Silent Hill: Homecoming, which is only getting so-so reviews (which stinks because it’s my favorite game series; Silent Hill 2? Now there’s proper narrative in a video game), is effectively banned in Australia because of its over-the-top violence. But what, exactly, is the reason why the game won’t be coming out down under?
How about this: drilling into and severing body parts. Yikes, is that even necessary?
Says IGN:
…the OFLC [the Australian ratings board] cited several high impact scenes in the game, mostly focusing on drilling into and severing body parts. One scene in particular that was highlighted as a problem involved Alex (the main character) having a drill forced into his right eye socket, which caused a lot of blood to spray out.
Konami is being urged to tone down the violence so that the game can see a release down there.
I don’t know, I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to excessive violence, so you won’t see me crying that the ratings board is giving Konami a hard time. I also can’t be bothered to fight video game censorship because, really, it’s not a big deal to me.