With exactly two months to go before Left 4 Dead 2 releases, gamers the world over are preparing themselves for round two of the zombie apocalypse. While a small minority are getting geared up by setting fire to effigies of Valve president Gabe Newell, the rest of us are doing more sane things, like pre-ordering the game, or setting up times to play with our friends. However if you're an Australian who is making preparations for L4D2, you may want to find other uses for your time. The Australian games ratings board announced yesterday that Left 4 Dead 2 will not be classified for that nation, which means that the game, in its current form, is effectively banned.

The board's report cited, "realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence" as the reason for not being classified, adding, "[Left 4 Dead 2] contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons under 18 years to play". The ratings board, which is an arm of the Aussie Attorney-General's office, reserves the right to refuse classification to any game if that game can be shown to, "[p]romote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence."

And since we're now only two months away from the release of L4D2, and with the game looking to be one of the biggest sellers of this holiday season, Australian retailers are understandably upset by the board's decision. Chad Polley, national marketing manager for Gametraders (a chain that owns 41 stores in Australia) said of the decision, "Left 4 Dead 2 was expected to be even bigger than the original version. We had huge predictions of sales."

It remains to be seen whether or not Valve will edit the game for eventual release in this market, and we've reached out to the company for their take on the board's decision.