South Park: The Stick of Truth Censored in Australia

Post by Eorl @ 10:20am 18/12/13 | 43 Comments

While we thought that the war had been won when it came to R18+ ratings for video games in Australia, with many believing that our games in Down Under wouldn't suffer being censored unless it was something truly controversial, it seems that is sadly not the case.

The latest victim to fall under the content cutting knife is Ubisoft's South Park: The Stick of Truth, with Player Attack reporting that Australian gamers will be receiving an R18+ rated game, albeit censored, come March next year. Ubisoft hasn't confirmed what exactly it cut, though it has been revealed that the game went through two successful ratings, both R18+.

According to the Australian Classification Board, the game had been rated three weeks earlier under the name "Codename", complete with the same "High impact crude humour, sex scenes and references to sexual violence" description given to the official South Park rating review. Interestingly, Player Attack reports that both versions of the game refer to "modified" content, though Ubisoft has again not said anything on the matter.

According to the ESRB, the North American version of our Classification Board, US gamers will be receiving the "uncut" version, complete with what they describe as "several instances of mature humor and sexual material: one extended sequence depicts characters getting anally probed by alien creatures." You can check out the full colourful reading of their description here.

South Park: The Stick of Truth will be available come March 6th for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

australian classification board r18+south park: the stick of truth ubisoft

Latest Comments

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TiT
Posted 10:31am 18/12/13

looks like i will be getting international cd key lol

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zaraq
Posted 10:55am 18/12/13

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zaraq
Posted 11:00am 18/12/13

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ThunderBunny
Posted 11:11am 18/12/13

The classification board needs anal probing by aliens.

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Raven
Posted 11:22am 18/12/13

Nobody likes "I told you so", but:

Told you so.

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ravn0s
Posted 11:24am 18/12/13

probably cut drugs or the anal probing.

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copuis
Posted 11:39am 18/12/13

they could just aim for an R rating

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infi
Posted 11:53am 18/12/13

goddamnit!

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 12:01pm 18/12/13

That really sucks. I was looking forward to this quite a bit.

Guess I'll have to get it internationally, well to be honest I was already going to do that because it very likely would be cheaper anyway.

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Toxus
Posted 12:38pm 18/12/13

Looks like I will be downloading this

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Sickofit
Posted 01:35pm 18/12/13

Can someone explain to me why you can see exactly this humour on tv without it being 18+, but if it's a game it needs a higher rating?

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ravn0s
Posted 01:41pm 18/12/13

tv ratings are handled by the industry, whereas game ratings are handled by the government who believe that games have a higher impact due to them being interactive.

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 02:20pm 18/12/13

the government who believe that games have a higher impact due to them being interactive.

And they are totally right, I can't even count the number of times I've had to hit a security guard with a crowbar in order to further advance my career.

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Khel
Posted 02:28pm 18/12/13

I was quite disillusioned the other night when I snuck up behind a guy in the carpark at maccas and knifed him, and he didn't drop any pistol ammo OR smoke bombs.

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 02:45pm 18/12/13

Tell me about it, I had a wound on my arm (zombie bite, naturally, Dr say it didn't get infected, bullet dodged..) anyway, I hate an apple and guess what? No regen, at least not fast. I had to it bandaged up for 2 weeks.

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Raven
Posted 03:56pm 18/12/13

That's cos in the real world is all anti-GM this, anti-Monsanto that. Games know how things should be, all their apples are heavily modified to provide these healing properties. Unless the real-world gets on board, well, you can go die of your stab wound for all they care.

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greazy
Posted 03:58pm 18/12/13

The classification board needs anal probing by aliens.

No they don't, but you do for being a tard. The board is just working within the law which is set out by the government

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RuleofBooKz
Posted 05:45pm 18/12/13

im so angry with that classification board right now i just want to:

A. Scream

B. Rescue the Princess

c. Go on a gun wielding rampage at a government office

D. All of the above

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DeadlyDav0
Posted 06:11pm 18/12/13

They really dont like anal probes dont they.

Wasnt that the issue with saints row recently?

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Ha
Posted 06:27pm 18/12/13

No they don't, but you do for being a tard. The board is just working within the law which is set out by the government

sorry about your autism

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ThunderBunny
Posted 07:52pm 18/12/13

I believe the anal probe situation with saints row was just a huge dildo wasnt it? Certainly no scientific purpose to it as opposed to what aliens do but thats just an assumption.
And thanks for pointing out that its a government regulation and not the board's decision. Who gives a s***.

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Tyoson
Posted 08:42pm 18/12/13

"Hi, I'm the government, I make stupid assumptions and I'm always right because I said so" - The government

But yeah, importing it...

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Windebieste
Posted 08:22am 19/12/13

So, this is going to be another case where the local regulated industry is going to forfeit legitimately generated income to uncontrolled grey import sales that don't pay taxes.

Good one, Australian Government.

Please explain to me once again. Exactly, whose interests you're protecting by doing this?.

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Raven
Posted 09:16am 19/12/13

Please explain to me once again. Exactly, whose interests you're protecting by doing this?.

The Catholic church.

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 09:19am 19/12/13

Windebieste, be truthful now. Most of us here who would buy would be getting it internationally anyway because it will be heaps cheaper.

They will still get the casual gamers sales in shops like EB, because Southpark. So year, not it doesn't really change anything.

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tHeBoRg
Posted 09:56am 19/12/13

Player Attack now has updated information on what has exactly been cut from the game but be warned that said explanations do contain spoilers about the game so read at your own risk.

http://www.playerattack.com/news/2013/12/18/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-the-offensive-bits/

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ravn0s
Posted 01:53pm 19/12/13

wow, it was refused classification twice?

The descriptive messages appear on-screen accompanied by a still image of a crying koala and large, red text reading simply: "CENSORED".

haha, it may be worth getting the cut version after all.

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groganus
Posted 02:11pm 19/12/13

OMG the game sounds better than I was expecting.

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Undead
Posted 11:53pm 04/3/14

This type of censorship of a R18+ game is disgusting...I don't need or want some bereaurcrat making this decision for me...I find it repugnant to be treated like I cannot make such a decision for myself...Pathetic Fascist Act is what it is...it's a cartoon depiction...yet I can buy and/or watch adult pornography of real people being rammed up the rear. who the hell do they think they are...uppity moralists protecting me from myself obviously, well I am an adult...I ram my parts into womens behind every chance I get and many ladies love such things...it is fun and enjoyable....who the hell are these people to decide what is allowable for an adult game....I repeat again....only a fascist regime

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greazy
Posted 12:18am 05/3/14

Nice first post.... f*****.

Nah I bet you're an OK person. It's considered bad form to bump old threads from 3 months ago.

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 08:46am 05/3/14

Particularly when there is another South Park Stick of truth thread that is more recent.

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Raven
Posted 08:49am 05/3/14

First!
... wait. Nuts.

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ravn0s
Posted 01:21pm 05/3/14

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infi
Posted 01:26pm 05/3/14

gayeee

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RuleofBooKz
Posted 02:32pm 05/3/14

id like someone who thinks the censorship of this R rated game is a good thing to state their case. Just so we can take on the aspect of sour countenance and brooding brows and all cast aspersions on them

aspersions i tell you!

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infi
Posted 02:44pm 05/3/14

a warning to all pro censorship posters: don't dare state your case. you will be shouted down, belittled and abused by the QGL Hivemind.

Just enjoy your censored version.

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TiT
Posted 02:59pm 05/3/14

Just installed the uncensored version, cant wait to get home!

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ravn0s
Posted 03:01pm 05/3/14

Just installed the uncensored version, cant wait to get home!

where'd you get the uncensored version?

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konstie
Posted 03:26pm 05/3/14

where'd you get the uncensored version?

TELL US!

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RuleofBooKz
Posted 04:16pm 05/3/14

what is this sorcery!

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HeardY
Posted 09:58pm 07/3/14

from here - http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/mar/07/south-park-matt-stone-trey-parker-stick-of-truth-video-game?CMP=fb_gu

In Europe and Australia, some scenes in the video game have been censored.

I was told that Australia has different standards. They have their own ratings system, as does Europe, so I was told that we had to submit it for ratings and they come back and tell you this will pass, this won't. Ultimately, the full version of the game is in North America, so at least that version is out there, but anywhere it's censored [in the other version], we just put in little black cards explaining what has happened.

It's not that big a deal. It doesn't change things that much, but we weren't going to change the game downwards somewhere and just not tell anybody. You'll see how ridiculous that is.

How do you feel about that?

It does feel like a double standard, a little bit. We weren't willing to change the content, but also it doesn't ruin the game â€“ it's like 40 seconds' worth of the whole game. As long as we could make a joke out of the fact that they made us cut this, that was fine.quote>

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Khel
Posted 11:39pm 07/3/14

Uncensored keys back in stock here too

https://cdkeys.com.au/products/South-Park%3A-The-Stick-of-Truth.html

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BladeRunner
Posted 02:28am 08/3/14

I found something else that was cut, some voices for certain enemy characters.

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