted one hell of a psychotic, twisted videogame, or Australians are total nancy boys (and girls). We won't say it too loud, in case there are any Australians lurking nearby, but we suspect it might be the latter in this case.

Silent Hill: Homecoming is a pretty scary looking game. It featues scenes of dimemberment, gore, and violence against (zomibified) women. But besides all of this, Australia has a track record of being tough on any title that even apporaches a mature-only level of debauchery.
By Kris Erickson.