Late last week, it was revealed that the Australian release of the hugely anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV's content had been 'trimmed' for the sake of getting the game through the classification process.

This is Rockstar Australia's official stance:

The Australian version of Grand Theft Auto IV was rated by the OFLC in December 2007 as MA15+. Unlike the US and Europe, Australia still lacks an R18+ rating for video games and as a result many games are edited for release in Australia, including most previous Grand Theft Auto releases.

While there are some minor differences between the Australian and US/EU versions, they are not significant and we do not believe they take away from the level of scope and detail that make GTA IV such an incredible experience. We would not release the game in Australia if we believed these differences compromised the quality of the game in any way.

We strongly support the OLFC and will continue to work within their guidelines; however we believe the government needs to bring games in line with other media by introducing an R18+ rating, or edits to games will continue to be necessary. We encourage consumers to let their politicians know that they support an R18+ rating for games.
Last week, IGN AU featured a look at the OFLC's lack of an R rating, and the debate surrounding it. This latest statement once again highlights the disparity beween the OFLC's classification system and those of other countries.

With Rockstar weighing into the debate with a public statement, perhaps the discussion will be accelerated.

We do find it disappointing that we were informed back in December that GTA IV had made it through the classification process without any cuts made to the content, when the reality was that Rockstar felt they needed to censor their own content prior for a gaming population in Australia with an average age of 28.

We again point you towards our R18+ debate feature and suggest you follow its guidelines for taking action against the OFLC's current stance.