Sometimes I hate my country… Omega Labyrinth Z, the upcoming RPG title from Matrix Software via PQube Games, which features one of the more obcerd game machanics and storylines to come out of Japan in years; has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board. This refusal to classify Omega Labyrinth Z has effectively banned the game from the country, joining such games as Mortal Kombat 9 & Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni on the list of “too high of content” games to be banned by the Grumpy Old People Classification Board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL1I95RnJEE
The classification refusal was discovered by Censored Gaming on Youtube as you can see in the video above. A listing for Omega Labyrinth Z was discovered on February 2, 2018 with the Refused Classification label attached. In the listing, which you can see below, the reason given to the public is “Reason: Games 1(a)&(b)” and reads as follows:
The computer game is classified RC in accordance with the National Classification Code, Computer Games Table, 1. (a) as computer games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified,” and (b) “describe or depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 (whether the person is engaged in sexual activity or not).”
For those of you who do not understand Government gibberish, basically, it comes down to a depiction of characters who may be minors (Under the age of 18) being forced into sexual situations without consent. Where Omega Labyrinth Z fell afoul was multiple depictions of one character, Urara Rurikawa. In the board’s report, which was provided to Kotaku Australia, the game depicts her as being “physically underdeveloped” and other characters in the game refer to her and a friend as “the younger girls”.
Anyone who knows this website well knows that it was me who broke the story about Omega Labyrinth Z being ported to PS4 around this time last year, including the hope that we would see an English translation of the port come to our shores. This refusal of classification from the Australian Classification Board means that legally I cannot buy a copy of Omega Labyrinth Z from any local store here in Australia.
However, there is a loop hole that does allow me to import the game from online retailers like Play-Asia or Amazon (Which I did with Mortal Kombat when it was Refused Classification back in the day… and the first person in Australia to do so too). So while my Government is a bunch of backwards idiots, it’s not going to stop me from getting the game.
