Australia has a bad reputation for banning or demanding the censor of violent video games, due to the fact that their ratings system has no classification equivalent to the ESRB’s “Mature”. However, they’re not the only country that has denied its gamers some M-rated fun; Germany has also refused to classify its fair share of games in the past. Now it appears that German gamers are going to miss out on Sega’s long awaited Aliens vs. Predator, since the USK (Germany’s ratings board) felt the game was too violent. Sega summarized the situation to Joystiq, explaining that to be classified in Germany, AvP would need “significant cuts that would harm the gameplay experience”.

The difference between Germany and Australia, though, is that Germany actually has a rating for gamers 18 and older, while Australia’s ratings end at age 15. It really blows my mind that in this day and age, these ratings boards think that even adults are not capable of making their own decisions and handling the virtual violence found in video games. The fate of Aliens vs. Predator down under remains to be seen, but it will really say something about the USK if Australia deems the game acceptable and Germany does not. Kudos to Sega for refusing to edit the game in a way that they feel would hurt the gameplay, but I hope this doesn’t put too big a dent in their worldwide sales. We’ll find out what the repercussions will be early next year, assuming Aliens vs. Predator doesn’t get delayed again.