A furore has erupted over the censoring of a Playstation 2 game by Australian officials. Grand Theft Auto 3 was initially given the Refused Classification tag by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), meaning it is illegal to go on sale in this country.

It's alleged, however, that a local games publisher has packaged the game with an -MA15+" rating in order to capitalise on sales of a game that has taken the world by storm.

News came to light today of a popular Playstation 2 game being pulled from distribution due to certain aspects of its content constituting "sexual violence", according to the Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC). The game itself primarily involves a criminal career grounded in heinous and wanton acts of violence, involving drug trafficking, mass-murder, road rage and assassination of Police personnel.

Grand Theft Auto 3, published in Australia by Take 2 Interactive, has been selling at retail outlets for several weeks under the classification MA15+. However, the OFLC maintains it gave an entirely different rating for the title -- a classification of "RC", meaning Refused Classification, dated to the 28th of November 2001. According to the Guidelines For The Classification of Computer Games, published by the OFLC, "Material so classified may not be sold, hired, exhibited, displayed, demonstrated or advertised.". Hence, the game must be removed from public availability, and in fact should never have reached the marketplace.

Apparently the game allows for players to solicit the services of prostitutes by picking them up in a car, then afterwards players are able to kill the prostitute character and take money that was in that character's possession. According to Trish Flanagan of the OFLC, the classification was declared because "the depictions of sexual violence exceeded the guidelines for an MA15+ rating."

The game's alleged error in manufacturing -- leading to the erroneous MA15+ rating on the packaging - could lead to serious legal repercussions. Ms Flanagan elaborated: "there are quite severe enforcement implications," for deliberate defiance of the act. But she was quick to separate the OFLC from the pursuit of justice, explaining that: "The OFLC does not do any enforcement. We can only advise, take an educative role or make recommendations,".

When asked the OFLC's opinion on whether the game had been deliberately sold illegally with the incorrect MA15+ rating, she stated that this was "that was not the case, as far as we are aware,"

The publishers of the game, Take 2 Interactive, declined to comment due to their submission of a request for a second opinion from the Classification Review Board, a separate body to the OFLC. ZDNet and GameSpot Australia was told that this second review could take "a week or two", due to the Classification Review Board's status as a loose collection of freelance advisers who are not employed full-time in their special capacity.

Strangely enough it seems that the rest of the game's activities such as drug-running, murdering innocent civilians, killing police officers, running down pedestrians, drive-by gangland shootings and causing massively destructive automobile accidents are all quite acceptable within the guidelines of an MA15+ rating for computer games.

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